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 MoreSemi-Annual Reflections
Last week the Peery Foundation had its team retreat to reflect on the past year, bond as a team, and look towards the future. As a new team member at my first retreat, here is what stood out to me. Take the time to reflect: Who are we and what are we doing here? After a few team bonding activities, one of our first discussions...
Read MoreAsk Questions, First to Learn but Then to Act
When grantmakers go looking for feedback from their grantees, they can ask a lot of questions. But grilling grantees and listening to them are two different things, and the distinction is as much about intent as impact. Sometimes grantmakers’ questions focus on day-to-day program administration...
Read MoreTaking the Plunge into Philanthropy
In July, we welcomed Natalia Schoorl to the team as the new Program Assistant. She will be supporting the Peery Foundation team as they serve grantees, and ensuring the smooth operation of the foundation office and internal systems. Here is a message from Natalia about why she is excited to be at the Peery Foundation...
Read MorePeery Foundation In Prison: Defy-ing Labels
Two lines facing each other, separated by mere inches, but those standing on them are worlds apart. One, a group of professionals – from VC’s and startups, tech companies and foundations – just volunteering for a day. The other comprised of female inmates from the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California...
Read MoreLetter from the Director of At the Crossroads
“Success” has become a dangerous word in our field that has led to organizations turning their backs on the people who need help the most. We get asked the question “how do you measure impact” by potential funders more than we ever have before. Loosely translated, it means “How can you quantitatively show that...
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Mythbusters - Busting Fundraising
Last week, I sat down with Jane Leu – founder of one of the first social entrepreneur models, Upwardly Global, and current Founder & CEO of the social enterprise services organization Smarter Good – to have a general catch up, but the theme that quickly took hold was the common misconceptions that we see in our jobs daily...
Read MoreAccess to justice for all? Now that would be a measurably good thing
When a housing programme in the Indian state of Haryana guaranteed land to impoverished families in Raniyala, a village in Mewat district, it seemed like welcome news. Instead, government officials seized the land and refused to hear the villagers’ objections. Could a newly agreed global framework support...
Read MoreDowntown Streets Team: Chuck on Learning to Trust
Nothing in the years that Chuck Jagoda spent as a student of ancient and modern Greek and an educator in New York City schools prepared him for the hardest challenge of his life: homelessness. By the time he graduated on December 8 from...
Read MoreRetain, Double Down, No-Not Yet, Think Time & Other Great Conference Insights
A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation conference for their social entrepreneurs. It is an extraordinary event bringing together some of the world’s top minds for several days of inspiration and sharing. Having spent several days listening to the young...
Read MoreThe Most Impactful Leaders You’ve Never Heard Of →
Collaboration has taken the social sector by storm. Collective impact, social media, and other tools play important roles, ensuring that the right structures, resources, and technologies are in place for groups to successfully work together. But while these approaches have advanced collaboration in practice, we believe...
Read MoreDo Ask, Do Tell
Our friends over at the Open Road Alliance recently released a report on contingency funding in the non profit space. They interviewed funders and fund raisers about this topic. How often does something go wrong in a non profit's plan? How do they weather storms they couldn't predict? How does funding come in to help shore up unforeseen gaps?
Read MoreIn Africa, gap between need and funding of mental health is huge
Sean Mayberry has spent his entire life surrounded by mental illness. As a child and an adult, people close to him have endured this affliction. But he had an epiphany when he happened upon a young man behind a farmhouse in Uganda, sitting in his own excrement and digging in the dirt. “It was a turning point for me..."
Read MoreIs Our Grantee-Centric Approach Really Grantee-Centric? You be the judge.
Keeping a service-oriented approach at the Peery Foundation, we’re thinking about ways we can be grantee-centric in our work. In other words, how can we be in service to our grantees, way beyond just grant dollars? How can we adapt our systems and procedures to better fit our grantee needs? Where can we...
Read MorePeery Foundation Team Retreat Debrief
Every six months the Peery Foundation team leaves the office for three days for our team retreat. Last week was my third team retreat and decidedly the best. Eat. Work. Eat. Work. Eat while working. Sleep. Repeat. It was great. Each team retreat has a theme that guides our conversations and goals for the retreat...
Read MoreHousing: What We're (Trying) To Do
Housing – it’s clearly the issue that East Palo Alto and Belle Haven residents are most concerned about as Facebook’s continuous expansion has attracted foreign investors, driving housing prices higher than they’ve ever been. After learning about housing policies, I wrote a blog post. I’ve continued to plug myself into conversations...
Read MorePrivilege and Power in Funding Dynamics
Trust-based relationships. Grantee-centric philanthropy. True partnerships that advance impact for communities. How do we together improve the efficiency, respectfulness, and outcomes of our sector?Recently Jane Leu (previous Peery Foundation grantee, founder of several social ventures and prolific fund raiser), and I...
Read MoreSite Visit Success Tips
Having just returned from the Peery Foundation’s first extensive international site visit – a three country, nine organization trip to Africa, it is an apt time to reflect on grantee centric practices for site visits.This was my first site visit on the funder side of the table, having helped to organize over 20 visits and co-host at least half...
Read MoreThe Excitement of Learning From Profit and Loss
It’s often been said that the key to success is being able to handle failure. For example, from Winston Churchill: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Or C. S. Lewis: “One fails forward toward success.” How can educators incorporate this wisdom to produce deeper learning?
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