Pia Infante

From Uncomfortable Truths to Courageous Action

By May 3, 2018

Note: This post originally appeared on Social Velocity. The 2018 GEO National Conference came to a close today, and 950 of us headed back to our respective cities, families, teams, and desks with fresh connections, conversations, and challenges to integrate back into our daily lives.  I’ll admit that there are times when I come home…

Read more

8 Lessons in Collaborative Rapid Response Grantmaking

By January 31, 2018

Last year, The Whitman Institute joined a group of foundations from around the country in a collaborative rapid response fund: Defending the Dream. While we were already doing our own rapid response grantmaking, we knew that teaming up with other funder partners would allow us to work more swiftly and effectively without reinventing the wheel….

Read more

We Got By With A Little Help From Our Friends

By December 11, 2017

2017 was not a year TWI could have withstood alone.  Thankfully we didn’t have to.  Figuratively and often quite literally, we got by with a little help from our friends. Grantmaking Loves Company Like many social justice foundations, our board immediately authorized a rapid response mechanism post-election. We made a set of grants that represent many…

Read more

Messages To Trust when Hate is the Headliner

By September 15, 2017

Like so many of you, we at TWI are wounded by the events of Charlottesville that took place in August. Our values for equity, humility, critical thinking, dialogue, and human decency are being courageously demonstrated by so many, in so many places like Charlottesville on behalf of the criminalized and vulnerable.  Let us continue to…

Read more

4 Lessons in Rapid Response Grantmaking

By May 4, 2017

In December of 2016, TWI allocated $250,000 in rapid response funds to protect and build power within communities most vulnerable to the rollback of civil and human rights promised by the then new administration.   Rather than create a new system, we leaned into our trust based grantmaking process to expend the $250,000 by the…

Read more