COVID-19 Crisis ‘Requires Us All To Be Bolder’
Writer and blogger Vu Le describes how the COVID-19 crisis is overwhelming nonprofit leaders and why it should cause philanthropy to rethink its funding practices.
Apr 09, 2020•26 min
Tiny Spark
We investigate philanthropy, nonprofits and international aid. In-depth interviews and shoe leather reporting from across the globe. Send us your tips. www.tinyspark.org
Episodes
When Nonprofit Compensation is ‘An Elaborate Game of Pretend'
Nonprofit workers do it for the cause, but they also want to pay their bills. Artist Samantha Fein explains why she feels that the nonprofit art world is broken, and says that if it doesn’t change the art world could implode.
Mar 11, 2020•22 min
The Black Woman’s Guide To Philanthropy
How are Black women redefining what it means to be philanthropists? We sit down with four leaders in philanthropy and impact investing to discuss how their race and gender affect and inspire their work.
Dec 19, 2019•40 min
Resilience on the Reservation
We meet the people involved in grassroots movements to culturally and economically empower the Oglala Lakota Nation living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, one of the most impoverished and neglected regions in the country.
Nov 27, 2019•27 min
The Guilty Project: 'How Do You Defend Those People?'
Criminal defense lawyer Abbe Smith is often asked how she defends people accused of committing terrible crimes. Hear her moving reply, and learn why she believes the guilty deserve a spirited defense.
Nov 07, 2019•34 min
The Innocence Project: Challenging The Justice System's Abyss
Innocence Project attorneys and law students in Texas take on an enormous pile of cases every year, tackling legal and moral challenges as they work to free the wrongfully convicted from prison.
Oct 29, 2019•40 min
In Climate Crisis, We Need Love and Science
Pastor and activist, Rev. Mariama White-Hammond describes how her experience of racial and economic injustice led her to fight for the planet as a whole and explains why it is time to “live differently.”
Oct 11, 2019•27 min
The You-Sized Hole in the Environmental Movement
Two climate change advocates discuss the need to understand the destruction of the environment through a racial lens, and the promising and powerful future of inclusive climate action.
Sep 24, 2019•32 min
Tax Us More says Multimillionaire
We speak with multimillionaire Nick Hanauer, who calls on the nation’s wealthiest to pay more tax and for all of us to pay more attention to righting the economy’s systemic wrongs.
Sep 12, 2019•36 min
For Volunteer Humanitarians, “Solidarity Is Not a Crime”
Appalling conditions in the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp in France drew people from across Europe to help. A volunteer shares her experience and explains how rising anti-immigrant policies are turning ordinary citizens into humanitarians.
Jul 01, 2019•30 min
Baby Bonds: A ‘Birthright To Capital’
We explore ways to decrease wealth inequality in the US with economist Darrick Hamilton who proposes giving every newborn thousands of dollars in a ‘baby bond’ account which they can access when they turn 18.
Jun 12, 2019•24 min
A Plan To Reverse "Economic Apartheid" In The U.S.
As inequality grows, we look at look at ideas for narrowing the economic gap between the races, from reparations to raising the minimum wage.
May 29, 2019•25 min
On A Mission To Make White People Uncomfortable
Using fiery Instagram posts, and uncomfortable tweets, the social media campaign No White Saviors challenges white people to examine race, power, and their own roles when attempting to 'help' in communities and countries not their own. Its co-founders explain why their motto is: "If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not listening."
May 09, 2019•22 min
Orphanage Voluntourism – Trafficking on Good Intentions
Is it possible for charity to worsen the lives of those they purport to help? We investigate how a global surge in one form of “voluntourism” exploits vulnerable children and contributes to child trafficking
Apr 23, 2019•30 min
The Ethics of Nonprofit Storytelling: Survivor Porn and Parading Trauma
We explore nonprofits’ propensity to create “survivor porn” and the ways in which the sector trades in “parading trauma".
Apr 05, 2019•29 min
How Philanthropy "Captures" Social Movements
Megan Ming Francis explains how philanthropists—even well-intentioned ones—can “capture” the social movements they fund and, in doing so, steer grassroots organizations and activists away from their original missions.
