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Tag: Philanthropy

  • Stop Treating Nonprofits as Charities

    For those of us who invest deeply in our communities—whether as donors, board members, or philanthropic leaders—we are at a pivotal moment. The decisions we make now will shape the strength of our social infrastructure for decades to come. 

    I’ve worked in the social sector for many years, in nonprofits, philanthropy, and as the founder of a social enterprise focused on strategy and data to help nonprofits amplify their mission impact. Over that time, I’ve witnessed many cycles of change, shifts in trust, funding, voice, evidence, and empathy. 

    During the pandemic, we saw the nonprofit sector pushed to its limits as organizations stretched to support more individuals and families than ever before. Federal and philanthropic dollars surged in response, allowing many organizations to meet those unprecedented needs. It was a moment of both strain and collective commitment. 

    Today, however, we’re facing a new transformation, one that is far more consequential but significantly less resourced. Federal funding has dropped sharply. Philanthropic giving has not increased to fill the gap. And while economic instability challenges families with fewer means, demand for nonprofit services continues to rise. 

    These forces are reshaping the sector. About 30 percent of nonprofits have lost direct funding, and a higher percentage are indirectly affected as the competition for limited dollars intensifies. In my 30-plus years working in this space, I have not seen a shift of this magnitude. 

    A sector under pressure 

    Every industry evolves and those that fail to adapt lose ground. Change, contraction, and disruption can spur innovation, but for nonprofits, the stakes are far higher. These organizations provide the essential scaffolding that holds communities together. When they falter, the consequences ripple through families, neighborhoods, and local economies. 

    Two forces, in particular, are accelerating this disruption. 

    1. The dual customer problem 

    Nonprofits, like for-profit companies, create products and services. But unlike businesses, their customers are the people they serve but are not the people who pay them. Instead, nonprofits are funded by philanthropic donors, government grants, and foundations. 

    This creates a “dual customer” dynamic: Nonprofits must serve both their program participants and their funders. These two groups have vastly different needs and expectations. Managing both well requires more resources, not fewer. 

    It’s a nuance many outside the sector overlook. In my own company, when we drift from our ideal client, our focus fragments, quality declines, and efficiency suffers. Nonprofits live this challenge daily, and it is multiplied by the fact that they are accountable to two audiences whose interests are not always aligned. 

    2. The myth of low overhead 

    For decades, donors judged nonprofit worthiness by how “efficiently” they operated—specifically, how little they spent on overhead. The ideal became a 10 percent cap on administrative costs. 

    This cap is unsustainable. No business could deliver quality products, attract strong leadership, and grow customer trust with only 10 percent of its budget covering essential operations. Layer in the dual-customer challenge, and it’s a recipe for burnout and underperformance. 

    Although attention to this issue has increased, the damage lingers. Funding structures, grant requirements, and even leaders’ own mindsets have baked in the assumption that operating costs should be minimal. 

    The result?Systems for tracking data and measuring impact are considered as too much overhead, investments in fundraising capacity are capped, and leadership salaries are scrutinized. With this, organizations are left to do more with less—often at the expense of quality and long-term sustainability. 

    Changing this requires not just new funding. It requires a mindset shift. 

    A call for change 

    These constraints keep many nonprofits small, fragile, and reactive at a time when communities need them to be strong, strategic, and resilient. As public dollars recede, philanthropic leaders—particularly high-capacity individual donors—have a pivotal role to play. We are reaching a critical inflection point. 

    If we want thriving communities and a resilient economy, we must stop treating the nonprofit sector as charity and start recognizing it as infrastructure. 

    Independent Sector reports that nonprofits represent 5 percent of GDP, contribute more than $1.5 trillion to the economy, and employ nine percent of the workforce. This is infrastructure—human, social, economic. And infrastructure must be intentionally built, invested in, and strengthened. 

    As business leaders, we understand that strategy, data, and talent fuel performance. Bringing rigor and an investment mindset to philanthropy strengthens this infrastructure.Let’s fund in a way that truly drives results—not just what feels good in the moment. And when we fund for success, we should expect clear demonstration of results. 

    A vision for what comes next 

    Imagine a sector where nonprofits have the strategic capacity, data systems, leadership pipelines, and financial flexibility that any high-performing business requires. Imagine funders investing in long-term outcomes rather than short-term activity. Imagine communities benefiting from organizations that are not merely surviving but proactively shaping solutions. 

    Funding nonprofits as infrastructure means: 

    • Investing in strong leaders, not scrutinizing their salaries. 
    • Funding data and evaluation, not labeling them unnecessary overhead. 
    • Supporting multi-year, unrestricted capital, not short-term, narrow grants. 
    • Partnering as thought partners, not just check writers. 
    • Expecting results, and resourcing organizations to achieve them. 

    This is the reset the sector needs—and the reset we have the opportunity to create.The health of the nonprofit sector is the health of our communities. And our economy, our cities, and our future depend on both thriving together. 

    Let’s lead the next era of social impact by funding nonprofits like the essential infrastructure they are. Our communities cannot afford anything less. 

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

    Cindy Eby

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  • Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $7.1 billion to nonprofits in 2025, a major increase

    NEW YORK (AP) — The author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits in 2025 Tuesday, marking a significant increase in her annual giving from recent years.

    Writing in an essay on her website, Scott said, “This dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year.”

    Scott acknowledged donating $2.6 billion in 2024 and $2.1 billion in 2023. The gifts this year bring her total giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion.

    Scott’s donations have captured the attention of nonprofits and other charitable funders because they come with no strings attached and are often very large compared to the annual budgets of the recipient organizations. Forbes estimates Scott’s net worth at $33 billion, most of which comes from Amazon shares she received after her 2019 divorce from company founder Jeff Bezos..

    With the exception of an open call for applications in 2023, it is not possible to apply for her funding nor to reach her directly, as Scott maintains no public facing office or foundation. Organizations are usually notified through an intermediary that Scott is awarding them a donation with little prelude or warning.

