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Essay 2: The Prerequisite for Courage
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The Reckoning Our Sector’s Narrators Don’t Want to See Coming
Jun 22, 2025
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Jason Lewis
27
11
The Soft Authoritarianism of Institutional Philanthropy
Apr 5, 2025
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Jason Lewis
42
11
5
How Philanthropy Lost Touch with Working-Class Americans—in Three Acts
Jun 1, 2025
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Jason Lewis
12
4
The Real Reason Your Fundraiser Just Quit
Apr 3, 2025
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Ann Criswell
9
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2
Gift Theory
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Stop Confining the Gift to a Grid
I find it a little funny when people in our sector respond to the notion of the gift as if I am describing something mystical or speaking a language…
Nov 7, 2025
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Jason Lewis
2
What the GoFundMe Fiasco Reveals About Our First Principles
GoFundMe’s recent fiasco struck a nerve.
Oct 24, 2025
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Jason Lewis
5
We Are Not Our Own Gods
Last evening I enjoyed a conversation with my friend Dan, and he repeated a question I couldn’t shake: Where did it all begin?
Oct 17, 2025
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Jason Lewis
5
1
The Moral Architecture of the Gift
Last week I had the opportunity to present one of the frameworks that I’ve been teaching for more than a decade.
Oct 9, 2025
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Jason Lewis
4
The Gift Never Asks for a Hall Pass — and Nonprofits Shouldn’t Either
Don’t miss the next piece in my series in The Giving Review on the ideology hiding in direct mail.
Sep 19, 2025
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Jason Lewis
8
3
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Big Philanthropy
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How many of philanthropy’s convictions are just luxury beliefs?
Update: This piece has been revised to include new reporting from the Chronicle of Philanthropy regarding the Ford Foundation’s decision to sunset its…
Nov 15, 2025
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Jason Lewis
12
4
Politics, Philanthropy, and the Left’s Self-Defeating Feedback Loop
Last week I argued that the First Amendment won’t save Big Philanthropy. Foundations can’t hide behind claims of free expression when their very…
Sep 30, 2025
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Jason Lewis
4
2
The First Amendment Won’t Save Big Philanthropy
Don’t miss my latest piece in The Giving Review on the ideology hiding in direct mail.
Sep 26, 2025
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Jason Lewis
2
1
Who Decides? The Wrong Standards for Nonprofit Survival
The latest from David Callahan, There Are Too Many Nonprofits.
Aug 20, 2025
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Jason Lewis
12
3
2
Why Mamdani’s Grocery Stores Are Good for Big Philanthropy
By the end of next week, the students in my social entrepreneurship course will have identified a complex social problem they want to wrestle with and…
Aug 18, 2025
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Jason Lewis
3
Fundraising Practices
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Fundraising and the Myth of Charitable Exceptionalism
Not long ago, a trusted consulting colleague shared something rather matter-of-factly, as if describing a preference for email over phone calls.
Dec 31, 2025
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Jason Lewis
5
1
A System That Doesn’t Allow Your Donors to Lapse
Every once in a while, the market makes a claim that feels less like marketing copy and more like a confession of faith.
Dec 15, 2025
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Jason Lewis
1
Why Scarlet Can’t Show Up for GivingTuesday
During a recent podcast conversation about the goings-on at GivingTuesday, Asha Curran explained that the initiative is many things and is perceived as…
Dec 2, 2025
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Jason Lewis
1
When Special Events Drift From Symbol to Spectacle
As we move into the holidays, most of us will feel something we do not always have language for.
Nov 11, 2025
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Jason Lewis
2
1
Overthink or Outrage. You Choose.
A veteran fundraiser told me a couple of weeks ago that overthinking is a “worth-plucking weed in the nonprofit garden.” “It’s poisonous to fundraising…
Oct 26, 2025
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Jason Lewis
3
2
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