TWI Blog

Screenshot of TWI trustees on a video call

(Re) Centering love for people in philanthropy

By June 2, 2022

Jamie Allison is Executive Director of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund and has served on the board of trustees of The Whitman Institute since 2014. I have worked in philanthropy for two decades and have been honored to lead the Walter & Elise Haas Fund (W&EHF) for just over four years. For over eight…

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Finding hope: How our long-term grantee partners shaped TWI

By March 25, 2022

“Statistics show that when folks are welcomed back and given access and told ‘your voice matters’ and they are embraced they do much better in society. For a lot of our folks, they feel they have never been heard at all in their lives.” – Selinda Guerrero Selinda Guerrero is the New Mexico Field Organizer…

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The Final Retreat That Never Was

By February 11, 2022

Years ago, when The Whitman Institute board put our spend out in motion, we envisioned our final retreat. A large, warm gathering of colleagues who had become friends and family would rest and reflect under the beautiful stars and trees of California’s northern coast. There would be toasts over fire pits, connection, inquiry, dancing, and…

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The End of the Road We Know

By December 20, 2021

It’s hard to believe that we’re at the end of 2021 and that The Whitman Institute will be closing down in a matter of months. This last stretch of the road is certainly not what we originally envisioned when we decided to spend out a decade ago. We closed the office a year earlier than…

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United States Capitol Building

Statement on the insurrection at the Capitol

By January 8, 2021

The President and his mob’s attack on our democracy at the US Capitol this week was horrific, disturbing, awful, and scary. It illuminated in stark fashion how close our broken democracy has come to the breaking point, how racism and white privilege manifest in our seats of power, and how words that demonize, demean and…

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