    In advance of her announcement on her website, Yield Giving, more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities revealed they had received $783 million in donations from Scott so far this year, according to research from Marybeth Gasman, a professor at Rutgers University and expert on HBCUs.

    “One of the things that I really admire about Mackenzie Scott is that she is like an equity machine,” Gasman said, especially at a time when efforts to promote equity in education have come under attack from the Trump administration. She also said Scott’s gifts to HBCUs this time are bigger than the round of donations she made in 2020.

    Not all of the schools that previously had received funding from Scott received a gift this time and there were some first-time recipients as well. In total, Gasman has tracked $1.35 billion in donations from Scott to HBCUs since 2020.

    In addition, UNCF, which is the largest provider of scholarships to minority students, received $70 million from Scott, and said it will invest the gift in a collective endowment it is building for participating HBCUs. Another $50 million went to Native Forward Scholars Fund, which had also received a previous gift from Scott and provides college and graduate scholarships to Native American students.

    Unlike Scott’s gifts, most foundations or major donors direct grants to specific programs and require an application and updates about the impact of the nonprofit’s work. Scott does not ask grantees to report back about how they used the money.

    Research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy in 2023 looked at the impact of Scott’s giving and found few of the recipients have struggled to manage the funds or have seen other funders pullback.

    Kim Mazzuca, the CEO of the California-based nonprofit, 10,000 Degrees, said her organization was notified of its first gift from Scott of $42 million earlier this year.

    “I was just filled with such joy. I was speechless and I kind of stumbled around with my words,” she said, and asked the person calling from Fidelity Charitable to clarify the donation amount, which is about double their annual budget.

    10,000 Degrees provides scholarships, mentoring and other support to low-income students and aims to help them graduate college without taking on loans. Mazzuca said that usually nonprofits grow only gradually, but that this gift will allow them to reach more students, to test some technology tools and to start an endowment.

    Mazzuca credited Scott for investing in proven solutions that already exist.

    “She comes from a very deep, reflective space, very heartfelt,” Mazzuca said. “And she’s only providing these financial means as a tool for people to recognize they are who they’ve been waiting for.”

    That idea references a prophecy from the Hopi Tribe that ends with the line, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Mazzuca said she’s drawn on the prophecy for years to empower both her organization and the students it supports to recognize their own power to shape our world.

    In October, Scott posted an essay on her website under that title and sharing the prophecy. The essay, which she expanded upon in December to announce her giving, also reflects on how acts of generosity and kindness can ripple far afield and into the future. She cited her own experiences getting help while in college, including a dentist who repaired a tooth for free and her roommate who loaned her $1,000.

    Scott now has invested in that same roommate’s company, which offers loans to students who would otherwise struggle to get financing from banks. The investments seem to be part of an effort Scott announced last year to move more of her money into “mission aligned” investments, rather than into vehicles that seek only the highest monetary returns.

    In her 2025 essay, Scott seemed to urge people toward action, writing, “There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • MacKenzie Scott’s college roommate once loaned her $1K. Now it’s the billionaire’s turn to invest

    NEW YORK (AP) — MacKenzie Scott, one of the world’s wealthiest women and most influential philanthropists, is now known for her “no strings attached” surprise grantmaking. But, as a Princeton University sophomore, she learned what it was like to be on the receiving end of generosity.

    Facing the prospect of dropping out if she couldn’t come up with $1,000, Scott was crying when her roommate, Jeannie Tarkenton, found her and got her dad to loan Scott the money.

    “I would have given MacKenzie my left kidney,” Tarkenton told the Associated Press recently. “Like, that’s just what you do for friends.”

    Today, Scott’s net worth is around $34 billion, according to Forbes. In October, Scott wrote that Tarkenton’s act is among the many personal kindnesses she has considered as she has donated more than $19 billion of the wealth she amassed mostly through Amazon shares as part of her 2019 divorce from company founder Jeff Bezos. And when Tarkenton started Funding U, a lending company that offers last-gap, merit-based loans to low-income students without co-signers, Scott said she jumped at the chance to help.

    A quarter century passed between the end of their sophomore year and Funding U’s creation, a period when Tarkenton realized just how many more students were being pushed into her former roommate’s position by the rising cost of college. That Scott took an interest in her old friend’s mission to help economically disadvantaged students finance school is unsurprising. Her unusual gifts — which she rarely discusses or discloses outside of essays and a database on her website, Yield Giving — tend to focus on issues of equity, higher education and economic security.

    Jeannie Tarkenton poses for a photo Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Megan Varner)

    But the revelation of Scott’s Funding U support offers a new glimpse into her investments. Scott wrote last year that she would invest in “mission-aligned ventures” led by “undercapitalized groups” that focus on “for-profit solutions” to the challenges that her philanthropy seeks to address. However, this is among the few confirmed publicly.

    “She’s looking for innovative ways to create opportunity for those that don’t have it,” said Marybeth Gasman, who runs Rutgers’ Center for Minority Serving Institutions and follows Scott’s donations. “I have to say, as somebody who went to school on a Pell Grant and who came from an extremely low-income family, that’s really meaningful.”

    Amplifying impact

    Scott, in many ways, resembled the exact students that Funding U seeks to serve. Tarkenton recalled the undergraduate Scott as a “hardworking student with very good grades” who was “highly focused” and had already been accepted into a competitive program.

    Her lending company plugs those sorts of details — student transcripts and internship experiences, for example— into an algorithm that determines the likelihood applicants will complete college, get a job and make enough money to pay back the loan.

    Tarkenton suggested that this formula is fairer — and more predictive — than existing criteria that determine loan eligibility based on the credit histories of students or their co-signers.

