Over the past year we found ourselves more frequently speaking to grantee leadership about wellness - how they are doing day to day. This topic is arising naturally as leaders feel comfortable or compelled to share their challenges and we are more proactively asking them about it…
Read MoreCommunication is Key: Funder Feedback Q1 2019
As with all relationships, communication is key to professional relationships as well. Communication was a theme that came up regularly as our team discussed the feedback we received in Q1 of 2019.
Read MoreOne Year of EPIC Partnerships
It's the one-year anniversary of the book Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits & Foundations Can Build EPIC Partnerships, and here's what we've heard. Excitement. Discomfort. Gratitude. Urgency. Hope…
Read More8 Organizations Supporting College-Bound Students
When navigating the complex system of higher education, students aspiring to go to college have a lot to consider: How do I choose a university? How do I write a strong application? What classes do I need? Where do I find quality internships? How do I get financial aid? What resources are out there for me? It can be overwhelming for anyone…
Funder Feedback Results Are In: Q4 2018
Each quarter the PF team chooses a question to include as part of our Funder Feedback survey. For those not familiar with Funder Feedback, it is a short anonymous survey that we send after meeting to provide a channel for feedback…
Read MoreTending to the Human Side: Mental Health & Wellness Project Learnings
Over the past few years, PF staff has heard from grantees about how difficult it can be when serving populations experiencing poverty in Silicon Valley…
Read MoreWe Are Closing Portfolio Pipeline For 2019
During the past few weeks we've made the difficult and uncomfortable decision to close our portfolio pipeline for new grants for the whole of 2019. Sounds pretty hypocritical coming from a foundation that claims it's trying to be grantee-centric, huh? Well read on, dear reader, and you can assess for yourselves…
Read MoreCreative Leadership: It’s A Work In Progress
Hear from Peery Foundation Executive Director, Jessamyn Shams-Lau, about creative leadership. She shares how creativity is incorporated into her leadership style, how this comes to life in her work with the PF team and grantees, & some of the benefits and challenges of this style.
Read MoreKenya Site Visits Recap
This past June, three Peery Foundation staff members embarked on a new adventure with the Peery Foundation Board and their families. We spent 2 weeks in Kenya together, conducting site visits and expanding on their existing definition of philanthropy…
Read MoreMentor-coaching at the Peery Foundation
For the past year and a half across the PF team we have been experimenting with a system of peer coaching & mentoring, which we call the MC (mentor-coach) system. In the past, we had found it difficult to find time for reflection and when difficult conversations came up we often went to our teammates for advice…
Read MoreWe’ve Grown to 7
The last year at the Peery Foundation has brought many new ideas, challenges, and successes. To help our team maintain our support to and relationships with our grantees, we’ve brought on two Portfolio Associates--making us 7!
Read MoreThinking Differently About Workforce Development
It’s fascinating that while the San Francisco Bay Area is often hailed as the center of technical innovation and social change (and deservedly so) many companies are still operating with old and traditional mindsets of workforce development and community engagement...
Read MorePhilanthropy in the Age of Innovation
The PF office is at the heart of Silicon Valley, where new ideas and new approaches are constantly brewing, and ‘innovation’ is a word you hear daily. In the PF priorities, after People, the Idea is the second element we are concerned with-- “the relative importance of an idea, whether it matters...
Read MoreNumber 1 Priority
One Friday evening I had a few minutes to decompress and like many people do I pulled out my phone to see what I could catch up on. After browsing Instagram I tapped my work inbox. A couple of new messages, one of which was pertinent to our Regional Portfolio, so I quickly forwarded it...
Read MoreCEO Spotlight: Eileen Richardson of Downtown Streets Team
Looking back, I’m embarrassed at my naivety. I raised two kids as a single mom, all the while climbing my way up the corporate ladder. I became a successful Venture Capitalist, and then took the helm as CEO of Napster and another high-tech startup. After that, I thought solving homelessness...
Read MoreThe Agile Classroom: Embracing an Agile Mindset In Education
In 2001, a group of 17 software developers met at the Snowbird resort in Utah to discuss alternative ways of building software, and published the influential “Manifesto for Agile Software Development”. The roots of the Agile movement can actually be...
Read MoreWelcoming New Program Associate to the Team
This September we were excited to welcome Lindsey Padjen as Program Associate. She will be supporting our grantees and Portfolio Directors, as well as sourcing pipeline. Here is a message from Lindsey with a little more background about herself and her journey to the Peery Foundation...
Read MorePF Grantee Guide to Site Visits: For Funders
Recently on Funder Feedback we asked our grantees to anonymously weigh in on these questions: “What advice do you have for funders preparing for site visits? What makes a site visit easier/better for you?” People had a lot to say on this subject. We got so many fabulous suggestions...
Read MoreWhere does success start?
A very popular opinion piece by Paul Tough was recently published in the NYT. "To help kids thrive, coach their parents" is another indicator that this country is continuing to place greater emphasis on the home environment as a place where school success starts. This is common sense to most people, but has taken decades...
Read MoreShifting Accountability from the Funder to the End User
“Which part of the Spark process has been the most beneficial?” I asked a mother in the Waroco Paco village in northern Uganda after a community meeting. She responded, “The government advocacy training. We now know how to approach our officials and ask them for what we need.” A year later...
Read More