What We Care About
Culture
Productive grantmaker culture is one that accelerates progress by supporting nonprofits to be successful.
Culture is the collective behaviors and underlying assumptions of an organization.
While there is no one “right” culture, GEO’s work shows that grantmakers who cultivate cultures based on collaboration and partnership; diversity, equity and inclusion; respect and humility; responsiveness; transparency and trust; and curiosity and learning are better able to adopt the smarter grantmaking practices that matter most to nonprofits.
Creating productive culture is the result of intentionality and constant tending — this means understanding what we’re trying to achieve and continually aligning strategy, operations, talent and culture in that direction. In order to do this, everyone within the organization must understand how her or his role and behaviors either reinforces or contradicts the culture we are collectively trying to create. By working together to understand and tend our culture, we can build stronger, more inclusive and more effective organizations.
Culture is built every day in every action you take. It affects how people think about your organization, whether they trust you, and their willingness and eagerness to work with you.
Stacy Van Gorp, R.J. McElory Trust
Helpful Tools and Resources
Stay informed of the emerging trends and promising practices from the field of philanthropy through GEO’s publications and research.
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Perspectives on Philanthropy
Interesting thoughts and ideas circulating in the GEO community.
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Center for Effective Philanthropy
"Building the right internal culture at any organization, foundations included, requires proactive attention from the CEO." Read more in this article from Kevin Bolduc, vice president of assessment tools at CEP.
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Community Wealth Partners
Amy Celep, Sara Brenner and Rochel Mosher-Williams share how a change-making culture positions foundations to transformational change.
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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
In this article, the Gates Foundation shares its perspective on strengthening organizational culture.
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