    Scott provides most of the “junior debt” they use to reduce the risk for larger investments from banks such as Goldman Sachs, according to Tarkenton. She is among a handful of philanthropists who provide 30 cents for every dollar that Funding U loans. These funders lend at concessionary rates, meaning they make less money back than the market suggests they should and wait a longer period of time to recoup the money.

    Funding U gets the other 70% from banks, who support them to comply with federal laws aimed at preventing anti-poor discrimination by requiring banks to make loans that benefit their communities.

    “I wanted to combine capital from people who were participating in this because they cared about the underlying person,” Tarkenton said, “and also, knowing that scale of philanthropy wasn’t quite big enough, bring to the table some sort of market solution alongside that capital.”

    Jeannie Tarkenton poses for a photo Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Megan Varner)

    Jeannie Tarkenton poses for a photo Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Megan Varner)

    A philanthropic endeavor?

    Tarkenton is clear: the endeavor isn’t philanthropic. Funding U is a company, after all, and Scott will eventually get her money back — just as she repaid Tarkenton’s informal loan all those years ago at Princeton.

    But the approach represents a model that Scott’s former roommate thinks more philanthropists should embrace. Tarkenton said there’s more space for the likes of Scott to “bring a spirit of investment” that serves a “greater good” but isn’t purely charitable.

    “I think philanthropists can get a little messier and do more with their money,” Tarkenton said. “I’m all about pushing philanthropists in a very aligned way.”

    It’s why she started Funding U. Working at an Atlanta-based adult literacy nonprofit, Tarkenton said she noticed persistent disparities in degree completion rates based on socioeconomic status. She found the problem too big for philanthropy to solve. But the need was too small for most market players to care about addressing, she said.

    Scott described the Funding U loans as “generosity- and gratitude-powered” in an Oct. 15 essay about the ripple effects of kindness.

    Panorama founder Gabrielle Fitzgerald, whose social impact nonprofit tracks Scott’s giving, said the investment is “very consistent with her approach to ensuring students have access to higher education.” She said many funders see impact investing as a critical part of their giving portfolios.

    “It shows that she’s using all the tools at her disposal to pursue her goals,” Fitzgerald said.

    And the full circle impact of Tarkenton’s college-era loan?

    “It’s a really lovely story in a time when we’re not seeing a lot of kindness and generosity,” Fitzgerald added. “And just a reminder that helping your fellow humans is both a good thing to do at the time and something that could have a massive impact down the road.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis follows science and steady funding to a broader mission

    Marc Buoniconti said his father, the late NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti, explained the secret to the success of their nonprofit and its fundraising efforts simply: “We’re just not good listeners.”

    In the 40 years since Marc Buoniconti, then a college football linebacker at the Citadel, was paralyzed during a routine tackle, they have been told countless times that it was a problem that couldn’t be fixed. The Buonicontis didn’t listen.

    Instead, through the fund that bears their name, they have helped raise more than $550 million for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and improved the lives of millions with spinal cord and brain injuries.

    “The Buoniconti Fund has lasted because we’re relentless,” Marc Buoniconti recently told The Associated Press. “We never give up. When we see a challenge, we face it head-on and don’t stop until we find a solution. It’s that determination, that refusal to quit that’s kept us going all these years.”

    That drive has also led The Miami Project to expand its work beyond curing paralysis. Its research center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine now also studies neurological diseases and disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and it is testing the brain-computer interface implant from Elon Musk’s technology company Neuralink.

    Dr. Barth A. Green, chairman of The Miami Project, who co-founded the organization in 1985 with Nick Buoniconti, says the most surprising developments from the center have been the broadest ones.

    “Every operating room in the world that puts people to sleep monitors their nervous system for safety,” Dr. Green said. “That was all developed at The Miami Project.”

    Therapeutic hypothermia, where the body is cooled after an injury to protect the brain and spinal cord, is another widely used treatment developed at the center.

    Dr. Green said that before Buoniconti’s accident he had been working on helping those who had been paralyzed for 20 years. Yet there wasn’t a hub for that work until The Miami Project was established.

    It provided a home for him and “thousands of scientists and researchers in Miami and around the world, who were equally engaged by the opportunity to change people’s everyday quality of life and their opportunities to have more function and a better opportunity to be mobile and do things they never dreamt they could before.”

    Miami Project Scientific Director W. Dalton Dietrich III said gathering those people from a variety of disciplines – neuroscientists, researchers, clinicians, biomedical engineers – into one building has led to unexpected advances.

    “Not one particular treatment is going to cure paralysis,” Dietrich said. “So I’ve tried to look at other disciplines to bring into the project to help us achieve that goal.”

    One new, multidisciplinary area, neuromodulation, is “something we never thought about five years ago,” Dietrich said. “It’s just an exciting area where you can stimulate these residual circuits after brain injury or spinal cord injury in patients and they start moving their limbs.”

    The Buoniconti Fund’s support for the center helps accelerate research in these areas by funding early trials. That, in turn, makes it easier to eventually receive grants from government agencies like the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Defense, Dietrich said.

    Marc Buoniconti says “it’s hard to put into words” seeing so many people rally behind him and the millions of others who have been paralyzed.

    “What started as a promise to help me walk again became a mission to help millions,” he said. “Every resource, every dollar, every hour given is a testament to the belief that we can change lives.”

    Mark Dalton, chairman and CEO of Tudor Investment Corp., said that belief resonated with him and made him want to get involved with The Buonicontis even before he met them.

    “I had tremendous admiration for him as a father who was never going to give up on finding a cure for what ailed his son,” Dalton said. “And his son was a representation of millions of other people.”

    Once he learned more about The Miami Project, Dalton said he was impressed by its science-driven approach. Its setting on a university campus was also important to the former chairman of the board of trustees at Denison and Vanderbilt universities.

    “They put the line in the water,” said Dalton, who now chairs the Buoniconti Fund’s biggest annual fundraiser, The Great Sports Legends Dinner. “They hooked me. I’m all in.”

