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Personal Reflections From A Grassroots Peacebuilding Journey, Mark Clark

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article presents the author’s personal reflections from experiences over the past thirty years, working at the intersection of leadership development, complexity, and conflict: a journey from corporate law, the British Army, and armed conflict, through the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the US-led coalition’s intervention in Iraq, emergency humanitarian response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and violence reduction and post-conflict reconciliation in Papua New Guinea, to a Jordan-based international peacebuilding organization that supports grassroots peacebuilding efforts in fifty-two countries, and finally a return home to Scotland. It is a journey of naïveté, hubris, curiosity, and an …

Developing A Social Equity Action Plan: A Pathway Towards Achieving Water Equity In Oregon, Anis Zaman, Wade Hathhorn

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

The Sunrise Water Authority is a public utility serving the City of Happy Valley and surrounding areas of unincorporated Clackamas County. In general, the customers of Sunrise tend to be relatively affluent (by state and federal household income standards) and predominately white, and non-Hispanic by race and ethnicity. Notwithstanding, there are several vulnerable groups within the service population including low-income households, persons of color, children, seniors, immigrants, disabled, and others. Social equity looks to ensure fair and equitable access to public services for all. Following a framework established by the U.S. Water Alliance (known as the ‘3 Pillars’), a preliminary …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Hanh Cao Yu

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Four Network Principles For Collaboration Success – With 2024 Prologue, Jane Wei-Skillern, Nora Silver

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2013, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates. This article identifies a set of four counterintuitive principles that are critical to collaboration success and offers insights for how nonprofit leaders can ensure that their collaborations can have an impact that is dramatically greater than the sum of the individual parts. Based on a decade of research developing detailed case studies on a range of successful networks, the authors have identified a common pattern of factors that are essential to effective networking. The principles are to focus …

Raising The Bar — Integrating Cultural Competence And Equity: Equitable Evaluation – With 2024 Prologue, Jara Dean-Coffey, Jill Casey, Leon D. Caldwell

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2014, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

Whether implicit or explicit, social justice and human rights are part of the mission of many philanthropies. Evaluation produced, sponsored, or consumed by these philanthropies that doesn’t pay attention to the imperatives of cultural competency may be inconsistent with their missions.

The American Evaluation Association’s Statement on Cultural Competence provides those who produce, sponsor, and use evaluation an opportunity to examine and align their practices and policies within a context of racial and cultural equity and inclusion. The …

Lost Causal: Debunking Myths About Causal Analysis In Philanthropy – With 2024 Prologue, Jewlya Lynn, Sarah Stachowiak, Julia Coffman

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2022, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

What if philanthropic evaluations told us that changes in the world had occurred, as well as how and why they occurred, including whether what foundations funded and grantees did contributed to those changes? What if evaluations made change pathways more visible, tested hypotheses and assumptions, and generated new insights based on what happened in the “black box” of systems change strategies? This type of learning comes from causal analysis — inquiry that explores cause-and-effect relationships.

Yet currently in …

Internal Culture, External Impact: How A Changemaking Culture Positions Foundations To Achieve Transformational Change – With 2024 Prologue, Amy Celep, Sara Brenner, Rachel Mosher-Williams

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2016, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

This article argues that a foundation’s internal culture is critical to achieving large-scale social change, but that efforts to build a changemaking culture too often are left out of strategy conversations.

While there is no one culture that suits every foundation, a particular set of characteristics must be present in those that seek largescale social change: a focus on outcomes, transparency, authenticity, collaboration, racial equity and inclusion, continuous learning, and openness to risk.

This article offers insights into …

Tfr 16.1 Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Donor-Advised Funds And Impact Investing: A Practitioner’S View – With 2024 Prologue, Sam Marks

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2022, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

Any discussion of foundations embracing impact investing must include some discussion of one of the largest — and growing — sources of philanthropic capital: donor-advised funds. These philanthropic accounts allow donors of all sizes to access many of the functions of a private foundation, including the potential to invest for impact. Sponsors of these funds, however, face unique challenges in catalyzing impact investments.

