Video Clip and Discussion Guide: We make better decisions for our future when we learn about our past. Museums, recreations, and preservation of historic resources are often funded by philanthropy and staffed by volunteers. This film shows the preservation of a lighthouse and a narrow gage railroad.
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: In this video, we learn from philanthropy scholars that not all giving has a positive impact. We learn about ethics and effective management of nonprofits to ensure they are good stewards of the money they raise.
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: The arts are an important part of any community. One of the things that makes life worth living is the capacity to see beautiful things. Foundations that fund the arts recognize that arts make a community stronger and more vital. The performers and artists are often the biggest philanthropists, as they dedicate their time and talent to brighten our lives and stimulate discussion.
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: This two-minute video clip shares the stories of giving blood as an act of philanthropy. Why do people give blood, and how does it impact society?
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: Many nonprofits rely on fundraising to support their budgets and get their work done. Want to know what it is like to ask for money to support an issue you care about? This four-minute video clip and accompanying questions provide a glimpse of how fundraisers get excited about asking for money.
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: When a foundation gives money to help a nonprofit carry out its mission or project, the funder and grantee are helping each other make a difference for something they both care about. A healthy funder-grantee relationship is a partnership. Both need the other to do good.
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: There are more than 38,000 family foundations across the United States. Family foundations are established in order for individuals to share their wealth and address an issue they care about. The founders' children and grandchildren sit down together for years to carry on the giving. This video shares how they continue and adapt the founders' vision.
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: An important part of being in a community is interdependence. The members of any community share ideas and responsibilities for maintaining and improving the community. This film clip shows two examples of communities forming through collaboration, or collective action, around an idea for improvement.
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: The board of directors is the decision-making group responsible for maintaining the mission of a nonprofit organization. It is a volunteer position in which board members develop a network and career and life skills. The organization benefits from the different skills of the members of the board (trustees).
Video Clip and Discussion Guide: The government cannot and will not take care of all of society's needs. In all countries, there is a balance of what needs are addressed by government, by business, and by philanthropy (or the nonprofit sector). In the U.S. where the government is relatively small and limited, the nonprofit sector addresses many needs where there are gaps between government and business. Because of the good philanthropy does for all, there are tax benefits for nonprofits and for people who donate to philanthropy.