    That’s a common feeling around The Miami Project, which counts legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus and Grammy winner Gloria Estefan among its supporters. And it’s something Marc Buoniconti says he does not take for granted.

    He hopes The Miami Project’s work will continue to expand.

    “My biggest dream is for our researchers to find a way to fully repair the nervous system,” Buoniconti said. “When we do that, we’ll change the entire landscape for paralysis and so many other neuro conditions. We’ll give so many people their lives back. That’s what keeps me going, and that’s what makes every struggle to this point worth it.”

    _____

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Melinda French Gates Just Donated $250 Million to Support Women’s Health

    Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates is making good on her $1 billion commitment toward women’s health and empowerment causes. 

    The Action for Women’s Health challenge she announced last year drew to a close on Wednesday—and more than 80 nonprofits walked away with funding totaling some $250 million.

    “I want to see women everywhere making decisions, controlling resources, and shaping policies and perspectives—but women can’t do well unless they can be well,” French Gates said in a statement. 

    The awardees each received grant funding in sums ranging from $1 million to $5 million. They are nonprofits and non-governmental organizations headquartered everywhere from Australia and the U.S. to Uganda and South Africa. They address a range of issues, including offering free mental health services for survivors of domestic violence in Washington, D.C.; training indigenous birthworkers to provide culturally appropriate care in Alaska; and combatting teen pregnancy, HIV, and sexual violence in Sub-Saharan Africa. More than 65 percent of winners are community-run organizations working within their home countries.

    “We believe the best agents for change are those closest to the challenges,” Lever for Change CEO Cecilia Conrad said in a statement. Pivotal, the group of impact organizations French Gates founded in 2015, funded the initiative and Chicago-based nonprofit Lever for Change managed it. They issued an open call last year to nonprofits working to advance women’s physical and mental health globally. More than 4,000 organizations from 119 countries applied. 

    “These 80+ organizations have proven that when it comes to improving women’s health, progress is possible and solutions exist,” French Gates said. “We hope this funding will help them expand their lifesaving, life-changing work, scale their impact, and reach millions more women around the world.”

    French Gates stepped away from her role at the Gates Foundation in June 2024 following her 2021 divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Still, she pledged to continue her work to empower women and improve global health outcomes with the some $12.5 billion she received when leaving the foundation. Shortly before her departure, French Gates announced she would donate $1 billion over the course of two years specifically to systemic issues facing women and families. The Action for Women’s Health challenge was just one part of that pledge.

    Chloe Aiello

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  • How Gary Sinise is helping the nonprofit CreatiVets build ‘a place to go when the PTSD hits’

    NASHVILLE (AP) — Richard Casper shakes his head as he touches one of the boarded-up windows in the once-abandoned church he plans to transform into a new 24-hour arts center for veterans.

    The U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient said he was an arm’s length away from military officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at Marine Barracks Washington when he learned the former church his nonprofit CreatiVets just purchased had been vandalized.

    The physical damage to the building and its stained glass windows saddened Casper. But what worried him more was that the church had remained empty since 2017 without damage. That vandalism came just weeks after CreatiVets bought it, suggesting that maybe he and the veterans in his program were not welcome.

    “I almost just left,” Casper said. “It put me in a weird headspace.”

    However, Casper, 40, a CNN Heroes winner and Elevate Prize winner, needed more support for the center — “a place to go when the PTSD hits.” Like so many veterans, he said his PTSD, caused by seeing a close friend die on patrol in Iraq, would generally come in the middle of the night, when the only places open are bars and other spaces that can be ”destructive.”

    He figured a 24-hour center where veterans could engage in music, painting, sculpture, theater and other arts could help. It could “turn all that pain into something beautiful.” The artistic element factored in when Casper, who suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving in Iraq, returned home and found it hard to be in public — unless he was listening to live music.

    So he completed his mission that night in Washington, introducing new people to CreatiVets’ work. Then, Casper returned to Nashville to practice what he has preached to hundreds of veterans since his nonprofit opened in 2013. He asked for help.

    And help came.

    Within weeks, CreatiVets’ Art Director Tim Brown was teaching a roomful of volunteers how to create stained glass pieces to replace those that were vandalized. Brown said the volunteers wanted to give back to the organization, “but also because of the impact that these activities have had on them.”

    Gary Sinise believes in art’s impact

    Gary Sinise values that impact. The actor, musician and philanthropist had already signed on to donate $1 million through his foundation to help CreatiVets purchase the building. Sinise’s involvement encouraged two other donors to help finalize the purchase.

    The “CSI: NY” star said he believed in CreatiVets’ work and had already seen a similar program in his hometown of Chicago help veterans process their wartime experiences.

    “In the military, you’re trained to do serious work to protect our country, right?” Sinise said. “If you’re in the infantry, you’re being trained to kill. You’re being trained to contain any emotion and be strong.”

    Those skills are important when fighting the enemy, but they also take a toll, especially when veterans aren’t taught how to discuss their feelings once the war is over.

    “Quite often, our veterans don’t want any help,” Sinise said. “But through art – and with theater as well – acting out what they are going through can be very, very beneficial.”

    David Booth says he is living proof of how CreatiVets can help. And the retired master sergeant, who served 20 years in the U.S. Army as a medic and a counterintelligence agent, wishes he participated in the program sooner.

    “For me, this was more important than the last year and a half of counseling that I’ve gone through,” said Booth. “It has been so therapeutic.”

    After years of being asked, Booth, 53, finally joined CreatiVets’ songwriting program in September. He traveled from his home in The Villages, Florida, to the historic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, to meet with two successful songwriters – Brian White, who co-wrote Jason Aldean’s “Blame It on You,” and Craig Campbell, of “Outskirts of Heaven” fame – to help him write a song about his life.

    Booth told them about his service, including his injury in Iraq in 2006 when the vehicle he was in struck an improvised explosive device and detonated it.

