Wind Power (Photo Credit: Håkan Dahlström, licensed under CC BY 2.0) A centerpiece of the Hewlett Foundation’s climate program is a belief in the power of innovation. We fund efforts to build markets for new technologies, like wind and solar energy, and we support organizations that push for policies that lead to innovation. We see a more prosperous …
Looks harmless, doesn’t he? (Image Credit: Flickr User juliusbulius, licensed under CC BY NC SA 2.0) My name is Daniel, and I have a Twitter problem. I am one of the 288 million active users of the site. I recently realized that I have been too active. The moment of truth came a few weeks back while I …
Debra Blum, writing in The Chronicle of Philanthropy: A sweeping movement is under way among nonprofits to more regularly collect information and consider the perspectives of the people they serve. New tools and services, like apps that run text-message surveys, are springing up to aid feedback efforts, and new grant money is trickling in. What’s more, …
As part of the Hewlett Foundation’s Madison Initiative—aimed at improving opportunities for better dialogue, deliberation, and compromise in Congress—I’m spearheading our work around civic engagement and voting. Two questions I’ve been wrestling lately are whether, and to what end, philanthropy might help to improve voter turnout. Many US foundations and nonprofits operate in this space. …
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve (Photo Credit: David Seibold, licensed under CC BY NC 2.0) Paul Rogers, writing in the San Jose Mercury News, has a good write-up on a new report from the California Parks Forward Commission, which the Hewlett Foundation supported: California’s venerable state parks—from sunny Los Angeles beaches to towering redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains—are under “serious stress” and …
(This blog post appeared, in slightly different from, on Post2015.org earlier this week. It is adapted from my remarks at the January 22 UN Foundation and World Bank hosted consultation on financing the data revolution. It’s not too late to comment on the background papers. ) Now, with less than six months until the Financing for Development (FFD) conference in …
Nice piece by Sharon Noguchi in the San Jose Mercury News on the inroads being made by open educational resources: “We’re just at the initial stages of a revolution in education,” said Matt Chamberlain, principal of Venture School, an independent study school in the San Ramon Unified School District. Selecting and managing online material is challenging, “but to put resources …
The challenge of educating young people to become fully engaged American citizens was put into sharp focus by a conference I attended last week in New York City, hosted by the Ford Foundation. Students, educators, non-profit leaders, scholars, and funders came together for a day to talk about how civic education in school and after-school …
Interesting post from longtime Open Educational Resources scholar David Wiley on what’s he’s learing about the theoretical benefits of OER and the empirical research that supports those theories: I’m continuing to learn an incredible amount as I work with Lumen Learning, supporting institutions as they go through the process of replacing traditional textbooks with Open Educational Resources …
Rukmini Banerji works on the ASER (Annual Status of Education) initiative, part of Pratham, in India. Experience has shown that simply being in school does not automatically translate into learning for students. As we enter this new phase of global goal setting for education, UNESCO, through its Institute for Statistics, has initiated a very timely …