Koven!

The Democratic Party's Spam Machine | On the Media | WNYC Studios If you’ve ever donated to a Democratic candidate, you’ve probably been rewarded with a never-ending stream of pleas for more money.

Further deepening the regret: www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

Realizing how hard it is these days to post anything about AI without it sounding like clickbait. That said, here's a post about #AI in #philanthropy! TLDR: it's nice in some ways, gross in others.

kovenjsmith.com/post/2025-12...

Awww! Thanks, Suse.

Innovation is not infrastructure The survival of the arts depends on technology, but not in the way most funders think. The sector’s real challenge isn’t innovation; it’s infrastructure. You wouldn't know this to look at what work ge...

First blog post in a long time, as I start to unpack my time at Knight Foundation. Thinking about where arts+tech could go, and the (relative) futility of funding "innovation" in the arts. kovenjsmith.com/post/2025-10... #artstech #philanthropy #glam #musetech #arts

All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!

Okay, now that we're thinking about Substack and both its cultural influence and its business model, can I walk you all through the economics? Because they make no sense, and we can use that to predict how things are going to go... (Caution:🧵)