Team News

We have been on a journey to learn, share, and evolve together both internally and externally at PEAK Grantmaking over the past few years. Sometimes that has meant evolving out of necessity and learning as we go—like when we canceled our 2020 annual convening and made the great pivot to a virtual event. Oftentimes, we learn and evolve out of hope—the hope to create something new, unique, and aspirational as a community.

This learning and evolution has come in many forms, like piloting sabbaticals for PEAK staff, creating new peer groups, developing a reimagined GM101 cohort, shifting our focus to squarely drive equity in philanthropy, and more. This past year, we were excited to reunite our community at our first in-person convening in over four years, welcome new Organization Members to our network, host an inspirational Volunteer Leadership Summit, bring board and staff together for our second annual retreat, and continue learning, evolving and sharing along the way. 

What’s so special about our community is our commitment to doing this together and sharing with one another whether it’s the good, the bad, or the “we’ll never do that again.” In the pages that follow, we take a look at this journey within the PEAK community to transform philanthropy through sharing what we learn and evolving our practices and give you a look at what’s to come.

Sara Richman Sanders (she, her, hers)
Membership and Community Engagement Director, PEAK Grantmaking

Special thanks to the PEAK Grantmaking team members who collaboratively authored the Community section of the Journal: Altinay Cortes, Vanessa Elkan, C. Davis Fischer, Clare Larson, Lita Ugarte Pardi, Dionne Thompson, and Rafael Torres.

GOVERNANCE

Board of Directors Update

We are excited for the board to continue their work under the direction of cochairs Ify Mora, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, and Miyesha Perry, Bainum Family Foundation. We also extend our deepest gratitude to board members Kevin Bolduc, The Center for Effective Philanthropy; Janet Camarena, Candid; and Tim Robinson, Lumina Foundation, for completing two terms on the board. 

The nominating committee, cochaired by Perry and Allison Gister, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, convened in fall 2023 to recommend candidates for the 2024–2027 term. The committee focused on ensuring diversity in personal demographics, organization type, job band, and region, and prioritized candidates’ demonstrated dedication to PEAK’s Principles and community, as well as their experience in and commitment to equity and inclusion, evaluation, finance, and fundraising. 

We look forward to sharing these new candidates for approval by our membership in early 2024. Special thanks to committee members Jamie Amagai; Kathleen Badejo, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation; Andrew Brown, American Red Cross–Community Adaptation Program; Juliana Chessin, The Commonwealth Fund; Stephanie Duffy, McKnight Foundation; Alexandria Featherston-Gomez, Kenneth Rainin Foundation; Dan Gaff, May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust; Jim Gallagher, Ford Foundation; Melodie Griffin, CareQuest Institute; Kerri Hurley, Barr Foundation and PEAK board alum; Deena Lauver Scotti, Missouri Foundation for Health; and Shantelice White, MacArthur Foundation.

TEAM LEARNING

Our Second Annual Staff and Board Retreat

PEAK staff and board members met in Minneapolis last July to connect, learn, and have meaningful conversations about PEAK’s strategy, values, and advocacy. Over several days, staff and board members spent time getting to know each other and discussing PEAK’s recently developed objectives and key results. In addition to organizational development sessions focused on collaboration and mutual support, the group dedicated time to social connection via  a Twins baseball game, kayaking, and dinner during a boat ride down the Mississippi.

We appreciate the energy and support we received from our facilitators Jackie Hanselmann Sergi, Radical Spark Coaching; Natasha Harrison, CommunityBuild Ventures; Mia Roberts, FreshPower; and Daniel Weinzveg, The Meeting Guru; and from our meeting planner Marva Lewis McKnight, MLM Consulting.

Our Team’s Equity Journey

For our team, 2023 was a year of growth as we delved into both individual and collective intersectional equity journeys alongside partners who brought deep knowledge and lived experience to guide and support us. Ultimately, it was work that both brought us closer together as a team and deepened each person’s connection to PEAK’s mission to drive equity in philanthropy.

Last summer, staff completed a yearlong racial equity journey with CommunityBuild Ventures. During that time, everyone engaged in a series of 10 half-day sessions that helped us to develop skills in Brave Space Building™—a framework for creating a supportive working environment that allows members to show up fully as themselves so they can share experiences authentically and engage more deeply in conversations that center race. Ultimately, it was work that both brought us closer together as a team and deepened each person’s connection to PEAK’s mission to drive equity in philanthropy. We send our deepest thanks to founder Natasha Harrison, and to Melanie Dillett-Dukes, PhD, and Vanessa Parker for facilitating this transformative learning experience.

We also made great progress in our disability inclusion journey in 2023. After signing onto the Disability & Philanthropy Forum’s Disability Inclusion Pledge in 2022, staff has engaged in ongoing individual and group learning experiences while advancing work in operationalizing accessibility practices.  

TEAM TOOLS

PEAK’s New Association Management System

As part of our efforts to become a next-level nonprofit membership association, we are excited to launch a new association management system (AMS) this summer! Our new AMS promises an improved online experience for everyone logging in, accessing resources, and registering for events; increased capabilities for tracking member information and engagement; and a better interface for our expanding membership support team. At the same time, we are working diligently to update our internal people processes to promote effective, efficient collaboration across our growing staff. 

TEAM NEWS

• Satonya Fair was among the inaugural cohort of nine nonprofit leaders graduating from The Center on Community Philanthropy at the Clinton School of Public Service’s Racial Healing Certification Program—the first designation of its kind and a yearlong commitment to acquiring tools and developing skills to engage in personal and interpersonal work of racial healing. Satonya was joined by Dolores Estrada at the graduation ceremony.
• Members of the PEAK team spent 70 hours in 2023 pitching in on nonprofit marketing and communications projects, conducting mock interviews for high school students joining the workforce, and supporting after-school programs.
• Rafael Torres is volunteering on the EPIP 2024 conference planning committee. 
• Dolores Estrada was the keynote speaker at the eighth annual Transform Arizona luncheon last November.  
• Satonya Fair, Lita Ugarte Pardi, and Betsy Reid participated in the FutureGood Studio Fall23 Cohort, led by futurist Trisha Harris. 
• Betsy Reid served on the United Philanthropy Forum’s 2023 conference planning committee, and Dionne Thompson is volunteering on the 2024 committee.