Welcoming our New Team Members
As we settle into our new space, with new faces and exciting new projects, we’re trying our hand at a new way of doing things.
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Our Shared Approach to CREE
Director Michael P. Arnold's Expanding the Bench® (ETB) CREE Learning Series videos "showcase learnings and offer new ideas and fresh perspectives on approaching CREE-focused work."
Learn more10 Things Bringing Us Hope, Peace, & Love in the New Year
“Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried. That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.”
Learn moreWe’re in this.
It’s been a tough few weeks. A tough couple of months. And for many, especially our Black colleagues and friends, it’s always been tough. State-sanctioned police terror and murder never relents—not for George Floyd, not for Breonna Taylor, not for countless others. It’s devastating that it took so much pain for the sweeping calls to action we’re now seeing. And…
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The Greening of Organizational Capacity
Capacity building has been a leading issue in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors for over a decade. This is a good thing. The increased focus has provided nonprofits with time and resources to attend to the underlying structures, competencies and processes that enable them to be more efficient and effective in their mission-related work. In the last several years, “greening”…
Learn moreRethinking Diverse Foundation Leadership
In liberal California, diverse philanthropic leadership may not appear to be much of a conversation. After all, a quick look at many of our leading foundations—James Irvine Foundation, The California Endowment, the California HealthCare Foundation—as well as some notable community foundations—California Community Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation and the East Bay Community Foundation—would suggest that the issue of diversifying leadership…
Learn moreCultivating Breakthrough Change
Coaching, when done well, can result in breakthrough changes for leaders, their organizations and over time the individuals and communities that they serve. It has been used to enhance nonprofit leadership and organizational effectiveness in a variety of ways ranging from renewed commitment to nonprofit work due to better work-life balance, to stronger senior leadership teams and boards due to…
Learn moreDiscovering Your Evaluation Capacity
Calls for more and better evidence of programmatic outcomes echo through the nonprofit and philanthropic world. These appeals get louder with the intersection of increased needs in the community during tight economic times and the pressures to accomplish more with fewer resources. When planned and implemented well, evaluation can address the important questions of how supports are used and their…
Learn moreEvaluation, Integration & Innovation
Good evaluation depends on integration. Integration with what? Integration into the daily and ongoing work of organizations dedicated to addressing pressing social problems and bringing about social change. Evaluation is fundamentally about learning, and it involves much more than just collecting, analyzing and reporting on data. It is not just about accountability; nor is it just about proving assumptions. Yes,…
Learn moreWhy Nonprofits Don’t Make Mistakes
In the private sector, generally speaking, there is generous room for mistakes. In an R&D function, private companies can spend a lot of money trying and testing a problem, and failing, without the fear of having to make their learning known. Eventually they unearth the positive lessons, bury the negative lessons and move on. For nonprofits dependent on foundations for…
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