Donor Causes
Donors can choose different ways to improve lives and make change — by giving for direct services, supporting research, backing grassroots organizing, and more. This series of briefs explore these important choices. Each brief explains key considerations for donors, provides examples of the strategy in action, and offers easy-to-follow advice.
Arts & Culture
Donors can make a difference in arts education and community arts, an important area of philanthropy that remains underfunded.
Donors can go in different directions when it comes to supporting the visual arts, including giving to museums, arts nonprofits, and individual artists.
Writing can resonate with diverse and wide-ranging audiences. But this area tends to be chronically underfunded giving donors a chance to make an impact.
Civic
American democracy is facing both growing systemic challenges and unprecedented direct assaults. Philanthropy is playing an important role in responding.
Philanthropic giving for immigrants and refugees addresses a number of areas, including direct assistance services and policy advocacy.
Giving for Jewish life and culture is evolving, presenting donors with a growing array of options for philanthropy that’s aligned with their values.
As the business model for journalism has collapsed, nonprofits have stepped forward with a great array of initiatives that donors can support.
Economic
Homelessness and unaffordable housing can feel like intractable issues. But donors have good options to give with impact here.
Donors can support an array of strategies aimed at reducing poverty, including new approaches to boost household income and growing movements for equity.
Regulating Wall Street and curbing corporate power is a key to economic equity. Philanthropists are supporting such work in a number of ways.
As a new labor movement gains steam, more philanthropists are getting involved with this cause — which is essential to expanding opportunity and incomes.
Upskilling workers can boost their earnings and mobility. Donors can support such efforts in different ways, such as backing community colleges and apprenticeships.
Education
First-generation and low-income students face particular challenges in completing college. Donors can help by supporting a range of initiatives.
A growing number of donors are being drawn to ECE, as research points to the effectiveness of resourcing children’s early education and development.
Education is a popular cause for donors and has long been a focus of philanthropy. But this can also be a complicated area, given the many choices for driving impact.
There’s a reason that so many philanthropists like scholarships — because they’re a direct and tangible way to increase access to higher education.
Environment
Nonprofit work in this area is growing, offering donors a range of options for making an impact on the welfare of animals and wildlife.
For donors of all sizes, there are abundant opportunities to give for advocacy, grassroots movements, and research focused on climate change.
Giving for environmental conservation is on the rise, and there are ample opportunities for funders to get involved.
As nonprofit work on sustainable agriculture and the transformation of food systems grows, donors have ways to get involved.
The rising threats facing oceans and river systems have sparked a wave of new nonprofit activity, giving donors many ways to get involved.
Global
Government funding is the main source of funding for development, but the role of private philanthropy is both growing and changing.
Donors can help save and improve lives by giving for global health. But this can be a highly technical area and it’s essential to connect with the right resources.
With human rights under growing attack, donors can make a difference by supporting a range of strategies and effective nonprofits around the world.
Helping people struggling with natural and man-made calamities is one of the most direct ways donors at all levels can help relieve human suffering.
Donors can support organizations working to prevent, resolve, or mitigate conflicts, as well as recovery and rebuilding efforts.
Health & Science
Scientists in areas like physics, cosmology, and mathematics badly need philanthropic support. But donors in this space need to do their homework to give effectively.
Government and corporate grantmakers tend to be risk-averse, but private donors have good options for backing innovative medical research.
Philanthropy has long neglected mental health issues. But that’s been changing and there’s a growing array of nonprofits that donors can support.
Philanthropy has a major role to play in improving public health and reducing health inequities. Donors can choose different entry points for getting involved.
While funding science, technology, engineering, and math education is popular with corporations and foundations, smaller donors also have good options for impact.
With many big foundations avoiding the problem of substance abuse, individual donors and family-run foundations have an important role to play in this area.
Social Justice
Giving for criminal justice and police reform encompasses an array of issues and strategies. Donors have many choices to find the right fit for giving effectively.
While gun safety measures are frequently blocked at the federal level, donors have more ways to support new and innovative work to reduce the toll of gun violence.
In the face of attacks on reproductive care and rights, nonprofits in this space are urgently seeking new donors.
It’s an exciting time to be involved in giving for anti-violence work, with many nonprofit organizations offering a reimagined vision of how to make progress in this area.
While gender equity is a big area, donors can find their way to impact by focusing on specific niches and strategies, as well as connecting to funding networks.