Sustainability Model
Endowment preservation, responsible capital deployment, and multi-decade planning.
Endowment Preservation
The foundation's endowment is our most sacred trust. Capital preservation is non-negotiable. We operate on sustainable withdrawal rates that ensure the endowment can support our mission indefinitely.
Our investment philosophy prioritizes long-term stability over short-term gains, with strict ethical screens excluding industries that conflict with our mission.
Responsible Capital Deployment
We deploy capital thoughtfully, not rapidly. Each grant undergoes rigorous evaluation for long-term viability, ethical alignment, and systemic impact potential.
We prefer multi-year commitments over single-year grants, allowing partners to plan with confidence and focus on outcomes rather than fundraising.
Annual endowment withdrawal rate
Average grant commitment period
Strategic planning horizon
Multi-Decade Planning
Our strategic plans extend 25 to 50 years into the future. We identify mega-trends in ecology, education, and society, positioning our work to address root causes rather than symptoms.
This long-term view allows us to make investments that may not show immediate results but will compound over time to create lasting change.
Controlled Grant Cycles
We do not operate on open-application grant cycles that create false hope and administrative burden. Our partnerships are cultivated through careful research and strategic alignment.
This approach allows us to develop deep, sustained relationships with partners rather than transactional funding arrangements.
Risk-Aware Philanthropy
All philanthropic work carries risk. We acknowledge this openly and conduct thorough risk assessments before major commitments.
Our risk tolerance is calibrated to match our time horizon: We can accept short-term volatility in service of long-term stability, but we will not jeopardize the foundation's continuity for any single initiative.
Continuity Over Scale
We are not seeking to become the largest foundation in our domains. We are seeking to become the most enduring.
Scale for scale's sake often leads to bureaucracy, mission drift, and institutional fragility. We grow only when growth serves our core mission and does not compromise our operational principles.