Dear Reader,
As you scramble to finish essential year-end tasks, all of us at the
Chronicle want to take a moment to thank you for engaging with us throughout the past year — and let you know what’s in store for 2025.
Here are some of the key efforts our newsroom, headed by Editor-in-Chief Andrew Simon, has underway:
- Reporters and editors are busy at work putting the finishing touches on our 2025 trends issue, which we’ll release in full on January 14. I hope you’ll join me on January 21 at 2 p.m. Eastern for a live online forum, when I’ll ask several of our journalists to share what they learned as they asked experts to forecast what’s next.
- Maria Di Mento is scouring giving records of the nation’s most affluent people to assemble the 25th edition of the Philanthropy 50, our annual look at the people who give the most to charity. Watch for the latest rankings in early March, along with analysis of what patterns we’re seeing — and how they can affect your efforts to attract big donations. Our 2025 edition will also look far ahead — identifying the rising generation of donors who have the potential to become top donors in the next decade or two. And we’ll follow that up in April with a look at how the $80 million transfer of wealth is affecting philanthropy.
- We’re gearing up for our first study of how nonprofit leaders are handling their technology challenges and opportunities. We’ll examine everything from A.I. to cybersecurity to digital fundraising and help you learn what your peers are doing now.
- As we noted in our December issue, the Trump administration promises to bring about many changes that will affect nonprofits and foundations. We’ll keep you updated on what you need to know and also expand our Commons project, which seeks to show how nonprofits and foundations can lead in a divided America. What’s more, we’re continuing our Commons in Conversation series, and I’m eager to interview La June Montgomery Tabron, CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, on January 13. Register here.
Meanwhile, our professional development team, headed by Margie Fleming Glennon, is also developing a slate of fundraising webinars and online forums for the year ahead. Among the webinar topics coming soon:
creating a strong donor communications plan and the
psychology of thanking donors well. And in our archives, you can find our most popular webinars, including
Seeking Support for General Operations: What to Know and
How DAF Donors Are Giving Away Their Money.
Forums in the works include a session on ensuring data privacy in the age of A.I. and another on how A.I. is transforming nonprofits.
And perhaps the effort I am most excited about is a new leadership podcast I’m working to develop with Margie and her colleague Emily Haynes. We’re in the process of putting together an eight episode series that will debut in the spring, just as the
Chronicle marks its second year as a nonprofit — and I get to ask out loud all the questions I have been asking fellow CEOs privately now that I lead a fast-growing nonprofit.
While you wait for the podcast, I urge you to read
Leadership at the Crossroads, a new report from our editor-at-large, George Anders, who went in-depth on solutions to problems we identified in our
exclusive survey of CEOs. And you can also view a video on
fostering a culture of well-being, which was among the most popular training sessions we held last year.
The best way to keep up with all the offerings from the
Chronicle is to sign up for our
Philanthropy Today newsletter. You’ll get updates every day about new items we have posted, plus a guide to what else you need to know from reporting by other news organizations.
We hope you get to take a restorative break as the year ends, and we look forward to serving you in 2025. Thank you for all you do to make the world a better place for people and the planet.
All my best,
