Since our founding in 1997, we have worked alongside philanthropy as a strategic partner and a trusted intermediary grounded in community-centered practice. We work from the understanding that inequities in health, safety, and wellbeing are produced and sustained by systems—and that philanthropy, as part of those systems, has an essential responsibility to help transform them through investment in community-driven, upstream solutions. We help shape how philanthropic resources, strategies, and power are mobilized to advance prevention, health equity, and racial justice. Funders partner with us for both our overarching approach and our deep, issue-specific expertise, including a nuanced understanding of field dynamics, ecosystem actors, and how strategies and practices evolve over time.

Over more than two decades, and across regions and issue areas, we have partnered with national, regional, and place-based funders. Together, we co-develop and implement community-centered practice efforts, facilitate funder learning and accountability, and conduct research and analysis that guide long-term, equity-driven investment. Through this work, we support funder partners in moving beyond risk-averse, transactional approaches by building trust, translating community knowledge and practice into strategy, and aligning investments with community-determined priorities.

We also support philanthropy in building internal capacity—working with boards, staff, and collaboratives to embed prevention, health equity, racial justice, and community-determined practice into decision-making and grantmaking. Together, these efforts help shift philanthropy from downstream response toward upstream prevention, and from episodic funding toward durable, trust-based partnerships that support lasting systems change.