Lucy Bernholz

#Blueprint17 is live

Download it for free here

Do you use government-held data in your nonprofit work? Read this

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-bind-us-lucy-bernholz?trk=pulse_spock-articles

Nonprofits, foundations, and the next U.S. President

(Photo: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/11/digital-security-tips-for-protesters) The U.S. nonprofit sector often thinks of itself as being independent from government and markets. This self-image is held widely enough that one of the major  trade organizations even calls itself Independent Sector. But independence in the digital age is.

Practical advice for digital civil society (U.S. focused)

In The New Republic, Brian Beutler writes "...we’re facing a moment that threatens equal protection, due process, free expression, democracy—. It’s not a drill." Social justice advocates, reproductive rights activists, racial equity leaders, librarians, civil liberties protectors, and journalists have been doing the hard work of

Civil society now

That democracy depends on an independent civil society is a bedrock assumption in political theory. In the USA, we've just held an election that will test this theory against reality. Like so many people, I've spent the last few days trying to reconcile my feelings, my

Philanthropy in Democratic Societies - New book and excerpt

I'm delighted to have co-edited this new volume, Philanthropy in Democratic Societies. The book is a product of an unusual process, one of workshops and seminars designed to create an multi-author  volume that forms a more coherent whole than most such collections. The blog HistPhil is running a

Philanthropy in Democratic Societies

Philanthropy in Democratic Societies, co-edited book with Rob Reich and Chiara Cordelli, is out! The book is the result of an 18 month workshop with the chapter authors in which we considered the question of philanthropy's fit in democracy through the lenses of history, institutional structures, and values.

So close, yet so far

I saw the above in a parking lot near Uluru. And here's Uluru. And here's a different Uluru. These are the dog days of summer (northern hemisphere). This post has nothing to do with philanthropy, other than I took the top two photos while I was

Data, ethics, psychology, and the census

I've been in Australia for several weeks, leading workshops on digital civil society and data governance in nonprofits, meeting with philanthropists, corporate leaders, and various government bodies, and searching for potential scholarly collaborators. I'll be writing a reflection piece on this work soon. But I'

First Facebook ate the news, are nonprofits next?

(Photo: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2015/05/12-improving-media-capacity-series-intro-kamarck) The news business has been through quite a bit over the last two decades. A year or so ago, Facebook made itself into a key distribution channel for magazine, newspaper and broadcast outlets - creating tools like Instant Articles,

First Facebook ate the news, are nonprofits next?

(Photo: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2015/05/12-improving-media-capacity-series-intro-kamarck) The news business has been through quite a bit over the last two decades. A year or so ago, Facebook made itself into a key distribution channel for magazine, newspaper and broadcast outlets - creating tools like Instant Articles,

A reformation of digital and democracy literacy led by civil society

Once upon a time, the codes that guided society were the province of a few. The word of God was read and interpreted by priests and men of the church who told the people what the book said, what the codes for a good life were. And the people did

associations

Thoughts on democracy from the U.S. capital

I've been thinking... Suing news outlets with whom you don't agree is not philanthropy. Wealthy individuals litigating an agenda by themselves (and secretly) is different from "impact litigation" led by public interest groups, (even when financed by a few individuals). (see below * on associational

Redesigning civil society organizations

Digital data are everywhere. They are replicable, generative, storable, scalable, nonrival and nonexcludable. Digital data are different enough from time and money - the two resources around which most of our existing institutions are designed - that it's time to redesign those institutions. It's time for

reading

Resources - Tech for Social Good

I just finished teaching a continuing studies class at Stanford on Tech for Social Good. My colleague and co-teacher, Rob Reich and I assembled this list of free online sites to follow/ newsletters to read for the class. I thought I'd share it here as well. Enjoy! (and

Digital civil society in one minute and 26 seconds

From an interview at Worldview Stanford Lucy Bernholz: Digital Civil Society from Worldview on Vimeo.

Death and digital civil society

Last week's episode of the Raw Data podcast is mostly about death. That said, the last 7 minutes or so include some thoughts from me about our relationships to our digital data, why we need new rules for this resource, and why it matters during life as well

Civil society's (and philanthropy's) digital roots

Today's assigned readings on digital civil society: * Neil Richards, The iPhone Case and the Future of Civil Liberties, Boston Review, February 2016 * Neil Richards, Apple's Code = Speech Mistake, Technology Review, March 2016 * Cathy O'Neill, The Ethical Data Scientist, Slate, February 2016 Cathy O'

It's the data, stupid (note to self)

Last Friday I was part of the International Data Responsibility Group's second conference where I heard incredible examples of how the World Food Programme is using data to guide its work feeding people in conflict zones and thought long and hard about data collaboratives and the possibility of

Let the lawsuits begin

We launched digitalIMPACT.io on Tuesday at the Data on Purpose conference. It was great. One of the conversations I had during the event was initiated by someone asking me the question, "When will the lawsuits begin?" The point was that organizations won't change until they

Ranking Digital Rights

The Ranking Digital Rights initiative is important. Take a look. Like the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Who has your back report" these efforts analyze, report on, and rank the privacy-respecting practices of corporations and online companies. So, what about civil society? The Foundation Center's Glasspockets

Raw Data - the podcast

Podcasts are in again. I know you know that. Photo: http://worldview.stanford.edu/blog-posts?field_categories_multiple_target_id=546 I was recently asked by the amazing folks at Worldview Stanford, who have included me in some of their regular campus programming, to do an interview for their new

@czi

Alternative interpretations

As if maintaining this blog weren't enough, I've jumped on the Medium bandwagon. You can find my stories here, the Lab's posts here, and a publication called The Development Set here. Here's a piece I wrote about how the discussions about the

The digital rights agenda for civil society

As always, talking with smart people makes me smarter. Last week at lunch Henry Timms asked, "What is it, Lucy? What is the digital rights agenda for civil society?" Since it's Henry, I knew I needed a sharp, pithy answer (preferably tweetable). "Three things matter

Nonprofits, data, and privacy

How would you react if you had to include your social security number alongside your name and address on charitable donations you made so that the nonprofit could then report that information as part of its public filings? Let me guess...you'd say no way. That can'