Mar 22, 2019•37 min
Could ‘Radical Tough Love’ Improve The Internet? These Women Think So
On International Women’s Day, we speak to the founders of #VisibleWikiWomen about their efforts to decolonize the Internet, and to “make all of the wonderful women in the world visible” on one of the world’s most popular websites: Wikipedia.
Mar 08, 2019•24 min
A Place Where You Can Speak Your Mind to That Foundation
The co-directors of GrantAdvisor, a Yelp-like site that rates the nation's charitable foundations, describe how fears of retribution in the field inspired them to launch the platform, and why honest dialogue between nonprofits and foundations can help make philanthropy better.
Feb 21, 2019•27 min
Nonprofit AF: Fragility, Frustration And Funding
Whether vocally critiquing the sector on his blog Nonprofit AF, or working to develop leaders of color at his nonprofit in Seattle, Vu Le’s frustrations fuel his drive to make the industry do better.
Feb 07, 2019•38 min
A Cost Of Med School Debt: Poor Patients, No Doctors
Hoping to diversify the next generation of doctors and deal with a drastic decrease in the number of primary care physicians in the US, New York University is now offering free tuition to its medical school students. But will it work? And is free tuition enough to choose primary care over higher paying specialties?
Jan 25, 2019•20 min
In Epidemics, Outbreak Culture Is As Toxic As Disease
In their new book, Outbreak Culture: The Ebola Crisis and the Next Epidemic , Dr. Pardis Sabeti and journalist Lara Salahi argue that epidemics don’t just spread deadly diseases, they can also breed a toxic culture among those who are helping.
Jan 10, 2019•38 min
Inequalities In Crowdfunding: An ‘American Struggle’
This Giving Season, we look at the growing phenomenon of online crowdfunding for medical bills. Who is winning on these platforms, and who is falling short? And what does the rise of sites like GoFundMe say about our fraying social safety net?
Dec 07, 2018•31 min
Hey America, Let's Talk About What Divides Us
In the face of growing political polarization, spaces for thoughtful dialogue across ideologies have all but disappeared. Spaceship Media seeks to fill this void by bringing people together to talk about contentious issues. In this conversation, an NRA member and an anti-violence activist both discover that they are not as different as they think.
Nov 15, 2018•35 min
Is Big Philanthropy Destroying Democracy?
Stanford professor Rob Reich’s new book Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better investigates how charity can undermine democratic values, and explores the ways federal policies help to facilitate greater inequality.
Nov 08, 2018•31 min
‘Rage’ or Resolve? Women Are Giving More In 2018
Following the 2016 election, there was a spike in charitable giving, especially among female donors. We hear how women are wielding their financial and political muscle ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Nov 01, 2018•24 min
What Can We Do About The White Savior Complex?
A viral video of an American missionary abusing local hotel staff in Uganda exposed the ongoing racism and colonialism that continues to infuse global aid and development. Through voices with deep experience in the sector, we hear how the white savior complex continues to harm those receiving and giving aid around the world, and think about ways to help it become a more equal space.
Oct 25, 2018•29 min
How Nonprofits Made The LGBT Movement Straight
In his new book, Gay, Inc: The Nonprofitization of Queer Politics, Myrl Beam argues that as many of the largest queer nonprofits have accepted millions from wealthy donors and foundations, the LGBT movement has become less radical.
Oct 11, 2018•32 min
Museums Must Open Doors To Today's Realities
There is a profound lack of diversity in America’s finest cultural institutions. We examine the scope of the problem, why it matters, and highlight innovative programs aimed at growing more diverse leadership across the nation’s arts and cultural institutions.
Oct 04, 2018•24 min
Crisis in Home Health Care Will Soon Affect You
From rural Wisconsin to the Bronx, there’s a crisis in home healthcare. It may be one of America’s fastest growing industries, but there aren’t enough workers to meet this demand. We spend time with home care workers and their clients, and learn why it will be hard to age in the comfort of our own homes without wide-scale reform.
Sep 27, 2018•32 min
Winners Give More As America Loses Out
Global elites have been credited for using their power and privilege to ‘change the world’ whether through apps that purport to tackle poverty or by making large donations to charity. In his new book, Winners Take All, former New York Times correspondent Anand Giridharadas offers a searing indictment of the notion that America’s wealthy are fixing our social problems
Sep 20, 2018•29 min