Following an unusual budget cycle, with the COVID-19 pandemic interrupting typical budget deliberations and the need for a rare third revenue estimating conference before the 2021 budget was completed, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has presented her 2022 budget recommendation. While much of the 2021 budget was focused on the response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, the governor’s 2022 budget takes a look at the recovery ahead by prioritizing funding in the following areas: public education, economic opportunity, public health, infrastructure, clean energy, and the environment, and equity.

This summary from the Michigan League for Public Policy provides highlights of the entire budget.

While civic foundations and community foundations share some similar characteristics, this document clarifies the primary differences between the two types of organizations.

This report from Independent Sector, The Retreat of Influence: Exploring the Decline of Nonprofit Advocacy and Public Engagement, explores how advocacy and civic engagement may vary by organization size, geography, communities served, and leadership demographics. 

Questions about how much foundations spend on staff, overhead, and other administrative expenses - and how much is appropriate to spend - are a perennial focus of policy debates on foundation practices.  This report explores how variations in foundations' characteristics, activities, and giving levels influence charitable (program-related) administrative expense levels for a sample of the largest independent foundations between 2007 and 2009.

Federal law regarding conflicts of interest and self-dealing at foundations can be complex and confusing. Family foundation boards that are eager to comply with both the letter and spirit of the law should understand the legal definition of “disqualified persons” as well as the variety of rules for certain regulated activities. These rules prohibit the trustees themselves, certain family members, managers, and other “disqualified persons” from benefiting from the philanthropic activities of the foundation.

Although far-reaching and pervasive, the rules do permit certain activities, such as purchasing investment services from a disqualified person for a fair price. The rules discourage most other business and financial dealings between a private foundation and its disqualified persons, no matter how fair or reasonable. When in doubt, prudent trustees should always consult legal counsel.

These resource topics include:

• The history of self-dealing rules
• Definitions related to "who is a disqualified person?"
• General rules and examples related to self-dealing
• Investments and self-dealing 
• Definitions for reasonable compensation

The 2018 U.S. Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy examines the giving patterns, priorities, and attitudes of America’s wealthiest households for the year 2017. This latest research study is the seventh in this series of studies and was once again written and researched by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in partnership with U.S. Trust.

To inform longitudinal tracking of high net worth philanthropic activity, several areas analyzed in this study — giving patterns, perceptions, motivations, decision-making, strategies, values, traditions, volunteering, and demographic dimensions — build on those examined in the previous studies in this series. In addition, the current study presents new areas of research in order to gain a deeper understanding of the giving patterns of America’s high net worth households.

Foundation Center is building YouthGiving.org, a platform to elevate stories, resources, and data about youth grantmaking.

This collection, part of the larger platform, brings together a wealth of reports, articles, case studies, multimedia, and other resources for adults and youth already engaged in or looking to get involved in this work. 

Independent Sector's study reveals that the estimated value of a volunteer hour reached $23.07 in 2014, up $2.22 from 2009. According to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the value of volunteer services can also be used on financial statements - including statements used for internal and external purposes, grant proposals, and annual reports - if a volunteer is contributing a specialized skill to a nonprofit.

Recognizing that we can achieve more working together than acting alone, there is increasing interest among private and public sector funders, nonprofits, community organizations, and corporations alike to find ways to effectively align resources to grow impact.

Leaders of community foundations agree on the importance of strategy, but new research indicates that few actually use it in the programmatic and donor-related work of their organizations. That key finding is contained in the report titled Rhetoric Versus Reality: A Strategic Disconnect at Community Foundations, released by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP). The report draws from in-depth interviews with CEOs of community foundations that were selected to represent the population of larger American community foundations. Three profiles are included in the report, looking at the issue of strategy in the context of the circumstances of community foundations, poised among constituent groups including donors, grantees, and community stakeholders.