Like the larger institutional foundations that have led the way as mission investors, sponsors must …

Goal-Free Evaluation: An Orientation For Foundations’ Evaluations – Updated 2024, Brandon W. Youker, Allyssa Ballard

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2014, has been revised for The Foundation Review with substantive additions, new examples, and minor updates.

Goal-free evaluation is a model in which official or stated program goals and objectives are unknown by the evaluator, serving as a counter to assessing impact solely according to goal achievement. Foundation-supported program evaluation, however, has historically focused on goal attainment as intuitively and inextricably linked to evaluation.

This focus has persisted despite the fact that goal-free product evaluations have been a norm for more than 75 years. Yet persuading funders to consider …

Emergent Learning: A Framework For Whole-System Strategy, Learning, And Adaptation – With 2024 Prologue, Marilyn J. Darling, Jillaine S. Smith, James E. M. Stiles, Heidi Sparkes Guber

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2016, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

The field of philanthropy is exploring what it takes to achieve impact in complex environments. The terms “adaptive” and “emergent” are beginning to be used, often interchangeably, to describe strategies by which funders can tackle complexity. This article proposes distinguishing between the two and explores more deeply how the research into complexity can inform philanthropic practice.

While approaches like systems mapping, scenario planning, and appreciative inquiry have been put forward as useful approaches to expanding perspectives and seeing …

A Foundation’S Theory Of Philanthropy: What It Is, What It Provides, How To Do It – With 2024 Prologue, Michael Quinn Patton, Nathaniel Foote, James Radner

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2015, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

This article argues that philanthropic endeavors should be undergirded by a theory of philanthropy. Articulating a theory of philanthropy is a way for a foundation to make explicit what is often only implicit, thereby enabling internal and external actors to pose and resolve significant questions, understand and play important roles more fully and effectively, and improve performance by enhancing alignment across complex systems.

A theory of philanthropy articulates how and why a foundation will use its resources to …

The Soft Stuff Doesn’T Have To Be Hard: Foundation Investments In Grantee Workers Are Necessary, Valuable, And Measurable – With 2024 Prologue, Rusty M. Stahl

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2022, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

There is an urgent need for funder investments in the ability of grantee nonprofit organizations to support their staff. Such investments, when done well, can yield significant value for individuals, organizations, and fields of work or movements. Furthermore, the value of these investments can be evaluated and communicated.

This article explores the reasons for and implications of the inadequate response by funders, offers a path forward for designing investments in grantee staff, and documents how funders can capture …

Passing In The Dark: Making Visible Philanthropy’S Hidden And Conflicting Mental Models For Systems Change, Jewlya Lynn, Julia Coffman

The Foundation Review

While the need for philanthropy to focus on systems change as a way to scale and sustain impact is now widely accepted, we see the sector largely failing to recognize that there are different mental models for how to change systems. Sometimes the approaches foundations use are based on competing mental models or models that are not a good fit for the systems, problems, strategies, or practices they are using.

We see two mental models for systems change being used in philanthropy: systems dynamics and systems emergence. Strategies that use the systems-dynamics mental model aim at points of high leverage …

Systems Thinking For Social Change: A Practical Guide To Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, And Achieving Lasting Results, Hilda Vega

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2015, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

Advocacy Spotlight: Sen. Sam Singh, Mda Legislator Of The Year, Neema Katibai Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Sen. Sam Singh, Michigan Senate Majority Floor Leader and MDA Legislative Achievement Award recipient, discusses oral health priorities and legislative successes. In an interview, Singh highlights the passage of SB 280, which ensures oral health assessments for kindergarteners, and SB 281, which enhances network leasing transparency. Singh emphasizes the importance of oral health in overall well-being and bipartisan support for these initiatives. He credits the Michigan Dental Association for its advocacy and advises dentists to engage in advocacy through associations and direct communication with elected officials.