    He suffered a traumatic brain injury in the explosion, and it took months of rehab before he could walk again. His entire cervical spine is fused. He still gets epidurals to relieve the nerve pain. And he still suffers from nightmares and PTSD.

    In Iraq, Booth’s unit was once surrounded by kids because American soldiers used to give them Jolly Rancher candies. Snipers shot the children in hopes the soldiers would become easier targets when they tried to help.

    “Things like that stick in my head,” Booth said. “How do you get them out?”

    He also told them about his desire for a positive message and Combat Veterans to Careers, the veteran support nonprofit he founded. Those experiences became the song “What’s Next.”

    Booth hopes “What’s Next” becomes available on music streaming services so others can hear his story. CreatiVets has released compilations of its veterans’ songs since 2020 in cooperation with Big Machine Label Group, Taylor Swift’s first record label. This year’s collection was released Friday.

    “It’s almost like they could feel what I was feeling and put it into the lyrics,” said Booth, after hearing the finished version. “It was pretty surreal and pretty awesome.”

    Why Lt. Dan from ‘Forrest Gump’ launched a nonprofit

    Sinise has seen the unexpected impact of art throughout his career. His Oscar-nominated role as wounded Vietnam veteran Lt. Dan Taylor in “Forrest Gump” in 1994 deepened his connection to veterans. His music with the Lt. Dan Band expanded it. In 2011, he launched the Gary Sinise Foundation to broadly serve veterans, first responders and their families.

    “I think citizens have a responsibility to take care of their defenders,” he said. “There are opportunities out there for all of us to do that and one of the ways to do it is through multiple nonprofits that are out there.”

    Sinise immediately connected with CreatiVets’ mission. When the idea came to dedicate the performance space at the new center to his late son Mac, who died last year after a long battle with cancer, Sinise saw it as “a perfect synergy.”

    “Mac was a great artist,” he said. “And he was a humble, kind of quiet, creative force… If Mac would have survived and not gone through what he went through, he’d be one of our young leaders here at the foundation. He would be composing music and he’d be helping veterans.”

    Mac Sinise is still helping veterans, as proceeds of his album “Resurrection & Revival” and its sequel completed after his death, are going to the Gary Sinise Foundation. And Gary Sinise said he discovered more compositions from his son that he plans to record later this year for a third album.

    After the new center was vandalized, Casper said he was heartbroken, but also inspired knowing part of the center was destined to become the Mac Sinise Auditorium. He decided to take pieces of the broken stained glass windows and transform them into new artwork inspired by Mac Sinise’s music.

    “I told you we’re going to go above and beyond to make sure everyone knows Mac lived,” Casper told Sinise as he handed him stained glass panes inspired by Mac Sinise’s songs “Arctic Circles” and “Penguin Dance,” “not that he died, but that he lived.”

    Sinise fought back tears as he said, “My gosh, that’s beautiful.”

    As he examined the pieces more closely, Sinise added, “I’m honored that we’re going to have this place over there and that Mac is going to be supporting Richard and helping veterans.”

    _____

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • More Than 80 Nonprofits Receive $250M for Global Women’s Health From Melinda French Gates

    More than 80 organizations that provide health care for women all over the world received grants Wednesday totaling $250 million from Melinda French Gates after a year-long application process.

    “It will be instructive for the world to see what it looks like when organizations like this aren’t so chronically underfunded,” French Gates said in written responses to The Associated Press, which receives funding from Pivotal for news coverage.

    The grants, which range between $1 million and $5 million, were awarded through a competition that was open to nonprofit organizations from most countries. French Gates said the point of holding such an open call is to learn about organizations that aren’t already known to major funders. The Chicago-based nonprofit Lever for Change ran the application process and said more than 4,000 organizations from 119 countries applied.

    “This seems to be a topic that resonates,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, of global women’s health. “So I’m excited about helping to uplift and elevate the profile of these organizations with other funders.” Her organization often provides donors, both large and small, with advice about what organizations to support, drawing from the list of finalists who have applied to the grant competitions they run.

    This is the second largest funding competition that Lever for Change has hosted, after MacKenzie Scott gave $640 million to community-based nonprofits in the U.S. in March 2024.

    For the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health based in the Philippines, the $5 million grant represents 10 years of funding at their current annual budget.

    “I could not contain the joy of people in the room,” said executive director Junice Melgar when she and her staff learned they had been selected.

    For 30 years, Likhaan has provided primary care to very poor communities and advocated for policy changes to reflect community needs. Beyond the money, Melgar said the recognition affirms the effectiveness and sustainability of their community-based model.

    The investment in global women’s health organizations is part of a $1 billion commitment that French Gates made to support women’s rights over two years. She also gave $20 million each to 12 individuals to distribute to nonprofits of their choice and has pledged $150 million to boost gender equity in workplaces.

    Lisel Lifshitz, the executive director of the small nonprofit Mujeres Aliadas, which also received a grant, said her organization makes “magic” with every dollar they receive. Located in Michoacán, Mexico, Mujeres Aliadas trains midwives and provides education to women and teens about sexual and reproductive health.

    “You don’t know what it takes to be very creative in more rural and complicated contexts, talking about security, about poverty, about the many, many things that are missing here,” she said.

    For 16 years, her organization has advocated for greater recognition and acceptance of midwives, who blend traditional knowledge and local beliefs with professional training. The funding comes at a critical moment. In 2025, she said two grants they were expecting did not come through because of foreign aid cuts and other policy changes.

    “Having this kind of trust-based and unrestricted funding means the world to us,” Lifshitz said.

    Since 2000, many gains have been made globally in reducing the number of women who die in child birth, increasing access to contraception and decreasing cases of HIV among women, according to a 2024 report about sexual and reproductive health from the United Nations Population Fund. But the report also found that profound inequalities in health outcomes for women remain within countries and between countries.

