June 29, 2018 – The USC Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy has released the 2018 edition of “Foundation Governance, Leadership and Strategy: An Annotated Bibliography,” a collection of summary reports focused on foundations and philanthropy.

For the past 15 years, The Center has facilitated intimate discussions on critical issues facing philanthropy by bringing the lead executives of 12 of the largest and most prominent foundations together.  As part of those convenings, The Center identifies and summarizes important reports, articles and other materials from the field that are of interest to foundation leaders, including executives, board members and senior staff.

The Center facilitates intimate discussions on critical issues facing philanthropy and the nonprofit sector by bringing leaders together in meaningful exchanges.  These include the Los Angeles Foundation Leadership Group – comprised of the lead executive at 12 of the largest and most prominent foundations with a focus on Los Angeles – which has been meeting for the last 15 years.

This year, The Center has added seventeen new summaries to the bibliography covering a range of important and timely topics. Several tackle perennial strategy questions such as how can foundation leaders better scale impact, enact systems change and overcome aversion to risk that is endemic to philanthropy? Others focus on enhancing foundation practices and building a productive organizational culture, strengthening funder-grantee relations, and more actively involve nonprofit beneficiaries in foundation-related decision-making and/or grantmaking.

The annotated bibliography with summary articles from the last 15 years is available here. A new abbreviated version of the bibliography, which includes only the most critical reports and summaries from the past decade, is available here.

The Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy promotes more effective philanthropy and strengthens the nonprofit sector through research that informs philanthropic decision-making and public policy to advance community problem solving. The Center is a part of the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, which works to improve the quality of life for people and their communities, here and abroad.

For more information:
Please contact Nicholas Williams, Associate Director, The Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy at [email protected] or (213) 740-8557.