Posts in Getting to Know You
The Why of Weaving

As a foundation, at the beginning and end of every day, we’re clear that our purpose is to provide resources that promote leadership development toward an equitable, vibrant New York City — and to do so in a way that is directed by our partners.

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The Value of Lived Experience

It’s vacation season.  I’m a planner, so mapping out travel is great fun (for me!) and full of discovery. 

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Do You See What I See?

Do you see what I see?  Yes.  And no. 

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2023: A year of incremental change?

Happy New Year.  Is it still ok to use the phrase at the beginning of February?

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Socially Awkward: Reflections on Gathering in the New Normal

Socially awkward. That’s how I captured my feelings at the closing of an in-person convening a few weeks ago.

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When All Of Our Tools Are Weapons

I don’t like conflict. I’ve never been good at it, and I’ve grown into someone who is decidedly not a fan.

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How to Tend to Your People AND Your Organization When Staff Struggle

While there are many ways one can describe liberation, in its simplest terms, liberation is the experience of wholeness, freedom, justice, and thriving.

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Three Lessons (so far) for Funding Liberatory Leadership

I was hired by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation in early 2020, primarily to bring my skills as a network organizer, facilitator, and racial justice practitioner to the Sterling Network NYC.

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I’m not feeling a barbecue this Fourth of July

At the end of almost every week, I find myself reflecting on how hard this past week was.

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A Tip of the Hat to The Whitman Institute

“Talk to John and Pia.” I did. It’s some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten.

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In an Ecosystem of Trust, the Possibilities Are Endless

I spent a good part of my career working on the grant seeking side of the equation, where I went through all the hoops of funding cycles.

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Opinion: The next generation of nonprofit workers are demanding more for themselves, and we should support them

They should be set up to do meaningful work that helps repair the world, while still living whole, happy, joyful lives.

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A Leadership Lesson from Ukraine

In 1990, I traveled to the USSR including Ukraine, which was still a republic of the Soviet Union (and St Petersburg was known as Leningrad).

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Getting to Know You Series: Meet Marissa Martin of The Advocacy Institute

Elisabeth Rapport (ER): Tell me a bit about your professional background and what led you to The Advocacy Institute.

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A nonprofit thought leader’s resolutions for a new year: To follow and to fail

Although the New Year came in without much fanfare, amidst the pandemic and uncertainty, I did make a few resolutions that will guide how I do my work and live my life this year.

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A New Generation of Foundation Leaders Need to Act Like Community Organizers, Not Gatekeepers

I am feeling something like hope these days. After many dark months and unthinkable trials, New York City is seeming more like itself again, or maybe like a wiser version of itself.

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Vacation All I Ever Wanted…

…Vacation, have to get away. Those lyrics, from the aptly named “Vacation” classic summer anthem by The Go Gos, feel spot on for this moment in time.

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Funders: It’s Time to Talk to Our Legal Teams About Power, Compliance, and Trust-Based Philanthropy

For philanthropy to have more equitable practices, we must examine and reimagine the way we do our work.

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Getting Back to Normal-ish? So Many Feelings.

Here in New York City we’re enjoying a verdant and vibrant Spring season – leaves in all tints of green, magnolias, cherry blossoms, forsythias, daffodils, tulips, bluebells and hostas are all poking out of the soil.

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For All of Us in Philanthropy, the Moment of Rebuilding Is Here

Last year I spent the first Passover of the pandemic quarantined in my bedroom racked with a fever and body aches.

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