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Art and humanity

Art and humanity

If philanthropy is "a love of humanity," and the arts are what make us human (as some say), then philanthropists should engage with art. I'm concerned here with fiction writing. The (PBC) Philanthropy Book Club has collected a LOT of title recommendations, but I'm

Two white hands, in a grey sweater, holding four red appl

PBC n. 1, "extra credit" reading

The first meeting of the PBC (Philanthropy Book Club) is on February 24/25 (time zone dependent). Members are reading Claire Dunning's Nonprofit Neighborhoods. As you‘re thinking about the role of the federal government, local politicians, community groups, and nonprofits in Boston 70+ years ago, you may

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Shoulda started yesterday

There's something particularly twisted about watching the U.S. media's reactions to China's DeepSeek AI app. This distinct feeling that the same billionaires who bought the U.S. president and have wholeheartedly capitulated to his racism/hate have been suckering each other and the

Have you had covid?

Have you recovered? I had covid. I did not recover. Three years after I spent 4 days in bed with what felt like a bad flu I have ongoing heart problems, possibly a viral-induced autoimmune blood disease, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and brain damage (also ongoing). I, who traveled too much, now

U.S. civil society under attack

This is not the future, it's the present. This is what autocracy looks like - multiple strategies, visible and invisible efforts, at many levels, to shut down independent voices. A nonprofit in Georgia has been issued a significant fine for crossing the (deliberately porous) line between politics and

Two books in a pile with a pair of eyeglasses on top

Philanthropy book club, n. 1

The response to the book club focusing on philanthropy and civil society has been remarkable. So much so that I'm going to need even more help than I first imagined. More than 70 of you have signed up - a great sign of interest but an awfully big

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Coming soon

This is Philanthropy2173, a newly positioned version of the blog written by Lucy Bernholz since 2002. Things will be up and running here very soon. Please subscribe if you'd like to stay up to date via email when I add new writing.

Reading through a new lens

Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos are paying for and hosting parties for the incoming. Don't get worked up about that - you're not invited. DO get worked up about the fact that, starting a few weeks ago, you should NOT trust any information you see on Facebook,

Blueprint 2025!

Blueprint 2025!

#Blueprint 2025 is here Join us to discuss tomorrow January 16, 2025. My health is poor, and so the planning for future Blueprints (or whatever comes next) is in your hands. Help me work with you to co-create our collective next. The short survey is in the #Blueprint and here&

Philanthropy book club

Photo by rawkkim on unsplash There is so much uncertainty in my life right now. I've spent a lifetime reading fiction for joy and mental health, and reading nonfiction for work and an income (OK, I read some nonfiction for fun) and I've always read alone.

100 years too early

The 2173 in the name of this blog refers to the year, 2173. The year was 200 years in the future from 1973, when the futurist comedy "Sleeper"was made. Turns out, it's 100 years too late. There's a movie out (coming out) called

In Authoritarian America, first, they came for Wikipedia and the Wayback Machine

It's amazing to me, that a time when the nonprofit and philanthropic sector in the USA should be running around screaming "house on fire" (very bad metaphor for a Californian), most seem to to be just plodding along. I am hopeful that they're being

And so it begins

Remember this post - from a few days ago - about how I was marking a baseline for free speech in the USA? I'm still speaking my mind, but looks like the mainstream press is having a tougher time. Several senior editors and reporters have left the Washington

Bots v bots and public v private

Rob Reich, political scientist at Stanford, and colleagues Mehran Sahami and Jeremy Weinstein teach a class on ethics in computer science. One example they use in class is of an app fights parking tickets. A pretty basic AI system, the app helps drivers submit an appeal to the ticketing city.

How we receive now

In the fall of 2021 my book, How We Give Now, was published. Shortly thereafter I got covid, which turned into Long Covid. I've now been disabled since early 2022. I didn't get to tour with the book, missed out on lots of opportunities to share

Marking the baseline

Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. That's

No anticipatory obedience

No anticipatory obedience

Illustration by Aarón Blanco Tejedor The popular vote differential between the Democratic and Republican candidates for US President was 1.7%. 49.9 percent of voters put a tyrant in the White House; 48.3 percent lost. The incoming administration (it does not have power, yet) is continuing the vitriolic

An AI experiment for writing the Blueprint - text without context

This is an excerpt from Blueprint2025, which will publish on January 15, 2025. When I was writing Blueprint 2025 I started out trying an experiment to review the last 15 years. First, I commissioned an independent reader to review and let me know what they learned. Second, I used a

Digital civil society and digital governance

Digital civil society and digital governance

Philadelphia, Independence Hall, photo by Miguel Angel Sanz from Unsplash I'm an historian. I used to sit in graduate seminars about the founding of the United States and wonder what these guys (all men, those founding fathers) were really thinking? Where did their ideas come from? There'

The Connective Tissue of Democracy

The Connective Tissue of Democracy

Photo by Bioscience Image Library by Fayette Reynolds on Unsplash The connective tissue of American civil society—the associations, clubs, congregations, and other spaces where people gather and experience collective life—has deteriorated significantly in recent decades, diminishing community resilience and jeopardizing the health of our democracy. While the roots

Fifteen years of Blueprints in 8:48

Thanks to Google's NotebookLM, here are two fake voices discussing 15 years of Blueprints. Let me know what you think. I'm playing around with this for #Blueprint25.

Civil society and AI Bots - part one of ?

Civil society and AI Bots - part one of ?

Photo by Andy Kelly from Unsplash People are making bots of themselves.They're probably calling them AI assistants, and are making them DIY or by using sites such as Trint ot HappyScribe (for use on video conference meetings such as Zoom or Teams). Keith McNulty made a bot

New (nonacademic) books on philanthropy

Here are two new books - one by one of my favorite novelists - that I'll be reading in the next few weeks. Thoughts and feels will be noted in #Blueprint25 (Yes, I'm working on it. My health makes it harder. Stay tuned - doing my

The GOP threat to civil society

The GOP threat to civil society

Photo by Richard Stovall on Unsplash Democracy in the USA is not "naturally" withering, it is under attack. And the call(s) are coming from both inside the house and outside, domestic and foreign. One source of attack is the Republican Party. Threats can't be beaten

What does open mean?

What does open mean?

Photo by Enrique Macias on Unsplash Open source technology has a long history of being a counterbalancing force to closed, proprietary systems. For decades it was open source versus corporations. Then Microsoft (closed, proprietary) bought GitHub (most used repository of open source code). Today, in the AI battles, Facebook/Meta,