Blog

We Got By With A Little Help From Our Friends

By December 11, 2017

2017 was not a year TWI could have withstood alone.  Thankfully we didn’t have to.  Figuratively and often quite literally, we got by with a little help from our friends. Grantmaking Loves Company Like many social justice foundations, our board immediately authorized a rapid response mechanism post-election. We made a set of grants that represent many…

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Putting Trust at the Center of Foundation Work

By December 5, 2017

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s blog: http://cep.org/putting-trust-center-foundation-work. As a foundation that sees relationships as a key component of philanthropy and social change, The Whitman Institute (TWI) applauds CEP’s recent report, Relationships Matter: Program Officers, Grantees, and the Keys to Success. It may seem like common sense that grantees and funders…

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Funder Spotlight: Thousand Currents

By November 27, 2017

Thousand Currents is an international development organization focused on the Global South. Their funding model is inherently trust-based, with an approach rooted in trusting the expertise of the leaders in the communities they serve. As part of our ongoing series featuring trust-in-practice, The Whitman Institute sat down with Deputy Director Solome Lemma to learn more…

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Funder Spotlight: Durfee Foundation

By November 15, 2017

Since its inception in 1960, the Durfee Foundation in Los Angeles has been investing in extraordinary leaders through an almost hard-wired approach to trust-based philanthropy. As a place-based family foundation devoted to leadership, relationships, and constant learning, Durfee is seeing some incredible long-term results. As part of our series on trust-in-practice, we sat down with…

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How Does Trust Show Up In Your Practice?

By October 30, 2017

The Whitman Institute has been mildly obsessed with the concept of trust-based philanthropy for quite a while now. For us, this doesn’t just mean giving multi-year unrestricted grants (even though that’s an important part of it!). For over a decade, we’ve made a point to make sure trust is embodied in our overall practice. We’ve…

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