Pia Infante

Permission to Pause

By March 18, 2020

In the past week, I’ve marveled at how swiftly my non-profit and funder colleagues have adapted to the drastically changed conditions of our lives. Complex, in-person events were seamlessly hosted on virtual platforms in what seemed like a 24-hour pivot. We are all now wizards of Zoom, Blue Jeans, Skype, and other technologies for virtual…

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What One Response to California’s 2017 Wildfires Can Teach Philanthropy About Coronavirus

By March 11, 2020

The spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 is at once both unforeseen and inevitable. Michael Lerner of Commonweal and Resilience Project writes, “The coronavirus illustrates how perfectly predictable threats (viral pandemics) disrupt profoundly interconnected and fragile global systems. Financial markets, supply chains, consumer behavior, tourism, healthcare, and both national and global events are all affected by…

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Balancing Great Relationships and Great Expectations

By September 12, 2019

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…

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The Gift of Disequilibrium

By April 3, 2019

I just recently returned from a maternity leave that was both an eternity and a blink of an eye. I was deeply and shockingly unprepared for the experience of becoming a mother, something I thought would be so natural and easy breezy for a child-loving longtime auntie and former teacher like me. Perhaps it was…

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Finding Power in Practice

By May 14, 2018

Note: This post originally appeared on Medium, as part of Justice Funders‘ “Liberate Philanthropy” Blog Series. You can read the original post here.  The foundation world is plagued with a number of inherent challenges that inhibit our ability to do our best work: our own hubris, our lack of proximity to the people we support,…

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