News

• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Date: 01 September 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30657

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR SEPTEMBER 2019

12 © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

EMPLOYEE WINS ➔ The judge refused to

dismiss the case. He said that after considering the

sexual nature of the alleged comments, the purported

instances of unwelcome physical touching and the

fact that such conduct was allegedly committed by

a manager, it caused him to conclude that a jury

could reasonably decide the plaintiff was subjected

to behavior so objectively offensive as to alter the

conditions of her employment.

[Wheeler v. Commonwealth of Virginia, et al., U.S.

District Court for the Western District of Virginia,

No. 7:17CV00337, 02/20/2019]. ■

News

Philanthropic groups launch new

criminal justice reform effort

A group of foundations and other philanthropic

organizations has launched a new venture focused

on criminal justice reform. The collaborative, dubbed

the Spark Justice Fund, was launched by Borealis

Philanthropy with support from the Ford Foundation,

the Heising-Simons Foundation, the MacArthur

Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, the Open Society

Foundation, Art for Justice and Galaxy Gives.

The long-term vision of the fund is to strengthen

the capacity of state-based and local grassroots

organizations and those who are impacted by the

criminal justice system to lead the movement for

its transformation. By ending cash money bail and

unjust pretrial detention policies, the fund and its

grantees hope to signicantly reduce jail populations,

decriminalize poverty and reduce disparities for low-

income communities of color, including for women

of color and other marginalized populations.

Coinciding with its launch, the fund awarded a total

of $1.745 million in grants to eight organizations—

Action St. Louis, Families for Justice as Healing,

the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Free Hearts,

the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada,

Southerners on New Ground, the Texas Organizing

Project Education Fund and the Youth Art & Self-

Empowerment Project—all of which are based in

states and jurisdictions where there is a growing

movement for pretrial justice reform, including

Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada,

Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

For more information, visit https://

borealisphilanthropy.org.

Study highlights ‘exemplary’ attributes

of donors to women’s causes

New research from the Women’s Philanthropy

Institute at Indiana University shows that donors to

women’s funds and foundations stand out from other

donors in a number of ways that lead to especially

impactful philanthropy.

According to the WPI, women’s fund and

foundation donors differ from the general donor

public on many basic metrics. For example:

• They give more. Women’s fund and foundation

donors give higher amounts to charity, and to more

charitable organizations, the WPI said.

• They’re knowledgeable about the issues. The

donors have given to women’s and girls’ causes for

a long period of time—the majority for at least a

decade, the WPI said—giving them plenty of time

to garner knowledge and educate themselves on the

critical issues facing women and girls, and effective

strategies for addressing them.

• They have deeper engagement levels. Women’s

fund and foundation donors are more likely to

participate in activities that enable more effective

giving, such as serving on a nonprot board or talking

with other donors, and to use different giving tools—

such as giving circles—the WPI said.

• They give for different reasons. Compared

to general donors, donors to women’s funds and

foundations are more motivated to give by being on

the board or volunteering for an organization and

believing their gift can make a difference. According

to the WPI, only 11% say they are motivated by the

tax benets of giving to charity, compared to 23%

of general donors.

According to the WPI, these and other

characteristics of donors to women’s funds and

foundations exemplify how to have an outsized effect

on the causes you care about.

For more information, visit https://bit.

ly/1UVENUS. ■

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