    Rahel Nardos, director of Global Women’s Health at the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota, said the historic exclusion of women from medical research and a lack of research into issues that impact women specifically, like menopause, contribute to women’s poor health.

    From her own practice as a specialist in treating pelvic floor conditions, Nardos said she also sees women prioritizing family members and delaying care for themselves, despite living with extreme health problems. Additionally, violence and instability have contributed to stalling progress on maternal mortality, she said, even as it is well-known what combination of treatments and approaches work to prevent these deaths.

    Some recipients of Pivotal’s funding are developing new tools to reach women who have been left behind. Sabine Bolonhini and Adriana Mallet, cofounders of SAS Brasil, use telemedicine and mobile clinics to provide specialized care to patients in Brazil, who otherwise would have to travel long distances.

    For example, in partnership with a university, they have been training an artificial intelligence model to identify likely cases of cervical cancer from images. Bolonhini said that she hopes French Gates’ giving will inspire wealthy families in Brazil to also give more to organizations like hers.

    “For us, it’s also using (the funding) responsibly and being a good role model for how this money can find solutions that no one else has found yet,” Bolonhini said.

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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  • Zuckerberg, Chan shift bulk of philanthropy to science, focusing on AI and biology to curb disease

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) — For the past decade, Dr. Priscilla Chan and her husband Mark Zuckerberg have focused part of their philanthropy on a lofty goal — “to cure, prevent or manage all disease” — if not in their lifetime, then in their children’s. But during that time, they also funded underprivileged schools, immigration reform and efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion.

    Now, the billionaire couple is shifting the bulk of their philanthropic resources to Biohub, the pair’s science organization, and focusing on using artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery. The idea is to develop virtual, AI-based cell models to understand how they work in the human body, study inflammation and use AI to “harness the immune system” for disease detection, prevention and treatment.

    “I feel like the science work that we’ve done, the Biohub model in particular, has been the most impactful thing that we have done. So we want to really double down on that. Biohub is going to be the main focus of our philanthropy going forward,” Zuckerberg said Wednesday evening at an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City, California. Three other Biohub institutes — in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, focus on addressing different scientific challenges.

    Chan and Zuckerberg have pledged 99% of their lifetime wealth — from shares of Meta Platforms, where Zuckerberg is CEO — toward these efforts. Since 2016, when Biohub launched, they have donated $4 billion to basic science research, a figure that does not include operating expenses for running a large-scale computer cluster for life science research. The organization says it is now on track to double that amount over the next decade, with an operating budget of about $1 billion a year.

    Last week, singer Billie Eilish told an audience that included Chan and Zuckerberg that rich people should do more to address the world’s problems.

    “Love you all, but there’s a few people in here who have a lot more money than me,” she said, to a smattering of applause. “And if you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? And no hate, but give your money away, shorties.”

    The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the couple’s charitable organization, has been faced with criticism recently for curtailing its other philanthropic work. Earlier this year, it stopped funding grants related to diversity, equity and inclusion, immigration advocacy and other issues currently in the crosshairs of the Trump administration — though the focus has been shifting to science and away from social issues for years, the couple says, long before the 2024 election.

    “So we basically looked at the ecosystem of science funding and decided that the place that we can make the biggest impact was on tool development,” Zuckerberg said. “And specifically working on long-term projects, 10 to 15 years, where the output of them was taking on a biological challenge that would produce a tool that scientists everywhere could use to accelerate the pace of science.”

    The organization earlier this year scrubbed its website’s mentions of DEI, including a statement saying “People of color and marginalized communities have experienced a long history of exploitation in the name of scientific research, and indeed science has itself been deployed as a tool of oppression.”

    “Going forward, Biohub will be our primary philanthropic effort and where we’ll dedicate the vast majority of our resources,” Zuckerberg and Chan said in a blog post Thursday. “We will continue our other philanthropic efforts as well, but the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will serve as infrastructure and support for our initiatives.”

    Zuckerberg and Chan’s increased commitment to science research comes as the Trump administration has cut billions in scientific research and public health funding.

    Chan, who had worked as a pediatrician and treated children with rare diseases, says what she wanted “more than anything was a way to see what was happening inside their cells — how genetic mutations were expressed in different cell types and what, exactly, was breaking down.”

    “Until now, that kind of understanding has been out of reach. AI is changing that. For the first time, we have the potential to model and predict the biology of disease in ways that can reveal what’s gone wrong and how we can develop new treatments to address it,” she said.

    On Thursday, Chan and Zuckerberg also announced that Biohub has hired the team at EvolutionaryScale, an AI research lab that has created large-scale AI systems for the life sciences. Alex Rives, EvolutionaryScale’s co-founder, will serve as Biohub’s head of science, leading research efforts on experimental biology, data and artificial intelligence. The financial terms were not disclosed.

    Biohub’s ambition for the next years and decades is to create virtual cell systems that would not have been possible without recent advances in AI. Similar to how large language models learn from vast databases of digital books, online writings and other media, its researchers and scientists are working toward building virtual systems that serve as digital representations of human physiology on all levels, such as molecular, cellular or genome. As it is open source — free and publicly available — scientists can then conduct virtual experiments on a scale not possible in physical laboratories.

    Noting that Biohub launched when the couple had their first child, Chan listed off some of the organization’s accomplishments, ranging from building the largest single-cell data set, contributing to one of the largest human cell maps, building sensors to measure inflammation in real-time in living cells and researching rare diseases.

    That work continues, with a focus on using AI to advance biomedical research.

    “And to anchor it back onto the impact on patients, you know, why do this?” Chan said. “It’s like, why is a virtual cell important? We have cured diseases for mice and for flies and for zebrafish, many, many times. And that’s great. But we want to make sure that we are actually using biology to push the forefront of medicine for people — and that is so promising.”

