GIA Blog

Philadelphia was recently awarded $4 million by the MacArthur Foundation with the goal of decreasing the city’s jail population by 50 percent by 2020. The plan to cut the prison population comes after the city was able to surpass its original target reduction of 34 percent over three years, reported WHYY.

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced its Arts Program granted $3.5M in lead funding to South Arts, based in Atlanta, GA, to launch Jazz Road, a national program designed to expand jazz artists’ touring to a wide range of communities.

This year's Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) conference in Singapore gave prominence to the topic of impact investing. It is no surprise considering that Asia sets an example on its use of capital for social ends, according to an article in Alliance magazine.

Spelman College received recently a $5.4 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation to establish the Atlanta University Center Collective for the Study of Art History and Curatorial Studies.

For the months of December and January, GIA’s photo banner features work supported by the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA). Founded by visionary community leaders in 1962, the BCA is dedicated to advancing cultural equity in the Bronx.

In a recent report on how funders are collecting and using demographic data PEAK Grantmaking learned that about half of grantmakers are collecting this data. "Of that half, almost all of them are collecting information on the communities that nonprofits serve, and less than half of them are collecting information on the board and staff leadership of the nonprofits," explains a post by Philanthropy New York.

Back in 2016, local Pittsburgh artists Jerome Charles and Max Gonzales were arrested for being the "Most Wanted Graffiti Artists in Pittsburgh," local media reports recall.

In 2012, Giving Tuesday (the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the US) was launched by the 92nd Street Y in partnership with the United Nations Foundation to encourage global giving focusing on the holiday and end-of-year giving.

A new book, "Decolonizing Wealth," challenges colonial dynamics in philanthropy and finance, philanthropy's white supremacist legacy, and the little investment and support of POC-led efforts in communities as result of those dynamics.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock unveiled this month an initiative that may soon enable the country’s doctors to prescribe therapeutic art- or hobby-based treatments for ailments ranging from dementia to psychosis, lung conditions, and mental health issues, reported Smithsonian Magazine.