About
I've worked with headline names, Foundations, FAmilies, and anonymous donors to shape uncommonly effective philanthropy
I've brought together people with an extraordinary range of talents and expertise to tackle everything from climate change to racial and economic justice, from LGBTQ equality to the social technologies that can help people from across divides not only talk to each other, but solve problems together.
This work is powerful because it helps shape the way people see the world. Working together, we have revealed opportunities that were obscured by conventional wisdom, opened minds to new possibilities and solutions, and in the process produced concrete results for real people. Some of this work can be measured empirically, and some of it can't; powerful giving is about applying science well, understanding its uses, and its limitations.
My work is tailored to meet your needs and your institution’s needs, providing a range of philanthropic services including landscape analysis, program design and implementation, as well as grant making assessment and evaluation. Following are a few examples of the results we've achieved:
With the U.S. Climate team at the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation I helped develop a grant making strategy aimed at aligning the power of federal and state governments with the transition to a clean energy economy. This work is the realization of an approach we developed at . . .
The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF), where I built programs that challenged the notion of a trade-off between economic prosperity, jobs and environmental progress. The Apollo Alliance and Green for All established the green jobs movement, shaped public policy and hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.
For the Democracy Funders Network I researched and wrote, “What Happens if it Happens Here” an in-depth report on the impact of rising authoritarianism on American philanthropy and civil society.
When George Soros' Open Society Institute called on me to help create the nation's largest needle-exchange funding program, I worked with addicts and former addicts and helped change public attitudes that led to the development of policies that have saved thousands of lives.
With my assistance, the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust embarked on a bold experiment to build on and go beyond what conventional approaches to global warming have accomplished. The Trust provides one of philanthropy's largest commitments to ensuring that we have a full portfolio of climate solutions available, delivering policies that can foster innovation and bring better energy technologies to market faster.
When NCF'S board sought a clean-sheet approach to its work for the first time in its 25-year history, I put together a team that included leaders of movements for racial and economic justice, one of the leading artists of the American theater, the chief architect of the movement for marriage equality, formidable political strategists from left and right, young philanthropists and public intellectuals. What emerged was a clarity of focus and a grant making strategy unlike any other foundation's.
When you engage PT Philanthropic, we begin with a conversation, and then work with you to create a program that is based on your purpose and values and that achieves your objectives. We will look at the problems you identify from multiple angles, engaging our network of brilliant thinkers, doers and seers to open possibilities and opportunities you may not have seen on your own. We will analyze the landscape - what are the trends? what's being funded? where are the gaps? - and help focus your aspirations. With clarity about your purpose, values and goals, we will work with you to develop and implement strategies resilient to ever-changing realities.