Articles by

Michelle Huttenhoff

  • Article

    How can foundations meet information needs? New lab seeks answers

    Published February 13, 2017 by

    The paradox of trying to be a good citizen in 2017 is that we are inundated with information, and yet it is still hard to be well-informed on local issues. It’s not something to take lightly. Whether we care about our schools, the environment or criminal justice reform, we all need quality news and information to make the best decisions about what happens at city hall, in our neighborhoods, and on our blocks.
  • Article

    How Musical Swings illustrate five principles essential to successful cities

    Published March 28, 2016 by

    The Musical Swings at night in West Palm Beach. Photos by Rosemary D'Amour. The Musical Swings, one of the winners of the 2015 Knight Cities Challenge, connects people with a fun activity: They play as people pump their legs, soaring higher and higher. The installation will visit three Knight cities, the first only 60 miles away from Knight headquarters in Miami. Recently, several Knight staff members boarded a bus and headed up to West Palm Beach to tour the city and test out the swings first hand. This tour was extra special to me and Community Foundations Program Director Lilly Weinberg. We work with Knight’s 18 small to midsize markets, which include Palm Beach County. With this excitement we set out on a community tour led by Raphael Clemente, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority and community adviser for the Knight donor-advised fund in Palm Beach County. We toured the library, riverfront, both 2016 Knight City Challenge finalists, and met with leaders and officials in the community. 
  • Article

    Ahead of Give Local America, 7 trends in Giving Days

    Published April 14, 2015 by

      A school principal rides a zipline as a way to bring attention to Give to the Max Day in Minnesota. Courtesy of GiveMN Day.  With the clock ticking for Give Local America on May 5, community foundations and others are finalizing plans for this national day of online giving. At Knight Foundation, we’ve been providing insights on organizing successful Giving Days, and wanted to share the latest information we have gathered. Our work started with The Giving Day Playbook, a soup-to-nuts guide that is continuously updated. Today, we wanted to share insights from six 2014 Fall Giving Days supported by Knight. Our interest is not just on democratizing philanthropy, as essential as that is. While we’re excited by new trends in donor activity, that I’ll outline below, we also want to make sure that community foundations find ways to make these campaigns sustainable for themselves.