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Strategic Philanthropy Groups Merge

The Institute for Philanthropy and The Philanthropy Workshop West legally merged to become The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW), effective March 1.

Leadership from the two strategic philanthropy organizations announced the merger to their 300-plus members via videoconference from their offices in London, New York and San Francisco. They will continue to operate separately until the organizations are fully integrated, with a formal announcement scheduled for June 9 in New York.

“Along with our co-vice chairs Olana Hirsch Khan and Bea Hollond, and our other fellow board members, we’re taking an exciting step forward in building the Philanthropy Workshop, together,” Katherine Lorenze, Philanthropy Workshop’s new board chair, said in a press release announcing the merger today. “TPW’s combined network of more than 300 philanthropists – all trained in strategic philanthropy by our organizations – is the largest of its kind and unique to the field of philanthropy,” she said.

“Full alignment and integration of our two groups requires thoughtful and diligent planning,” Glen Galaich, chief executive officer of the Philanthropy Workshop, said.

Within a confidential forum of fellow philanthropists, participants in the Philanthropy Workshop’s “cohorts” acquired a “roadmap for strategic philanthropy,” including skills, knowledge and networks necessary to achieve impact in financial giving and social investing, aimed at realizing their potential as philanthropists. The network hails largely from the United States and the United Kingdom, with members from all around the world.

The curriculum includes case studies, site visits, peer discussion, and skills-building sessions, meeting with community and leading social entrepreneurs, and visiting organizations crafting solutions to local and global issues. Each cohort participates in three week-long modules in different parts of the world, with an optional four module in Washington, D.C.

The Institute for Philanthropy, based in London and New York, was established in 2000, providing education and thought leadership in strategic philanthropy. The San Francisco-based Philanthropy Workshop West has a mission to “educate, inspire and activate a peer network of effective, engaged and innovative philanthropists.”

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the TOSA Foundation, in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, launched TPW West in 2001. In 2009, members of TPW West transitioned the program out of the Hewlett Foundation and into an independent organization.