grantmaking

I first joined ZeroDivide (then the Community Technology Foundation of California—whew, what a mouthful!) as a program officer over eight years ago.

I have no formal education or training in program officiating. (But I should ask: who does? Those of us in the field, we’re all accidental philanthropists for the most part.) There’s no certification per se, no accreditation, no good housekeeping seal of approval for the philanthropy sector.

I point to an article by Laura Efurd on media policy and the next Presidency over at Grantmaker’s for Film and Electronic Media’s website entitled Media Policy And The Next Presidency: The Time Is Now.

Here are her suggestions for funders:

• Support educational and informational activities related to media and technology policy issues throughout the electoral process, such as education forums.

• Fund research to gather more robust data on broadband access, media ownership, and the digital divide.

I’ve blogged more about technology in the nonprofit space than about the philanthropy space, but I’ve been avidly reading philanthropy bloggers such as Tactical Philanthropy, Philanthropy 2173, and the White Courtesy Telephone.