Make
Shift Happen
You’re invited.
We’re tackling the tough questions about how philanthropy must transform in service of gender, economic, and racial justice. Come explore with us what it means to work differently to support change as we try to lead with relationships, share power, and transform from the inside out.
We know firsthand how difficult this is. We’ve faced our own resistance, made countless mistakes, and continue to learn from movement leaders who generously challenge our assumptions.
Now, we’re embracing the vulnerability of honest reflection. Follow along with our ongoing series, Make Shift Happen–offering up stories, reflections, insights, lessons learned, and breakthroughs–as we work to transform philanthropy, starting with transforming ourselves.
Why Is Tara Health Spending Out? And Other FAQs
By Ruth Shaber, MD, Founder and President, Tara Health Foundation
A window into our spend out journey
Episode 12 of Make Shift Happen features Tara Health’s Executive Director, Elise Belusa, in conversation with Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation, about the experience of leading a foundation as it spends out its resources.
To Spend Out, We Need to Build Up
By Mia Reilly, Director of Engagement Strategy
The power and potential of capital in the hands of community
I’m so pleased to share my conversation with Mariko Miki in this next episode of the Make Shift Happen Conversation Series. Mariko is the co-executive director of If/When/How, an organization that provides wrap-around legal services for anyone facing criminalization for pregnancy, abortion, or birth, while working to stop criminalization from happening to others in the future.
Short on Funds, Long on Relationship: Spending Out to Meet the Moment
By Elise Belusa, Executive Director
The full experience of being a spend out means finding a role without capital.
I’m excited to share the latest in our Make Shift Happen Conversation Series. In it, Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation, and I explore the ways spend out foundations stand apart in a moment and landscape marked by retreat and fear.
Visible, bold, together: Finding each other to build the world we want
By Tara Health Foundation Team
In this moment of coordinated attacks on our movements, being visible about our commitments isn't just important—it's how we find each other and stand together. That's why we're making our commitments more visible than ever.
Beyond the Mirror: Testing our Internal Intentions Against External Perceptions
By Mia Reilly, Director of Engagement Strategy
How aligned are our intentions with how others experience us? At Tara Health Foundation, we believe that building a just world requires philanthropy to transform how it operates—starting with ourselves. We partnered with the Center for Effective Philanthropy to gather candid feedback from our grantees, and the results revealed fascinating insights about trust, reporting structures, and the lasting value of human relationships in philanthropy.
In the Spaces Between: Moments of Change at Tara Health in 2024
By Elise Belusa, Executive Director
We believe real change happens when we create room for authentic relationships - both the challenging parts, the beautiful ones, and all the spaces in between. In this Annual Update, we’re sharing our full reflection on 2024 - an honest look at what it means to transform from the inside out.
Transformative Philanthropy
By Ruth Shaber, MD, Founder and President
In our latest blog post, our founder and president, Dr. Ruth Shaber, reflects on Tara Health’s early years — how we built mission-aligned portfolios, developed new tools for gender-lens investing, and leveraged every resource to create meaningful change.
A New Chapter for Tara Health
By Elise Belusa, Executive Director, Tara Health Foundation
For years, our grantees, partners, and peers called on powerful institutions, like ours, to confront an uncomfortable truth: the money and power we hold and steward are often built upon the very unjust systems we seek to change.