The Commons in Conversation – Details, episodes & analysis

Introducing The Commons in Conversation podcast, an offshoot of The Commons, a special project from the Chronicle of Philanthropy. 

Our season kicks off with this urgent question: How can we reverse the trend of declining trust in institutions? Philanthropist Reid Hoffman is looking for answers with a $10 million open call for organizations working to build faith in government, the media, public health, universities, and more. 

Hoffman joins Chronicle of Philanthropy editor-in-chief Andrew Simon and Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, for a conversation about Hoffman's competition and how philanthropy can help restore trust.

Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn. Conrad has managed philanthropy competitions for MacKenzie Scott and the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change program.

Visit The Commons, a Chronicle special project exploring how Americans can come together, strengthen communities, and repair our torn social fabric. And sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Watch this interview on the Chronicle's YouTube channel. 

Go Deeper

• Read about Hoffman's Trust in American Institutions Challenge.
• Check out Time magazine's profile of Cecilia Conrad as one of the 100 most influential people in philanthropy.
• See the Chronicle's coverage of MacArthur's 100&Change program.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver frequently writes and talks about the origins of — and cure for — what she calls "urban-rural antipathy." Her most recent novel, Demon Copperhead, aims to dismantle stereotypes of her native Appalachia that she says infect politics and contribute to a mutual loathing between urban and rural Americans. 

Kingsolver joins Chronicle of Philanthropy deputy opinion editor Nandita Raghuram for a conversation about her writing and philanthropy's role in rural parts of the country. She also shares a bit about Higher Ground, a home she and her husband established for women recovering from addiction.

Visit The Commons, a Chronicle special project exploring how Americans can come together, strengthen communities, and repair our torn social fabric. And sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Watch this interview on the Chronicle's YouTube channel.

Go Deeper

• Read an excerpt from Demon Copperhead.
• Read a New York Times story about the home that Kingsolver and her husband established for women recovering from addiction.
• Listen to a 2023 interview with Kingsolver about Demon Copperhead as "the great Appalachian novel."

From its post in America’s heartland, the 95-year-old W.K. Kellogg Foundation has achieved a diversity in grant making that has eluded many foundations: In the past decade, more than 40 percent of its grant dollars have gone to organizations led by people of color.

La June Montgomery Tabron, CEO of the Battle Creek, Mich., grant maker, joins Chronicle of Philanthropy CEO Stacy Palmer to talk about what racial healing looks like in philanthropy and America. She also discusses her new book, How We Heal: A Journey Toward Truth, Racial Healing, and Community Transformation From the Inside Out, a personal reflection on her life and the foundation’s racial reconciliation work.

Visit The Commons, a Chronicle special project exploring how Americans can come together, strengthen communities, and repair our torn social fabric. And sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Watch this interview on the Chronicle's YouTube channel.

Go Deeper

• Read about the priorities of the Kellogg Foundation.
• Learn more about Tabron's book How We Heal as well as her children's book, Our Differences Make Us Stronger.

As federal Washington burns with division and conflict, some grant makers are trying to repair the country’s social fabric by strengthening communities. Join Rockefeller Brothers Fund president Stephen Heintz and Katie Loudin of the West Virginia Community Development Hub for a discussion of the year-old Trust for Civic Life, an unusual $30 million cross-ideological funder collaborative bankrolling homegrown initiatives.

Members of the trust include the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Omidyar Network, the The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Stand Together, and Walmart.

Visit The Commons, a Chronicle special project exploring how Americans can come together, strengthen communities, and repair our torn social fabric. And sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Watch this interview on the Chronicle's YouTube channel.

Go Deeper

• Read "Major Funders Bet Big on Rural America and 'Everyday Democracy,' in the Chronicle, about the launch of the Trust for Civic Life.
• See our analysis of grassroots democracy efforts nationwide: "As Washington Brawls, Betting on Communities to Fix What’s Broken."
• See the "Our Common Purpose" report and its followup, "Habits of Heart and Mind: How to Fortify Our Civic Culture." 

Does philanthropy share in the blame for America's divisions?

Hali Lee, co-founder of the Donors of Color Network, believes that large foundations and billionaire donors have done plenty to pull the country apart, even as they pursue good. Lee joins Chronicle deputy opinion editor Nandita Raghuram to discuss her new book, The Big We. 

They talk about what Lee describes as the atomizing effect of large foundations and billionaire donors (“Big Philanthropy”), the breakdown of connectedness in America, and the unifying power of giving circles and mutual aid.

Visit The Commons, a Chronicle special project exploring how Americans can come together, strengthen communities, and repair our torn social fabric. And sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Watch this interview on the Chronicle's YouTube channel.

Go Deeper

• Read an excerpt from The Big We.
• See a Time magazine profile of Lee as part of its coverage of the 100 most influential people in philanthropy.
• Read an essay by Lee on the cultures of generosity and philanthropy in communities of color.

If democracy is unraveling, what can save it? 

Scholar, author, and nonprofit leader Danielle Allen joins The Commons in Conversation to talk about a range of solutions championed by philanthropy and nonprofits. These include reform of institutions like Congress and the Supreme Court, investment in civics education, and a rekindling of civic spirit in local communities.

Allen leads the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and is director of Democratic Knowledge Project–Learn, a civics-education research project. She’s also the founder of Partners In Democracy, which advocates for democracy reforms.

Visit The Commons, a Chronicle special project exploring how Americans can come together, strengthen communities, and repair our torn social fabric. And sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Watch this interview on the Chronicle's YouTube channel.

Go Deeper

• Read Allen's essay in The Commons about the need to spend time and money renovating the institutions of democracy.
• See our analysis of grassroots democracy efforts nationwide: "As Washington Brawls, Betting on Communities to Fix What’s Broken."
• Take a look at the "Our Common Purpose" report and its followup, "Habits of Heart and Mind: How to Fortify Our Civic Culture."