Implementation Evaluation And Outlook Of Major Function Oriented Zone, Dong Chen, Baoyin Liu, Jie Fan, Daojing Zhou, Rui Guo, Zhao Wang, Jianxiong Wu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Major Function Oriented Zone (MFOZ), an attempt and exploration aimed at ecological civilization during China’s industrial civilization period which is divided into two stages, the stage of MFOZ planning and the stage of the national strategy and basic institution before and after the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress, and the main characteristics of both stages are analyzed. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the strategic thinking of the MFOZ has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the strategic pattern of the MFOZ has been basically formed, the development of the categorized MFOZ has achieved …

Research On Spatial Collaborative Allocation Of Innovation Chain And Industrial Chain And Regional Economic Layout In China, Jianhui Yu, Wenzhong Zhang, Jiaming Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The driving force of China’s economic development in the new era is gradually shifting from traditional production factor inputs and export-led growth to scientific and technological innovation-driven development, and technological innovation is increasingly becoming the main engine of China’s economic development. China needs to urgently address difficult issues such as the disconnect between science and technology and the economy, as well as prominent problems such as repeated resource allocation and scattered scientific research forces. Under the complex and volatile development environment, it is necessary to further optimize the spatial collaborative allocation of innovation chains and industrial chains and promote the …

Suggestions For Layout Adjustment Of China's Agricultural Regions During Fifteenth Five-Year Plan Period, Yong Xu, Hua Yang, Jian Duan

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Adjusting and optimizing the strategic paradigm of China’s agricultural regions in the new era is of great significance to the implementation of the “Greater Food” concept and the building of a strong agriculture. This study takes the layout adjustment of China’s agricultural regions during the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan period as its theme, and firstly summarizes the problems that exist in the main agricultural production regions and the layout changes in grain production bases. Then, in conjunction with the new requirements of the national strategies, the functional types of agricultural regions are refined, the different function positions are clarified, the adjusting …

Bottleneck Analysis And Policy Suggestion On Construction Of International Scientific Research Environment, Xiaolin Zhou, Jun Wang, Ziyu Li, Jingru Chi, Fanchao Meng, Yun Yang, Xiaoping Ren

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Strengthening the construction of international scientific research environment is conducive to promoting international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation, as well as building an open innovation ecosystem with global competitiveness. Based on research interviews and policy analysis, this study analyzes the blockages and proposes policy recommendations from six aspects: entry and exit of scientific research personnel, cross-border flow of scientific data, cross-border flow of scientific research materials, openness of S&T plans, settlement of international S&T organizations, and services and welfare of foreign talents. The research reveals several problems existing in the current construction of international science and technology environment, such …

Layout Of Comprehensive Functional Regions And Recent Regional Guidelines In China, Fengjun Jin, Zhuo Chen, Jie Fan

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The overall strategy of the “four major sectors”, the regional major strategies and the major functional oriented zoning strategy have strongly supported the regional coordinated development in China. However, it also brings the risk of exacerbating the imbalance and incoordination of regional development due to strategic differences and segmentation. Based on an analysis of the trends in regional coordinated development in China, this study puts forward the layout of China’s comprehensive function regions, which divides the mainland of China into 10 regions: the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the middle reaches of Yangtze River basin, the upper reaches …

Research On Cohesion Strategy Of Land-Sea Functional Oriented Zoning Based On Perspective Of Land-Sea Coordination, Chengjin Wang, Zhaoyang He

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The marine-terrestrial interlaced zone serves as a crucial spatial hub linking the functional zoning of both land and sea areas. Optimizing the ecological function, economic function, and national security function of the marine-terrestrial interlaced zone is of significant importance for promoting the coordination between land and sea functional oriented zoning and achieving their mutual beneficial interaction. It also contributes to enhancing the economic, social, and environmental benefits, effectively allocating resources, and advancing social sustainability. Building upon the clarification of the current development status and characteristics of China’s marine-terrestrial interlaced zone, the research systematically examines the key issues existing in the …

Improve Policy System Of Main Functional Zones In National Spatial Planning, Fan Qi, Siqi Qiu, Chengshuangping Zhao, Jianglong Chen, Siyu Shao, Bangrui Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

