We’re proud to partner with changemakers in philanthropy like you who are committed to transformational change towards a more equitable and effective sector.
Here's how we can help:
We work with foundations, philanthropy-serving organizations and funder collaboratives on organizational and programmatic strategies.
Designing an organizational strategy is like designing any tool: you need to figure out how you want to use it. The Reality Checklist can help you name what you want your strategy to do, shape your approach to developing it and assess your progress as you go.
Blue Shield of California Foundation
We worked in close partnership with the foundation to name and live their core values, explore what a more "upstream" strategy could look like and shape an organizational culture to support the new path forward.
Names Family Foundation
We worked together to articulate and make actionable the donor intent of the founders, while also capturing the needs and interest of the third and fourth generations as they prepared to launch a strategic planning process.
Building cultures and practices that address racial equity can be one of the most complex and challenging experiences of a leader’s career. When there’s no map to follow, no magical checklists that tell you you’re doing it right – peer cohorts offer a critical space for self-reflection, testing ideas and sustaining commitment. This report captures our observations across nine years of peer cohort facilitation for executive leaders, providing insight into common leadership dilemmas on race, inclusion and power in philanthropy, why peer support is so effective and how it helps leaders move their organizations to action.
There is ample evidence that senior leaders wish they had more access to safe, thoughtful and structured environments for exploring the leadership challenges they face daily in their work. While individual coaching is a traditional model for meeting this need, we have seen how peer learning can be a powerful approach in philanthropy. Over the last few years, TGP has led leadership cohorts of CEOs and trustees advancing DEI. To date, over 50 leaders around the country have participated in these cohorts. Our cohorts blend leadership work with diversity, equity and inclusion work. They offer senior leaders and trustees an opportunity to learn from the experience and confidential advice from peers; wrestle with complex professional challenges; and build a community of trusted peer advisors.
Meyer Memorial Trust
We engaged with Meyer Memorial Trust (MMT)’s board and senior staff in a deep exploration of strategy, values, and defining impact. At the time, MMT was shifting its focus to the lens of equity as a core tenant of its work. Our team facilitated several retreats and planning sessions, developed a strategy narrative to document the new strategic direction, and continued to work with the staff through implementation.
Group Health Foundation
We worked closely with the Group Health Foundation board during its inception to help them develop core values and norms that define the foundation’s commitment to equity. We continue to work closely with the foundation as they grow and live into their equity agreements.
While we bring inclusive, engaging facilitation to all engagements, we are often called to design and facilitate:
Learn a set of strategies and approaches that invite you to show up as an adventurer in working better together. This guide provides ten doorways to begin the adventure.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Since 2013, Building Community Philanthropy (BCP) has engaged board and staff from 25 community foundations, United Ways and identity funds across Washington State in a twice-yearly learning community. From an initial focus on capacity building, community engagement and addressing intergenerational poverty, participants have added deep dives into advocacy and DEI. Multi-day gatherings mix speakers, time for team planning and reflection and user-generated content through peer-learning stations and dilemma exercises. The resulting trusted relationships have led to greater collaboration within the cohort and with new partners in their community.
Satterberg Foundation
Yearly day-long gatherings of Community Partner grantees in California and Washington helped Satterberg better understand the impact of its investment in these philanthropic intermediaries while also engaging those doing the work on the ground in co-designing future cohorts. Satterberg's adventures in trust-based philanthropy meant more storytelling and site visits, and less spreadsheets, with TGP able to offer additional support in capturing qualitative metrics.
Philanthropy Northwest Cohorts
Each year our senior advisors facilitate a range of peer cohorts for Philanthropy Northwest members.
Everything is in process. But our ways of thinking about organizational development often don’t account for that. This tool helps you think about where you have been and where you are headed by examining the ongoing change of your organization, team, project, strategy or field.
Christopher Family Foundation
We partnered with Christopher Family Foundation to assess governance and program areas and offer models that would continue to engage the foundation's board, family and community while honoring the founders' intent and the desire for multi-generational participation.
Anonymous Foundation
We provided executive coaching for a Midwest foundation executive to lead and navigate an organizational shift in strategy. The coaching sessions focused on exploration of leadership skills to advance a learning agenda, working with a team across the foundation and leaning into challenges that came up in real time using reflective practice insights.
Learn more about advancing trust-based philanthropy (TBP) with TGP here.
Learn more about TBP and the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project here.
Headwaters Foundation
We supported former Executive Director of Headwaters Foundation Brenda Solórzano throughout her 7 and a half year journey at the foundation as she worked to build a trust-based organization.
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