Christopher Frangione

🚀 Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) have become one of the fastest-growing tools in philanthropy—holding over $250B in charitable assets. But only ~1% of Americans have them, and nonprofits often struggle to unlock those dollars. At GoFundMe, we believe there’s a better way. That’s why we launched Giving Funds—a modern DAF built for today’s givers. Giving Funds lower barriers, expand access, and connect generosity directly to nonprofits doing urgent, life-changing work. 📰 Our CEO, Tim Cadogan, shares more about this vision in a new op-ed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. 👉 Read it here: https://bit.ly/4fTQEBt

83

4 Comments

In philanthropy, playing it safe can mean missing what matters most. The social challenges we’re facing today: climate change, displacement, deepening inequality, require bold ideas and unproven models. But with boldness comes risk. And in the world of corporate philanthropy, that risk can feel especially heavy. At the Cisco Foundation, we believe that responsible risk-taking is essential to unlocking impact at scale. That means funding early-stage solutions that might not have a ten-year track record. It means supporting community-led approaches that don’t always fit neatly into traditional frameworks. It means trusting partners to experiment, learn, and adapt in real time. Of course, we monitor results. But we also value learning alongside our grantees, and we accept that not every bet will lead to a breakthrough. What matters is that we are moving with purpose, and that we are not waiting for perfection before we act. Social innovation thrives when funders make space for experimentation. We should not shy away from the uncertainty that comes with doing something new. Instead, we should embrace it, because the risks we take today may be what unlocks a more just and resilient future tomorrow. #SocialInnovation #SocialImpact

118

11 Comments

Was privileged to represent the voice of small businesses that are being impacted by significant federal policy changes that scrap strategies to reduce carbon emissions. U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ-04) led a news conference yesterday spotlighting new data from Climate Power’s Energy Crisis report, showing nearly 8,000 clean energy jobs and $1.85 billion in private investment already lost or delayed since the July passage of President Trump’s One Big Bill. Arizona ranks third-highest in the nation for clean energy jobs lost or delayed, according to the report. #cleanenergy #solar #solarpowered #wearelocalfirst Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gPtW55jH

126

2 Comments

here are 8 observations since starting at Impact Foundation... ...on impact investing, faith-driven ventures, and how capital allocations are changing: (1) - impact investing (i.e., leveraging charitable investment mechanisms) is helping investors actually pour into "riskier" investment classes that they wouldn't otherwise be interested in. Christians, in particular, are attracted to this investment class, but haven't always had the funding vehicles to adequately help Kingdom-driven entrepreneurs. impact investments have changed that aspect of their capital strategy. (2) - localized funds with pointed, specific theses are intriguing for faith-driven investors. which is to say, it's often more compelling when raising $$ if you have a vision for a specific metro/market over a long proposed period of time, rather than flash-in-the-pan raises. (3) - investors are getting more creative and proactive. anecdotally, we've seen an increase in deal volume where the lead source is the investor themself. seasoned faith-driven investors have grown in knowing what a good deal is, where to find it, and how to evaluate it. (4) - most of the "impact" in our space can typically be traced by "what is the Spirit of God doing between a particular entrepreneur and investor?"..."impact" seems to closely follow that alignment between those 2 parties. Christian investors aren't as generically interested in "real estate" or "media"...they're interested in partnering w/ an operator who is building something aligned w/ what God has put on their heart. impact investing isn't always traced through the best anticipated return, but it can be traced through a careful listening to the Holy Spirit. (5) - for folks who have significant sums of $$ parked in DAFs, i think there is a general conviction (and subsequent attitude shift) that investing in a Kingdom venture that produces a return > throwing money into a low-yield money market account that has investments you wouldn't typically align with. (6) - charity is not at odds with impact investing. far from it. they're complimentary disciplines that ultimately benefit one another. as a matter of fact, several investors have indicated that they do impact investing so that they can write more grant checks with the distributions they see from their investments. (7) - a remark (or some version of it) that i've heard from at least half a dozen impact investors: "...does the parable of the talents not apply to our 'charity' dollars as well?" - LOVE that more people are asking this question/thinking about how to apply biblical wisdom to every slice of their capital stack. (8) - our investments are not agnostic. they tell a story about something: what we believe in, what we see as producing good things/things that serve, what declares God's likeness. a sacred/secular approach to economics is slowly dwindling...my prayer is that a more congruent approach to investing continues to bear fruit. #JoyInTheJourney #UseTheTime #KeepGoing

41

18 Comments

"A small group of about 10 writers, researchers and web development ninjas are launching an ambitious effort to preserve key climate data that the Trump administration has taken offline, including a landmark, congressionally mandated report and the contents of the climate.gov website." https://lnkd.in/eMR7Gj6f

276

5 Comments

Please read this excellent and timely article by Darakshan R. at Nonprofit Quarterly on the need for robust financial infrastructure with historical comparisons and clear calls to action. "In response to this “defund and dismantle” strategy, movements urgently need a “defend and build” strategy by leveraging catalytic investment as a framework and tool—a term used in the for-profit sector to mean early-stage funding for projects that are perceived to be high-risk...Translated into movement terms, catalytic funding means resourcing bold, experimental, and community-led models that may not have immediate returns but hold the potential to transform systems. While communities have long sustained themselves through mutual aid networks, cooperatives, and other grassroots survival models, such efforts cannot by themselves match the scale of today’s threats, especially as they are also being targeted." https://lnkd.in/eF7z53ir

62

4 Comments

Bob Inglis is an exceptional speaker who brings lessons to life, making complex issues understandable. Have you heard him? Wow! Former Representative Bob Inglis (R-SC), now the executive director of republicEn.org, advocates for a carbon tax as the most sensible and effective approach to reducing #greenhousegas #emissions. After his time in Congress, Inglis launched the Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University, which later rebranded to republicEn.org. His efforts in addressing climate change earned him the 2015 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Inglis has also appeared in the film Merchants of Doubt and the SHOWTIME series Years of Living Dangerously. Inglis argues that a #carbontax would be more effective than traditional #environmental regulations. He explains that pairing a carbon tax with an offsetting payroll tax cut could reduce U.S. emissions while benefiting most Americans, particularly lower-income workers, by increasing take-home pay and promoting #cleanerchoices. Additionally, he believes this policy would exert greater #economic pressure on countries like China to implement their own carbon taxes, fostering global #climateaction

36

15 Comments

🌊 Nice acknowledgment of advocacy for NOAA's data & services in this piece, but the fight is far from over! Yes there is *some* rehiring happening following DOGE's chainsaw approach to efficiency, but we are still pushing back on budget cuts & damaging policy riders that threaten our health, safety,--and as this piece points out--economic security & American competitiveness. Excerpt: Holder: Then, there are the funding and staffing cuts that affect the scientists that help predict disasters before they happen: the scientists at NOAA. Hirji: It is a very kind of immediate impact that people can see, because these are meteorologists that are tracking to see if there's a tornado and helping put out tornado alerts for example, or if there's a hurricane, or if there's a flood. Because of this, there's actually been a lot of response, a lot of criticism, members of Congress have spoken up and so now actually the agency is hiring back. https://lnkd.in/gUhqkUAR

33

2 Comments