ARING TO CHANGE (C2C) has interviewed over 100 people across the country, mostly staff and board members from foundations and nonprofits, about their ideas for improving foundation grantmaking. While by no means exclusive to them, it “over-sampled” young people and people of color to be sure that those who may not usually have a voice in setting foundation strategy are heard in this effort.

To oversimplify, foundations’ principal strategy has been to make grants to support innovation in relatively narrow program areas, such as youth services, education, poverty, the arts or the environment. While much good has been achieved, conditions in many areas of concern to foundations haven’t improved very significantly – or in some ways have even gotten worse. Since larger problems that affect the poor, the middle class (especially in comparison to the wealthy), and people in minority groups also have worsened, it seems wise to seek new strategies that might have broad impact in advancing social change.