Meet Allison Ralph, PhD, leader and consultant on pluralism and belonging. Allison formerly helped build interfaith collaborations as Associate and Interim Director at the Aspen Institute Religion & Society program. She now applies her expertise to supporting funders and organizations to promote pluralism through her consultancy, Cohesion Strategy. Allison, who grew up among musicians in Fernandina Beach, Florida, now loves living in Washington, DC.

innoFaith recently facilitated and supported a collaboration that modeled a different approach, one in which the community recognizes, honors, and supports children as important civic contributors and teaches giving not as sacrifice or something nice to do, but as a core aspect of children's participation in their community. In this approach, instilling the values of community, compassion, and gift become less about the fortunate and less fortunate and more about understanding the varied experiences of people and the varied ways that children can and already do help. This approach also requires adults to entrust kids with real decisions about engagement in their community rather than telling them what to do.

A new report by the Bridgespan Group, Elevating the Role of Faith-Inspired Impact in the Social Sector, makes a case for bridging secular philanthropy and faith-inspired social impact organizations. The report addresses three myths: 1) that secularism is dominant, 2) that faith-inspired organizations represent only a minor part of the sector, and 3) that faith-inspired organizations are not innovative.

Social innovation requires an enabling ecosystem, and one of the key players in that ecosystem is the philanthropic sector. Innovative philanthropists can help empower individual organizations to take risks while fostering collective impact in the process. With their faith under attack, one group of American Muslims and their allies are organizing to support Muslim change-makers who are creating solutions in their communities. In the process, they're reshaping perceptions of Islam in America. Read about Pillars Fund and their new approach to faith-based philanthropy in this article from Buzzfeed.