Business Commons^™

Collective Learning In Philanthropy: Ai, Trust, And The Future Of Grant Reporting, Rachel Kimber, Valerie Ehrlich, Blanch Vance, Abigail Osei

The Foundation Review

Grant reporting has largely devolved from a learning tool to a bureaucratic exercise that reinforces power asymmetries and burdens nonprofits. As philanthropy confronts mounting crises demanding equity and transparency, reporting must transform into a space for collective sensemaking.

This paper explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI), paired with Oral and Alternate Reporting (OAR) methods, can build equitable, human-centered reporting systems. We propose the E⁴ framework — Efficiency, Effectiveness, Expansiveness, and Equity — for intentionally leveraging AI in service of more equitable reporting practices.

Traditional reporting often sidelines the expertise of nonprofit staff and communities most affected by funded programs. Drawing …

Philanthropy As Risk Capital: Shaping Trust And Learning At The Speed Of Ai, Nina Sabarre, Clara Bennett, Laura Chavez-Varela

The Foundation Review

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes society, philanthropy is increasingly called to act as "risk capital" for the public good. But risk alone is not enough. Without rigorous, field-wide learning, philanthropy's bold bets may remain isolated and short-sighted, failing to catalyze the systemic change this moment demands.

This article draws on three sources of learning at Omidyar Network—an evaluation of The Tech We Want initiative, external strategy consultations with 29 stakeholders, and early learnings from a generative AI portfolio—to identify how philanthropy can uniquely "de-risk" AI innovation for collective benefit.

Through trust-based partnerships, ecosystem infrastructure support, and narrative change, these learning …

When Shift Happens: Navigating Toward A Framework For Responsible Philanthropic Exits, Laila Bell, Stephanie Teleki, Jaime Vazquez

The Foundation Review

Philanthropy can be a powerful force for social change, with influence extending far beyond the funding period. When foundations decide to cease funding in a specific area, how they exit can significantly impact the field they are leaving in both the short- and long-term. A poorly executed exit risks blindsiding grant partners and communities, damaging key relationships, undermining progress, and potentially leaving the field worse off than it was found. In contrast, a responsible exit can help the work continue long after the foundation ceases its funding.

What defines a responsible exit? In this article, learning leaders at three different …

Base Building Evaluation: Three Opportunities To Improve Its Use And Relevance, Katie Fox, Margaret A. Post

The Foundation Review

The concept of base building comes from the traditions of electoral and labor organizing, where organizers focus on drawing leadership from a specific constituency or geography. Base building is foundational to organizing efforts. It involves the recruitment, training, and leadership development of people who are often most directly impacted by the issues and causes that organizing focuses on.

In recent years, base building has seen increased interest and investment from the philanthropic sector as funders recognize base building as critical to community-led change. As funders expand their investment in base building, they increasingly seek information and data about base building …

Tfr 17.3 Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Transactions: Building Relational Partnerships Between Evaluators And Foundations, Lauren Beriont, Cassie Bruny, Madison N. Garcia, Ebonie Guyton, Chelsey Hurt, Leah Josephson, Kate Mallula, Mary Mattson, Rory Neuner, Ramona Perry, Andrea Prado Tuma, Sarah Smith, Kim Van Der Woerd, Sofia Vitalis

The Foundation Review

The co-authors have framed this article as an emergent learning journal of sorts, summarizing observations, findings, and key takeaways; walking the reader through the process, key tensions, and classic myths they identified; and highlighting principles they uncovered that underlie and lay the groundwork for imagining more equitable ways for evaluation consultants and foundations to act in relationships.

Case Study: Using Ai To Design More Effective, Efficient, And Equity Focused Grant Application Review Processes, Emily Yu, Bryan Speelman

The Foundation Review

Grants fuel millions of organizations and advance social innovation across sectors. In the United States, foundations and corporations respectively awarded $103.5B and $36.5B to nonprofits in 2023 alone (Childress, 2024; Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, 2024).

By extension, grant applications play a critical role in how grant recipients are identified and selected. While many funders are eager for more streamlined and equitable processes to review grant applications, the process remains primarily a manual and time consuming one (Hewlett Foundation, 2021). These factors leave some funders implementing grant application processes potentially at odds with their impact goals. Examples include restricting who …

An Active Learning Simulation For Teaching Hadoop In An Undergraduate Business Curriculum, Ruben A. Mendoza Ph.D., Liyuan Liu Ph.D.

International Journal for Business Education

This paper shows the effectiveness of an experiential learning activity for teaching core Hadoop concepts to undergraduate business students across all majors (Finance, Marketing, etc.). The complexity of Hadoop, with its distributed computing model and deep technical requirements, presents significant challenges in educational settings. The simulation was developed for an introductory course in a Business Intelligence & Analytics (BI&A) curriculum and adapted for use in a Database Management (DB) course. Results show significantly higher performance on questions centered on the topic in an online test preparation game with a total of 236 students in 11 different offerings of the course. …

Is Complexity Virtuous?, Ryan Elmore, Jack Strauss

Business Information and Analytics: Faculty Scholarship

(Kelly et al., 2024) show that increasing complexity in linear models, with potentially thousands of predictors, is "virtuous". Their work contradicts the dogma of model selection, including the Principles of Parsimony and Occam's Razor. They find that when the number of predictors far exceeds the number of observations, the bias-variance trade-off breaks down, the variance declines, and the Sharpe ratio increases. In the context of ridge regression, we find that very high complexity coupled with large penalty terms (excessive shrinkage) generate forecasts that converge to a rolling window of past returns. For example, we show the past twelve-month moving average …

The Tax Adviser, Volume 1, Number 1, January 1970, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Trends, Harry Z. Garian

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Working With The Irs: The New Exempt Organizations Program In Audit, Donald W. Bacon

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Washington Report: Tax Reform 1969—The End Of The Beginning!, Gilbert Simonetti Jr.

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Clinic, Don J. Summa

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Estate Planning Techniques: Arranging Life Insurance Proceeds, Edward S. Schlesinger

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Pension Plans Before And After Incorporation, Peter Elder, Daniel G. Stewart

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Checklist-Summary Of Tax Reform Act Of 1969, William T. Barnes

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Using The Cash Method Of Tax Accounting, Paul Farber

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

After-Death Estate Planning, Bernard Barnett

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Treatment Of Computer Software, Sheldon S. Cohen, Henry G. Zapruder

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Convertible Debentures - Tax And Financial Accounting Treatment Today, Theodore M. Asner

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Conglomerates And Convertibles, Randolph W. Thrower

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

The Tax Adviser, Volume 15, Number 1 (Pilot Issue), January 1970, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Working With The Irs: The New Exempt Organizations Program In Audit, Donald W. Bacon

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Washington Report: Tax Reform 1969-The End Of The Beginning!, Gilbert Simonetti Jr.

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Clinic, Don J. Summa

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Estate Planning Techniques: Arranging Life Insurance Proceeds, Edward S. Schlesinger

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

After-Death Estate Planning, Bernard Barnett

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Tax Treatment Of Computer Software, Sheldon S. Cohen, Henry G. Zapruder

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Convertible Debentures—Tax And Financial Accounting Treatment Today, Theodore M. Asner

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.