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  • Zuckerberg, Chan shift bulk of philanthropy to science, focusing on AI and biology

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — For the past decade, Dr. Priscilla Chan and her husband Mark Zuckerberg have focused part of their philanthropy on a lofty goal — “to cure, prevent or manage all disease” — if not in their lifetime, then in their children’s. But during that time, they also funded underprivileged schools, immigration reform and efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion.

    Now, the billionaire couple is shifting the bulk of their philanthropic resources to Biohub, the pair’s science organization, and focusing on using artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery. The idea is to develop virtual, AI-based cell models to understand how they work in the human body, study inflammation and use AI to “harness the immune system” for disease detection, prevention and treatment.

    “I feel like the science work that we’ve done, the Biohub model in particular, has been the most impactful thing that we have done. So we want to really double down on that. Biohub is going to be the main focus of our philanthropy going forward,” Zuckerberg said Wednesday evening at an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City, California. Three other Biohub institutes — in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, focus on addressing different scientific challenges.

    Chan and Zuckerberg have pledged 99% of their lifetime wealth — from shares of Meta Platforms, where Zuckerberg is CEO — toward these efforts. Since 2016, when Biohub launched, they have donated $4 billion to basic science research, a figure that does not include operating expenses for running a large-scale computer cluster for life science research. The organization says it is now on track to double that amount over the next decade, with an operating budget of about $1 billion a year.

    Last week, singer Billie Eilish told an audience that included Chan and Zuckerberg that rich people should do more to address the world’s problems.

    “Love you all, but there’s a few people in here who have a lot more money than me,” she said, to a smattering of applause. “And if you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? And no hate, but give your money away, shorties.”

    The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the couple’s charitable organization, has been faced with criticism recently for curtailing its other philanthropic work. Earlier this year, it stopped funding grants related to diversity, equity and inclusion, immigration advocacy and other issues currently in the crosshairs of the Trump administration — though the focus has been shifting to science and away from social issues for years, the couple says, long before the 2024 election.

    “So we basically looked at the ecosystem of science funding and decided that the place that we can make the biggest impact was on tool development,” Zuckerberg said. “And specifically working on long-term projects, 10 to 15 years, where the output of them was taking on a biological challenge that would produce a tool that scientists everywhere could use to accelerate the pace of science.”

    The organization earlier this year scrubbed its website’s mentions of DEI, including a statement saying “People of color and marginalized communities have experienced a long history of exploitation in the name of scientific research, and indeed science has itself been deployed as a tool of oppression.”

    “Going forward, Biohub will be our primary philanthropic effort and where we’ll dedicate the vast majority of our resources,” Zuckerberg and Chan said in a blog post Thursday. “We will continue our other philanthropic efforts as well, but the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will serve as infrastructure and support for our initiatives.”

    Zuckerberg and Chan’s increased commitment to science research comes as the Trump administration has cut billions in scientific research and public health funding.

    Chan, who had worked as a pediatrician and treated children with rare diseases, says what she wanted “more than anything was a way to see what was happening inside their cells — how genetic mutations were expressed in different cell types and what, exactly, was breaking down.”

    “Until now, that kind of understanding has been out of reach. AI is changing that. For the first time, we have the potential to model and predict the biology of disease in ways that can reveal what’s gone wrong and how we can develop new treatments to address it,” she said.

    On Thursday, Chan and Zuckerberg also announced that Biohub has hired the team at EvolutionaryScale, an AI research lab that has created large-scale AI systems for the life sciences. Alex Rives, EvolutionaryScale’s co-founder, will serve as Biohub’s head of science, leading research efforts on experimental biology, data and artificial intelligence. The financial terms were not disclosed.

    Biohub’s ambition for the next years and decades is to create virtual cell systems that would not have been possible without recent advances in AI. Similar to how large language models learn from vast databases of digital books, online writings and other media, its researchers and scientists are working toward building virtual systems that serve as digital representations of human physiology on all levels, such as molecular, cellular or genome. As it is open source — free and publicly available — scientists can then conduct virtual experiments on a scale not possible in physical laboratories.

    Noting that Biohub launched when the couple had their first child, Chan listed off some of the organization’s accomplishments, ranging from building the largest single-cell data set, contributing to one of the largest human cell maps, building sensors to measure inflammation in real-time in living cells and researching rare diseases.

    That work continues, with a focus on using AI to advance biomedical research.

    “And to anchor it back onto the impact on patients, you know, why do this?” Chan said. “It’s like, why is a virtual cell important? We have cured diseases for mice and for flies and for zebrafish, many, many times. And that’s great. But we want to make sure that we are actually using biology to push the forefront of medicine for people — and that is so promising.”

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  • Shaggy Recounts His Relief Mission to Jamaica After Hurricane Melissa and Shares How You Can Help

    As Hurricane Melissa intensified to a Category 5 storm pointing right at Jamaica, Shaggy knew he had to help, he just wasn’t sure how. So he asked ChatGPT.

    “I don’t know anything about relief and how to prepare for a storm,” the Grammy-winning reggae musician said. “I went to ChatGPT and looked at what we would need in a storm and we just bought that. Luckily, that’s exactly what they needed.”

    Orville Richard Burrell, known for pop-dancehall hits like “Boombastic” and “Angel,” was born and raised in Kingston until he moved to New York when he was 18.

    He was in Miami when Melissa made landfall, but lives in Kingston. “That’s where the wife, kids and dogs are,” he said. “It’s where I call home,” he said.

    After the devastating October storm that killed at least 75 people across the northern Caribbean, Shaggy, 57, mobilized relief immediately for Jamaica, shuttling supplies from Miami and hand delivering them to the worst-hit areas.

    He’s now made it a mission to bring attention to his country’s needs. “It’s urgent to get the word out and make sure people don’t forget.”

    The needs are dire, he said. “I think Jamaica’s forever changed by this.”

    Shaggy spoke with The Associated Press on Wednesday from New York City. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.


    What went through your mind as Melissa approached Jamaica?

