We're Just Getting Started: Preventing Massive Budget Cuts

Editor's Note: This guest post comes from Samuel Kang, General Counsel at the Greenlining Institute, who will be moderating the first of a series of Tides Learning Community calls focused on Connecting the Dots on the Budget Deal.

Remember the nasty national deficit debate back in August? The fight is not over. President Obama and Congress punted the issue to a committee charged with reducing the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade. The battle resumed shortly after Labor Day, when the 12 members...

Preserve Democracy: Expand the Vote, Don’t Restrict It

Editor's Note: This guest post comes from Judith Browne-Dianis, Co-Director of the Advancement Project, a policy, communications and legal action group committed to racial justice founded by a team of veteran civil rights lawyers in 1999.

Attacks on Democracy went on trial last Thursday at a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. At the hearing, Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation continued the Right’s persistent campaign of...

In Sickness and Health: Visitation Rights a Step Towards LGBT Equality

Editor's Note: This post comes from Jane Stafford, Managing Director of the Community Clinics Initiative, a a joint project of Tides and The California Endowment.

While many in the LGBT community wait for President Obama to exert greater leadership on the issue of marriage equality, others in his administration have already taken significant steps towards recognizing the rights of LGBT couples.  Last week, the Department of Health & Human Services issued a press release titled “Medicare steps up enforcement of equal...

Broadcasting Opportunity: How Community Radio Powers Social Change

Editor's Note: This post comes from Danielle Chynoweth, Director of Planning at the Prometheus Radio Project, based in Philadelphia.

Ninety percent of Americans use radio at least once a week, making it the most common point of connection today.  And thanks to the passage of the Local Community Radio Act, groups will soon have the opportunity to start community radio stations in cities and towns across the country—as early as next summer.  This marks the largest expansion of community radio in U.S. history, and...

Darian Rodriguez Heyman's Top Ten Fundraising Tips

Darian Rodriguez Heyman, former Executive Director of the Craigslist Foundation and editor of the new book Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals, offered his Top Ten Fundraising Tips last week to the Tides Learning Community.  Though he joked about recognizing many faces in the room and wondered aloud what these nonprofit leaders still hoped to learn about fundraising, Darian's presentation offered ideas appropriate for emerging leaders and seasoned nonprofit professionals...

A CALL TO MEN: Ending Violence Against Women

Editor's note: This blog entry comes from Tony Porter, co-founder of Tides Project A CALL TO MEN.  Jump below to see a video of Tony's TED Talk.

People always ask me, “Why do you do this work, speaking to men about ending violence against women? Did something happen to you as a child? Was your father a batterer? Were you sexually molested as a child? Were you a batterer”? And when I answer “no” to all of the above, people look at me strangely trying to make sense of why a man would take such a...

Corporate America Untaxed: Tax Avoidance on the Rise

Editor's note: This post comes from Tuan Ngo and Samuel S. Kang of the Greenlining Institute, a multi-ethnic public policy and advocacy institute.

America’s richest multinational corporations are avoiding $60 billion a year in taxes by hiding $1 trillion in profits overseas.  All the while, Fortune 100 corporations alone received close to $90 billion in taxpayer-funded federal contracts. And yet Congress is looking to cut the deficit by cutting Medicare, Social Security, food safety, education and health...

The Racial Opportunity Gap

Editor's note: This post comes from Maya Wiley, Executive Director of the Center for Social Inclusion (a project of Tides) and the chair of Tides' Board of Directors.

The recession that was supposed to have ended in 2009 has become a depression for many communities of color. The Pew Research Center's astounding report "Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics" is the most recent to draw this conclusion. Consider it's findings. The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black...

Last chance to register for the Games for Change Festival 2011

Editor's Note: Tides is proud to partner with Games for Change to promote this innovative conference focusing on games and play in education and social change movements.  Look for our Program Manager Irene Kao at the conference in a couple of weeks, and enjoy the information below from Game for Change Festival's Jeff Ramos.

Registration for the 8th Annual Games for Change Festival is closing on June 11th. For those of not familiar with Games for Change, our organization is the leading global advocate for making...

Shareholder Activism Wins Victories

Guest post by Timothy Smith, Senior Vice President, Environment, Social and Governance Group at Walden Asset Management

The investment portfolio at Tides has been managed for decades by Walden Asset Management (formerly U.S. Trust of Boston), a leader in sustainable and responsible investing.  Here are four areas where Walden helps Tides' investments to support a double bottom line of financial returns and social change:

Screening: Tides' investment choices utilize environmental, social, and governance...