This study analyzes in detail the effectiveness and existing problems of the current policy implementation of the main functional zone in the “multi planning and integration” national land spatial planning system, and proposes an overall idea of systematizing, differentiating, coordinating, and incentivizing the policy system of the main functional zone in the new era of national land spatial governance. From the perspectives of strengthening the top-level design of policy systems, classifying and improving policy tools for the main functional zone, strengthening comprehensive policy coordination, and improving policy implementation evaluation mechanisms, the policy recommendations are proposed for improving and implementing the …

Strengthen And Optimize Professional Talent Team Building To Enhance Effectiveness Of Large-Scale Research Infrastructures, Xiyi Yang, Lingling Zhang, Xielin Liu, Xiaoyu Zhou

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The construction and operation of large-scale research infrastructures involves not only basic scientific research issues, but also complex engineering and management issues. Therefore, strengthening and optimizing professional talent team-building is a key factor in comprehensively improving the effectiveness of large-scale research infrastructures. However, current management system of these infrastructures pays insufficient attention to professional engineering and technical talents and management talents in terms of financial support, talent evaluation, and incentive system construction, which has seriously reduced the stability and work enthusiasm of these talents, which in turn directly restricts the scientific and social benefits of the infrastructures. By investigating several …

Strategic Pattern And Optimization Of China's Eco-Regions During Fifteenth Five-Year Plan Period, Kan Zhou, Jie Fan, Daojing Zhou, Zhedong Qian, Hu Yu, Hanchu Liu, Jian Zhang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Since the implementation of the major function oriented zoning, the ecological space of key ecological functional areas has continuously expanded, with a significant increase in vegetation coverage. Concurrently, there has been a dual change in population dynamics, characterized by a decrease in total population and an increase in the urban population. Furthermore, significant achievements have been made in economic and social development, and there has been a steady improvement in the functions of ecological security barriers, contributing to an alleviation of tension in human-environment relationships. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is imperative to adhere to the functional orientation …

Establishing Networked Territorial Spatial Pattern To Serve New Development Pattern, Jiaming Li, Jiaoe Wang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

A networked territorial spatial pattern, centered around major strategic corridors, plays a crucial role in supporting the construction of the new dual-circulation development pattern. The “Two Horizontals and Three Verticals” major strategic corridors that have been formed can effectively promote the concentration of socio-economic factors in major urban agglomerations. However, there exists a mismatch between the north-south vertical strategic corridors and the east-west socio-economic linkages and transportation corridors. Besides, the existing strategic corridors lack sufficient horizontal support for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, and the land and sea corridors exhibit weak horizontal driving effect and insufficient connection with external corridors. “Three …

Strategic Priorities Of China's Urbanized Areas During 15th Five-Year Plan Period, Wei Qi, Jie Fan, Jiaming Li, Yu Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Urbanized areas are areas whose main function is to provide industrial and service products. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the urbanization rate of China’s population will exceed 70 percent, thus entering a long-time stage of high urbanization levels. The strategic positioning of urbanized areas will be defined as county-level administrative districts with a high concentration of scientific and technological innovation resources, new quality productivity, and new-type industrialization. In terms of strategic layout, the scope of urbanized areas will be optimized to promote the concentration of population and economy in urban agglomerations, metropolitan areas, and central cities, and to strengthen …

Capitalism, Global Militarism, And Canada’S Investment In The Caribbean, Tamanisha J. John

Class, Race and Corporate Power

At the end of the 1990s, there existed a belief that a growing Canadian military involvement in the Caribbean region was unlikely if it was not associated with Canada’s interest in Latin America (Klepak 1996). This view had such a large impact that today there is a dearth of information on Canada’s military involvement in the Caribbean region. Lacking systematic investigation, two myths have perpetuated: first that Canada has no stake or interest in Caribbean security, insofar as those interests cannot be tied to Canada’s interests in Latin America; and second, that all expressions of Canada’s involvement in Caribbean security …