decisions

Spend-Out in Sight: What’s the Story?

By April 23, 2019

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…

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Funder Spotlight: Headwaters Foundation

By June 28, 2018

Headwaters Foundation in Missoula, Montana is a new health conversion foundation that has been committed to embracing trust-based philanthropy since its inception. This commitment has led to a number of innovations – including GO! Grants that are designed to put grant funds in the hands of grantees in less than a month – as well…

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Funder Spotlight: Hill-Snowdon Foundation

By May 29, 2018

The Hill-Snowdon Foundation is a DC-based foundation committed to supporting grassroots movements for social justice by funding community organizing and leveraging dollars in support of targeted initiatives. They’ve played a leading role as part of our Defending the Dream rapid response collaboration, and have made some recent shifts to their process to further support their…

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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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Cultivating Proximity and Trust in Philanthropy

By April 10, 2018

“When it comes to donating money, whom do you trust?” This was the headline of a recent New York Times piece by Ann Carrns that extolls the virtues of philanthropic advisers who help “idealistic” donors who may be “blind to potential faults in the groups they support.” While we don’t deny the value of experienced…

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