    When I heard that a Category 5 is coming, I’m saying to myself, ‘Whoa, this is going to be catastrophic.’ I just started preparing myself, hoping I can get in there and be effective.

    I called my friend (lighting designer) Dan Nolan. He has two planes and I said, ‘Let’s load these planes up and we’ll just shoot down there.’ As soon as the airport opened, we hit the ground.


    Tell us about the impacted areas.

    It took us about six hours to get to a place that normally would be about two-and-a-half hours. There’s debris everywhere, there is sand and mud and some (roads) are still flooded, power poles are in the road.

    I got there in the middle of the night, there was no electricity, it was pitch black so all I could give out was just water.

    We drove six hours back to the city that night, and we put all the stuff into smaller vehicles … things like tarpaulins, female sanitary pads, Pampers for kids, flashlights, batteries. (The next day we) took another route, which took us about four hours this time. That’s the only way to do it.

    Black River (St. Elizabeth parish) looked like they dropped an atomic bomb there with how damaged it was. We pulled up right before the bridge and they had just shut the whole town down because they said it was ground zero.

    And we just pulled up right there and opened the truck and said, “We’re gonna give it out right here.” We thought we were going to get chaos because we didn’t have much security. But the truck pulled up and they just started to form a line by themselves. That’s how orderly it was.


    What did you see and hear from people impacted?

    No one could really prepare for that. No one has ever seen it. I feel for them.

    The psychological effects it’s going to have on these children. A couple days ago they were probably playing, and now they’re standing in a queue just trying to find some food for their tummies.

    We don’t just need to be rebuilding as far as food and shelter, but you’re also going to need some counseling.


    How can people help Jamaica?

    If people can’t do cash, or (in) kind (donations), one thing they can do is keep it on their socials, keep it trending. We’ve got to keep the awareness up, because we’re going to need the aid. These places aren’t going to be fixed until probably 10 years before this is back and running the right way.

    I’m working closely with Global Empowerment Mission. They have an Amazon link that you can just click on the items and Amazon will ship it straight to GEM and because they have boots on the ground they will get it straight into these neighborhoods.

    Food for the Poor is also well established. It’s a Jamaican charity organization. They’ve been helping Haiti and places like those.

    There’s also the Support Jamaica site that has been set up by the government.


    What would you want people who haven’t been to Jamaica to know about the culture and the people there?

    We’re very resilient people. There’s a lot of love and a lot kindness. I’ve seen this firsthand.

    Kingston now operates as an hub that can get food and supplies in and out. You’re seeing a lot of people, just regular Jamaicans, who are loading up their cars on the weekend and just going down there and that really helps.

    You’re feeling that community, camaraderie, within the Jamaican society. I love that.

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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  • Strata Alliance expands services, unveils Strata Foundation | Long Island Business News

    Ronkonkoma-based Strata Alliance, a financial and business advisory firm, has expanded its services and unveiled Strata Foundation – formerly CMM Cares – an organization that gives back to Long Island families in need.

    Founded in 2022, Strata works with business owners and high-net-worth Long Island families to build their legacies with an aligned team to manage capital, legal, tax, mergers and acquisitions, insurance and more, providing a streamlined experience.

    The firm has expanded its offerings to help clients increase business value, pursue alternative partnerships, advance legacy and estate planning, implement comprehensive insurance solutions, support a philanthropic foundation and engage with local business and real estate development opportunities.

    “I founded Strata because I was tired of watching Long Island’s highest performers continuously look outside of Long Island for advice and opportunities,” Joe Campolo, founder and CEO of Strata Alliance, said in a news release about the expanded services and rebrand.

    “At Strata, we don’t chase opportunity; we create it,” he added. “We help families build their legacies by offering all the necessary resources under one roof – no fluff, no bottlenecks, just results.”

    The launch of the Strata Foundation, the rebranded CMM Cares, is designed to create a unified philanthropic identity for the organization, reflecting its mission and vision. The foundation aims to serve Long Island’s neediest families, and partners  with local nonprofits, community allies and business leaders to maximize resources for lasting impact.

    The brand refresh and unveiling of the Strata Foundation was announced at a gala last week at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in East Setauket.


    Adina Genn

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  • Education to Sports: How Nita Ambani REDEFINED India’s growth and culture

    Nita Ambani Turns 62

    Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Ambani celebrated her 62nd birthday on November 1. She continues to inspire as one of India’s most influential women, balancing leadership roles in business, education, sports, and philanthropy.

    Leader With a Vision

    She is the Chairperson and Founder of Reliance Foundation and the Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DAIS), and also serves as a Director of Reliance Industries Limited. Her leadership reflects a deep commitment to empowering people and creating social impact.

    Powering Indian Sports

    A passionate sports supporter, Nita Ambani co-owns the Mumbai Indians men’s and women’s teams in the IPL and WPL. Her efforts have played a key role in promoting sports at both grassroots and professional levels.

    Making History in the Olympics

    In 2016, she became the first Indian woman to join the International Olympic Committee (IOC). She continues to champion India’s growing presence in global sports and supports the nation’s bid for the 2036 Olympics.

    Shaping Young Minds

    At Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Nita Ambani promotes holistic education that blends academic excellence with creativity, leadership, and global awareness.

    Championing Healthcare for All

    Under her leadership, the Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai has become known for high-quality, accessible healthcare. Through the Reliance Foundation, she has launched multiple initiatives supporting rural health, women’s empowerment, and disaster relief.

    Celebrating Indian Art & Culture

    In 2023, she inaugurated the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai — a world-class space dedicated to showcasing and preserving India’s rich art, culture, and heritage.

    Reliance Foundation’s Nationwide Impact

    Founded in 2010, the Reliance Foundation has grown into one of India’s largest non-profit organisations, impacting over 76 million lives through work in education, healthcare, rural transformation, sports, disaster response, and arts & culture.