This post was originally published at the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s blog. “It was so important just to be treated like a human being.” “As a woman of color, I can’t tell you what it meant to be approached by a funder I didn’t know who saw me and trusted me.” “DO SOMETHING!” These comments…
Philanthropy is in a cultural moment of power-reckoning; The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project offers a clear next step Press Contact: Shaady Salehi shaady@trustbasedphilanthropy.org January 22, 2020, San Francisco, CA – Today, the Headwaters Foundation, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, and The Whitman Institute announce the launch of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, a five-year, peer-to-peer funder initiative with…
What makes for great relationships between funders and their nonprofit partners? We have always believed that it starts with respect, authenticity, and honesty across power differentials in ways that build trust over time. In fact, we have often written about ways to bridge power divides by being proactive, relational funders who don’t create conditions where…
In 2012 The Whitman Institute made the decision to spend out our endowment over 10 years. At the time, 2022 was a distant point on the horizon; now, not so much. What felt theoretical is becoming more real with each passing month and we are feeling more strongly the hint of urgency that comes with…
A Trust-Based, Collaborative Relationship from the Start Thousand Currents became part of the Whitman Institute family in 2013, after an unexpectedly fruitful lunch meeting between Rajasvini Bhansali and John Esterle. “We got together to brainstorm what it would look like for Thousand Currents to model donor education–much like our [grantee] partners do political education in…