News

Community philanthropy strengthens civil society and should be a priority of development aid practitioners, according to a new report published by the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Global Fund for Community Foundations, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The findings are aligned with the trend in the field of community philanthropy; local foundations grew by 86 percent from 2000 to 2010.

The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) has found new and surprising ways to reach audiences through arts. CIR has partnered with Tides Theatre in San Francisco to adapt investigative news articles and a documentary film into one-act plays. CIR is also collaborating with arts organizations in Berkeley, California to showcase animated shorts based on the news. Another CIR initiative brings spoken-word poet José Vadi onto its staff.

Stephen Heintz has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. Founded during the American Revolution, the Academy recognizes the most influential leaders from science, scholarship, business, public affairs, and the arts, and carries out nonpartisan policy research on social, political, and intellectual topics in response to the needs and problems of society.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Adiedo as director of human resources. As director, he will provide leadership, guidance, and professional expertise to senior management and services to staff and the Fund’s affiliates on matters related to human resources and organizational development.

The Institute for Integrated Transitions has released an analysis of international expert assistance offered in Tunisia after the January 2011 revolution. The report focuses on the country's reforms in its media, security sector, and judiciary, as well as youth employment; results have been mixed more than two years after the uprising.

Fossil fuel companies have been overvaluing coal and gas reserves resulting in a dangerously inflated investment bubble, according to the latest report released by the Carbon Tracker Initiative and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. With the 2010 agreement among governments to limit global warming to two degrees, the study's authors calculated that 60 to 80 percent of the oil, gas, and coal reserves listed on stock exchanges are unburnable.

Sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran have fallen short of expectations and the unintended consequences may pose risks, according to The Iran Project's latest report, released on Wednesday. The report, backed by former senior U.S. officials and outside experts, recommends that Washington rebalance its dual-track policy by strengthening its diplomatic efforts.

United States forces and agents engaged in torture following the attacks on September 11, 2001, according to a nonpartisan, independent study by The Constitution Project. The report found that the country's most senior officials were ultimately responsible for allowing and contributing to torturous interrogation techniques. There also is no firm evidence that the widespread use of torture produced significant and valuable information.

InsideClimate News is this year's Pulitzer Prize winner for National Reporting. Journalists Lisa Song, Elizabeth McGowan, and David Hasemyer were recognized for their coverage of the lasting ecological dangers posed by the million-gallon spill of Canadian tar sands oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River in July 2010. InsideClimate News is the third and smallest online-only news organization to win a Pulitzer.

Season of Cambodia, a festival that celebrates the revival of Cambodian arts and culture, kicked off its two-month run in New York City this week. Conceived by the Phnom Penh-based nonprofit Cambodian Living Arts, the festival showcases dance, visual arts, film, music, discussions, and more, in venues across New York City, and features 125 artists from Cambodia.