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Unpack the structures, relationships, and logics that drive everyday decision-making. Explore different philanthropic models and relational bases for decisions.

In this section you will find blog posts that help you...

See the whole picture

Examine the relationship between grantmaking, donor services, investments, human resourcing, and governance. How do the parts of a foundation relate to its purpose?

Experiment with frameworks

Curious about how to operate in complexity and make good decisions? Check out frameworks for making decisions using different ethical lenses and underlying logics.

Learn from others

Need examples of how changing the purpose & narrative of philanthropy shifts what they do? Read case studies from organizations who are rewriting their stories and practices.

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Girl smiling in black headscarf and green top with mountains in the background.

Theme: Money Type: Core concepts

Philanthropy's Structures & Relationships

Using systems thinking, identify connections between philanthropy and other systems. Resources flows offer a starting point to understand the structure of philanthropy.

A racially diverse group of primary school aged children on stage, singing into microphones, with flag stands in the background.

Theme: Narrative Type: Case study

Healing Work Before Systems Change

W.K. Kellogg Foundation added a racial analysis to its mission, reflecting a more explicit narrative about root causes and their role in addressing them.

Theme: Intergenerational Type: Introductory

Introduction to Intergenerational Stories

Grapple with the idea of relationships across time. How much should foundations focus on the urgencies of the present, right wrongs of the past, or lay the groundwork for future generations?

Man standing at an easel talking to a small group

Theme: Decisions Type: Generative

Make Your Own Case Study

Download the worksheet and critically examine a recent decision. What logics & lenses were at play? What would happen if you tried on different distributive logics and ethical lenses?

A group of people look off into the distance as they watch a sunset on top of a hill

Theme: Money Type: Provocative

Perspectives on Philanthropic Structure

There is no one way to make sense of how philanthropy's structural elements relate, but looking through a range of lenses can lead us to ask different questions and consider different interests.

A group of people surround an outdoor fire-pit as some roast marshmallows

Theme: Narrative Type: Core concepts

Narrative & Story as a Levers for Systems Change

Understand the power of story & narrative in conveying ideas about causation, possibility, beliefs, and values -- which can be used intentionally to drive change.

Three people connected through holding each other's back

Theme: Intergenerational Type: Core concepts Type: Case study

Present Focus

Encounter three foundations who focus on strategies to address urgencies in the here and now. Read about their experiences with spending down, philanthropic reform, and mission-aligned investment.

Photograph of two people facing a wall, placing interconnected string onto a board

Theme: Narrative Type: Core concepts

Navigating Complexity

Grapple with the challenge of influencing a complex system. Appreciate how experimentation, emergence, and creativity can serve better than subject expertise and rationality.

A photograph of a group of people standing in an alley, all facing the same direction. One man is swinging a young boy in the air.

Theme: Boundaries Type: Core concepts

Defining Community

Gain conceptual tools to define 'community' and identify what's at stake in being able to articulate philanthropy in relation to specific communities.

A shirtless man holding a large club in an old factory setting

Theme: Intergenerational Type: Core concepts Type: Case study

Past Focus

What are the moral obligations foundations have towards righting wrongs of the past? Learn about two foundations who have gone down the road of reparations.

Photograph of a poster with a grey triangle. On top there is text "Values, Beliefs & Logics", in the middle "Roles, Relationships & Power Dynamics", at the bottom "Practices, Policies & Resource flows"

Theme: Narrative Type: Core concepts

Philanthropy is a Complex System

Philanthropy is a complex system, shaped by human values, beliefs, relationships, and power dynamics. Get a handle on what makes a system complex.

A photograph of the facade of the HistoryMiami museum.

Theme: Boundaries Type: Case study

The HistoryMiami Museum is Changed by Trans Youth

Learn how one community institution becomes more participatory by moving beyond consultations, professional experts, and project timelines.

Group of people outside meeting each other

Theme: Boundaries Type: Core concepts

Working with Difference

Learn about four narrative frames for understanding difference within our communities. Explore how frames drive action, and try on alternative frames.

A photograph of a woman holds up cards in front of a group

Theme: Narrative Type: Core concepts

Philanthropy is a System

We can use systems thinking to sense philanthropy's potential for social impact, as well as how it might be part of conditions that hold wicked social and environmental problems in place.

Two people stand in front of a fireplace with bunting-like string hanging from one side of the mantel to the other, and use clothes pegs to hang note cards with their hand written ideas about barriers to and enablers of learning.

Theme: Learning Type: Generative

Leveraging PurposePhil for Organizational Learning

Get an overview of all PurposePhil resources and make your own action learning plan!

Black and white image of smoke stacks on the horizon

Theme: Narrative Type: Case study

From Ecological to Equity Frame

Chorus Foundation learned how social processes determine the equity of sustainable economies so they re-articulated their purpose as "just transitions."

A statue on the left, a group of people standing in circle next to it. Market stands on the right.

Theme: Learning Type: Core concepts

Learning in Complex Systems

Understand what it means to be working in the realm of complexity. Learn about collaborative inquiry, a process that can help us build alternative perspectives on systems that we are part of.

A crowd of people in a downtown metropolitan environment highlighting a man holding up a plastic bottle

Theme: Intergenerational Type: Core concepts Type: Case study

Future Focus

Perpetual endowments are well established within the philanthropic sector, some say as a source of stability across generations, some say as a means to hoard resources.

Theme: Money Type: Generative

Mapping Relationships for Yourself

How do you conceptualize the structures that bring philanthropy into relationship with other sets of actors?

A group of Vancouver Foundation staff sit on benches around a fire pit, roasting marshmallows.

Theme: Learning Type: Case study

Vancouver Foundation's PurposePhil Journey

Learn about Vancouver Foundation's PurposePhil journey. From surfacing values logics to grappling with purpose. Come along on VF's very own learning journey.

People looking at a map on the floor with large, 3D paper markers

Theme: Boundaries Type: Core concepts

Understanding Boundaries

Philanthropies navigate many communities. Here, understand how membership in multiple communities meets individual and collective needs.

Two people in conversation, sitting outside at picnic table, facing each other

Theme: Decisions Type: Case study

Four Case Studies of Decision-Making

A series of mini-case studies. Read about the experiments of four different organizations who align decision making with their values and purpose.

These days, Kettering Foundation is a convener of people around shared questions about citizen led democracies.

Theme: Narrative Type: Case study

From Technological Innovation to "the Democratic Urge"

From technological innovation to how citizens and political systems can work together to drive change: Learn from Kettering Foundation's big narrative pivot.

Two women sitting at a booth looking at each other through masks and consulting a script

Theme: Boundaries Type: Provocative

Furthering Participation

Encounter Nina Simon's argument that community institutions must not only engage people much more broadly, but seek to be changed by their participation - or risk irrelevance.

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