--- title: Five Best: Foundations Should Be Like Venture Capital Firms description: Foundations should work more like venture capital firms, we’re not asking the right questions about what goes down the drain and more. canonical: https://time.com/5025263/foundations-should-work-more-like-venture-capital-firms/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-15T17:00:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:20.782Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Foundations Should Work More Like Venture Capital Firms og:description: And four more of today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/5025263/foundations-should-work-more-like-venture-capital-firms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Foundations Should Work More Like Venture Capital Firms twitter:description: And four more of today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Foundations Should Work More Like Venture Capital Firms by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 15, 2017 5:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Nov 15, 2017 5:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Foundations should work more like venture capital firms. Here’s where to start.**](https://shift.newco.co/why-arent-foundations-actually-helping-their-grantees-like-vcs-77d4437648) By Gabe Kleinman at _NewCo Shift_ **2\.** [**We’re not asking the right questions about what goes down the drain — and into our ecosystem.**](http://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/low-dose-constant-drip-pharmaceuticals-personal-care-products-impact-aquatic-life) By the _Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies_ **3\.** [**Why are American employers still obsessed with college degrees?**](http://theweek.com/articles/736613/american-employers-mindless-obsession-college-degrees) By Jeff Spross in the _Week_ **4\.** [**Is grass-fed beef better for the climate? It’s complicated.**](https://civileats.com/2017/11/13/is-grass-fed-beef-better-for-the-climate-its-complicated/) By Lela Nargi in _Civil Eats_ **5\.** [**Scientists have bred corn to be super-productive. Now that corn can’t adapt.**](https://news.wisc.edu/breeding-highly-productive-corn-has-reduced-its-ability-to-adapt/) By Eric Hamilton at the _University of Wisconsin-Madison_  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5025263/foundations-should-work-more-like-venture-capital-firms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5025263/foundations-should-work-more-like-venture-capital-firms/"},"headline":"Foundations Should Work More Like Venture Capital Firms","datePublished":"2017-11-15T17:00:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:20.782Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/5025263/foundations-should-work-more-like-venture-capital-firms/","keywords":["Five Best Ideas","Environment","Innovation","Food","College","Charity","Farming"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/five-best-ideas/","name":"Five Best Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5025263/foundations-should-work-more-like-venture-capital-firms/","name":"Foundations Should Work More Like Venture Capital Firms"}}]}] ```