Pia Infante

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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From Uncomfortable Truths to Courageous Action

By May 3, 2018

Note: This post originally appeared on Social Velocity. The 2018 GEO National Conference came to a close today, and 950 of us headed back to our respective cities, families, teams, and desks with fresh connections, conversations, and challenges to integrate back into our daily lives.  I’ll admit that there are times when I come home…

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8 Lessons in Collaborative Rapid Response Grantmaking

By January 31, 2018

Last year, The Whitman Institute joined a group of foundations from around the country in a collaborative rapid response fund: Defending the Dream. While we were already doing our own rapid response grantmaking, we knew that teaming up with other funder partners would allow us to work more swiftly and effectively without reinventing the wheel….

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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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Messages To Trust when Hate is the Headliner

By September 15, 2017

Like so many of you, we at TWI are wounded by the events of Charlottesville that took place in August. Our values for equity, humility, critical thinking, dialogue, and human decency are being courageously demonstrated by so many, in so many places like Charlottesville on behalf of the criminalized and vulnerable.  Let us continue to…

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