Lisa Cowan

Vice President, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation at The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Contributor at NYNMedia

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Articles

It’s Wildfire Season! What To Expect When You’re Expectorating

2 weeks ago | medium.com | Lisa Cowan

Nausea (and coughing)Masks are back! If that alone isn’t enough to make you sick to your stomach, a few lungfuls of that opaque, gritty, campfire-flavored air ought to get your “burning sickness” going. Smell sensitivity (and coughing)Actually, it’s less heightened sense of smell and more that the pervasive stench overwhelms your poor sniffer. Fingers crossed the smoke causes total anosmia soon. At least then you won’t care that it’s rooted deep in the fibers of every shirt you own.
What a Spanish Cathedral Can Teach Funders About Responding to Trump

2 weeks ago | philanthropy.com | Lisa Cowan

We have reached the end of what feels like the longest 100 days in memory. If, like me, you’re grasping for solutions amid the relentless Trump-fueled horror show, I have a suggestion: Take a moment to contemplate the famous decades-long construction of the Sagrada Família — the Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain. The architect, Antoni Gaudí, worked on the project for more than four decades, starting in 1882, when he was 31.
A Path to Repair: What if Philanthropy Wasn’t About Giving Away Money, but Returning It?

1 month ago | cep.org | Lisa Cowan

Individualism. Competition. Risk aversion. Short-termism. Scarcity. Presumed expertise. Many of the norms by which philanthropy operates perpetuate the very narratives our sector seeks to change. In this series on the CEP blog, contributors who represent a cross-section of philanthropy examine some of the common ‘myths’ by which philanthropy operates and ask, “what if?”, offering approaches, interventions, and new visions for how philanthropy could operate for a more just world.
As Funders Face New Levels of Risk, What Does Bravery Look Like?

1 month ago | philanthropy.com | Lisa Cowan

My perpetual low-level nausea has persisted for eight weeks now. Each day I read about another decimated federal agency. And each day I hear from a grantee or allied organization whose funding is at risk and who is searching for answers. I keep waiting for this feeling of crisis to subside, but it never does. I’ve written about the ways that the present moment feels like the pandemic, but there are critical differences in how philanthropy is reacting now.
Amid Funding Freezes and ICE Raids, What Will It Take to Support Grantees?

Feb 7, 2025 | philanthropy.com | Lisa Cowan

I guess the good news about writing this column on Trump’s first 100 days in office is that finding content isn’t a problem. I wish there was less to write about, instead of the everything, everywhere, all at once reality we’ve been living these last few weeks.
As Trump Takes Office, Philanthropy Should Adopt a Pandemic-Like Crisis Response

Jan 21, 2025 | philanthropy.com | Lisa Cowan

Almost five years ago, as the pandemic was turning our lives upside down, I began writing a regular column for the Chronicle of Philanthropy that reflected on the daily work of grant making during that time of crisis and uncertainty. The column, Dispatches, ran from April 7, 2020, shortly before I took to bed with a mild case of Covid-19, until April 7, 2021, when a miracle vaccine set us free.
Opinion: How Joe Biden’s decision is relevant to nonprofit leadership

Jul 22, 2024 | nynmedia.com | Lisa Cowan

Many of us have spent the past few weeks (months, years?) watching our national elections, frozen and afraid, feeling like we are at the mercy of forces out of our control, primarily the egos of two old white men. It seems clear that Trump does not rely on the same operating system as most of us and his moral compass only points one way – N (for Narcissism), so there really are no lessons to be learned from his behavior.
O campo filantrópico precisa confiar nos verdadeiros especialistas

May 13, 2024 | proximate.press | Cynthia M. Gibson |Lisa Cowan |Joana Mortari

Conforme o campo filantrópico brasileiro se desenvolve é comum procurarmos referências do norte global, onde algumas práticas estão sendo testadas há mais tempo. Mais vezes do que gostaríamos, notamos que ao trazer tais referências para o Brasil, deixamos para trás dois elementos importantes: adaptação ao contexto brasileiro e as críticas e discussões que passam a integrar e constituir tais práticas, o que faz com que a fotografia da prática importada seja uma espécie de preto e branco.
What Does Your Book Organization System Say About You?

Apr 4, 2024 | medium.com | Lisa Cowan

Book lovers everywhere look upon your aesthetically-pleasing, functionally-useless bookshelf with deep disdain. Alphabetical (by author)Congratulations, you are a winner! This is the correct way to organize a bookshelf. Your friends describe you as “boring, but reliable.” You’re a missionary position kind of guy. Two scoops of vanilla, no toppings. You’re probably an actuary, and, if you’re not, you’ve missed your calling asan actuary. You tasted a banana once and it was a momentous day.
Philanthropy Needs to Trust the Real Experts - The People It Supports

Mar 9, 2024 | proximate.press | Cynthia Gibson |Lisa Cowan |Jocelynne Rainey

Who gets to make the decisions about where philanthropic dollars go? For a long time, the conventional wisdom was that grantmaking should rely on professional staff to make expert decisions. But even a decade ago, the limitations of what came to be called “strategic philanthropy” were evident. Trust in institutions—including philanthropy—began declining dramatically, opening the door for more public critique of foundations and big-dollar donors as elitist, nontransparent, and plutocratic.