What We Hear Calling
Awake, listening for the future I love talking to scientists, social entrepreneurs, fellow philanthropists—anyone wrestling with the intersection of big ideas and reality.
Archive: Civic Engagement
New Report on Science Communication: Information Is Not Enough
The National Academies gathered experts to examine science communication in an age of skepticism…
Research Indicates Participatory Budgeting Improves Relations between Residents and Government
Public Agenda (RAF grant recipient) reports that elected officials say that participatory budgeting helped them be more responsive to community needs…
SMASH16 to Explore the Wonders of Science and Media
Foundation provides major funding for more than 300 science media stakeholders to explore new ways of communicating science September 20-22 in Boston…
NOAA, Climate Central, Partners Conduct Rapid Assessment of Devastating August Rains
NOAA, Climate Central (RAF grant recipient) lead ‘rapid-response’ study that points to climate change as increasing chance of torrential rains…
Partners for Democracy
The founders of Democracy Works on the importance of trust and a shared vision in nonprofit startups …
Rita Allen Foundation Announces $710,000 in Grants for New Ventures in Civic Information and Public Interest Technology
Information has the power to build understanding, change points of view, and help individuals and groups reach smarter decisions. Making sense of ever-expanding mounds of facts and figures often requires bringing together disparate areas of knowledge—science and journalism, computation and politics, or data science and public safety. Creative leaders from…
Finding the Questions that Matter
How Public Lab is evaluating its pioneering model of community science…
The 20-Petabyte Idea
A conversation with Brewster Kahle about the Internet Archive, the power of thinking big, and the quest for universal access to knowledge…
An Experiment in Funder Collaboration: Supporting (and Learning from) the Voter Information Field
Jonathan Kartt works in Programs & Evaluation for the Rita Allen Foundation. Tom Glaisyer is the program director of the Informed Participation Initiative at the Democracy Fund. Kelly Born is a Program Officer at the Hewlett Foundation, where she works on both Special Projects and the Madison Initiative. This is…