About Us
OUR APPROACH
The Way We Work
Intentional about the use of our assets
We concentrate our efforts in a small set of focus areas and strategies, directing our assets in an intentional way toward the areas we believe have the greatest potential for impact.
We will at times be reflecting on past work in each area or strategy. At other times, we may be concentrating on stewarding our existing commitments. Finally, there may be times when we are ramping up our efforts in each portfolio and concentrating on finding new partnerships and investment opportunities.
Increasingly, we are looking at ways that we can go beyond the grant, to help our grantees and other partners grow stronger and more impactful, whether it is through gatherings and other exchanges or the smart use of our name or network.
Informed
We are building a team of professionals who bring deep knowledge and professional networks related to our focus areas and strategies. We want to be active members of the communities in which we invest and work. Our due diligence is based on formal proposals and by gathering publicly available information, seeking out additional materials from potential grantees, and then exploring through dialogue and customized questionnaires the opportunities to support a given project, initiative, or organization.
Inclusive
We strive for a deep level of connection and transparency with our grantees and partners. We find that some of our best ideas come from this network, and that our ideas are improved when we share them with others. For our top beneficiaries, we will aim to add value and encourage development and growth to scaling their impact. Areas we might cover:
Updating Strategy
Strengthening Grantee Leadership
Fortifying Grantee Organizations
Strategic
Joining with other funders is one of the best ways to accomplish ambitious, equitable social change. Whether it is an informal collaboration or building a multi-donor philanthropy platform, collaboration brings more resources, more capacity, and more leadership to the issue at hand. We are interested in a funder collaborative for our top beneficiaries and new initiatives to create a lasting reach and impact.
OUR IMPACT
Measuring Performance and Impact of our Grant Making
We aim to create a culture of measuring success and impact amongst our grantees and will want to measure how our grantees’ results contribute to the overall success of our philanthropy.
Using data and feedback to make decisions, regular reporting will help us to intelligently consider how we will allocate future resources and drive improvement.
Once we are assured that our grantees’ goals are aligned with our strategy, we can address measuring their performance in a thoughtful, efficient, and bespoke manner: