I was driving my daughter to her summer job, and we were sharing: Thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams. I went first. “I had a dream last night that a large snake rose from the laundry basket.” Not being a snake person in any way-shape-or-form, I was still shaken a bit. “Hmm,” responded 17-year-old Sophia. “My dreams... Read More
On a Friday in February 2015, I invited 24 organizations to apply for funding in response to letters of inquiry our foundation had solicited. The next day, our board held a retreat to evaluate the foundation’s grantmaking outcomes over its first 5 years. We knew the board wanted to talk about how to increase our... Read More
COVID-19 is keeping me awake at night. I am completely overwhelmed with information and uncertainty. As a foundation with only one staff member located in Monterey, California, I knew that we could do something to support our community, but I also knew that we didn’t have the financial or human resources to do anything dramatic... Read More
The headline of an April 27, 2020 article in the San Francisco Chronicle read: Coronavirus and the law: California suspends bar exam this summer Taking the bar exam is like childbirth. A grueling multi-day process with pain and trauma that you somehow forget on a day to day basis, but upon mention of the activity,... Read More
Diversity and racial equity touch on every aspect of a foundation’s work. In the blog posts Developing a Shared Language and Introducing an Anti-Racist Intersectional Frame, we discussed how philanthropy can advance racial equity. In this post, we lay out three ways you can start doing racial equity work in real time. 1. Look Internally... Read More
As practitioners, advisors and consultants to funders, conveners and conductors of community collaboration, we have observed collaboration and collective impact in communities across the country. From our on-the-ground experience, we have seen it done well, and not so well. In this first of a two-blog series, we’ll provide several guideposts about how funders can better... Read More