collaboration

On Behalf of Naiveté

By August 7, 2015

Recently I found myself around a table of philanthropic leaders in California, many seasoned funders who’ve funded social change and civil rights for years – if not decades. We were gathered around the compelling question of how to support the emerging and powerful movement(s) for racial equity that have gained so much prominence nationally. The…

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Towards A Better Place: Trusting Relationships Will Move Us Forward

By July 26, 2015

“There needs to be a call to action in this field around relationships and trust.” – Jamie Allison, S. H. Cowell Foundation I was in the audience when Jamie (also a TWI trustee) made that compelling statement last September during the closing plenary of Towards a Better Place: A Conversation about Promising Practice in Place-Based…

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Celebrating Women Who Collaborate

By July 8, 2015

AAPIP just unveiled 25 Leaders in Action and TWI is pleased to see that two of our extraordinary grantee partners are being honored this year. What strikes me about both Rajasvini Bhansali and Dana Kawaoka-Chen is that they are the kind of leaders who lead shoulder to shoulder with many others.  Their facilitative leadership makes respect, collaboration, and…

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Supporting A Bolder Form of Leadership

By June 18, 2015

I was reminded yesterday, at LeaderSpring’s A Bolder Form of Leadership luncheon, that non-profit organizations, on average, spend $29 a year on leadership development. Given how vital developing leadership is, this investment (or lack of it) is striking. In the NCRP’s report Cultivating Nonprofit Leadership, philanthropic support for leadership development is studied and found lacking….

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Would You Rather Be Ethical or Effective?

By May 15, 2015

At my first session at the Ashoka Future Forum called “Scaling Trust,” I witnessed again the power of story and vulnerability.  A woman of color executive director leading a movement of thousands strong asked a room full of social entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives, funders, and investors: In fundraising, why do I so often have to choose between…

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