ANCHOR STRATEGY
Our anchor strategy is an experiment in how foundations can seed new institutions that carry forward not just funding, but relationships, knowledge, and decision-making power.
Our comprehensive racial equity work inspired us to change our practices, which opened up entirely new questions about what philanthropy could be.
We transitioned grant approval from board to staff, brought community advisors into funding decisions, and embraced trust-based approaches. As a result of these changes, the seeds of our anchor strategy began germinating through conversations among our program officers and the communities they worked alongside.
What if each funding portfolio could birth a new entity designed to steward resources in service of the movement?
We also had a living example of what was possible. Rhia Ventures showed us early in our existence that we could do more than move money–we could seed new institutions that carry forward relationships and knowledge across time.
From this inquiry grew our approach: working in close collaboration with on-the-ground advisors and movement leaders to create the vehicles they needed to advance their own visions for justice. Each was developed through deep community input, rooted in movement wisdom, and designed to carry work forward long after we close our doors.
