It is fitting that the ideas that would become the Pisces Foundation emerged on a hike Randi and Bob Fisher took along the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, a place that inspires awe and connection. On that outing, they reflected on their philanthropic journey and how they might build on those contributions together in a new way. I joined up not too long after, inspired by my own contemplation after twenty years as an advocate. It is natural, then, that a spirit of reflection and learning became a core value of the Foundation.
That value has been at the center of our celebration of the Foundation’s 10th anniversary year. We have taken a step back to recognize the progress our grantees have championed, celebrate their wins, consider many remaining challenges, all while looking to the path ahead with optimistic anticipation.
We are marking the moment of our first decade with a look at some of these collaborations and milestones in this interactive 10-year timeline, which is live on our website today. You can sort milestones by program area or year or scroll through the entire decade. While it is not possible to include each contribution over an entire decade nor fully reflect the boundless energy our partners and Foundation team bring to their work, I hope it sparks for you positive memories and appreciation for all our communities have accomplished together. It did for me.
As we turn to the future, I am excited to share more about what lies ahead for the Pisces Foundation. As I wrote about last November, our whole team has been engaged in a deep review of the strategies we’ve fashioned, the assumptions that underlie them, and our shared learning over the last decade.
This isn’t the first time the Foundation team has considered the impact of our approach. We have refined our grantmaking several times—most recently in our 2020 refresh—to reflect the necessity of funding movements and the infrastructure they require. That shift recognized that our grantees needed more shared advocacy tools and effective coalitions to wield the necessary influence to meet the pace and scale of our challenges. Put another way, policy ideas are important. But without the power to implement them, the systems that hold problems in place remain stuck, just the same.
We have been inspired by the early results of the shifts we made four years ago, such as funding shared narrative work for both the outdoor education and water communities; expansive coalitions for environmental advocates replacing narrow, exclusive ones; and initiatives, like Mosaic, which are supplying scores of collaborations with training, leadership development, and data tools that boost impact. For us, the core lesson is that complex challenges like those our water, environmental education, and climate partners face require collaborative action. In turn, those collaborations require dedicated support and shared tools that strengthen advocates individually and collectively.
That is why we are updating our strategy, which we will apply to all of our grantmaking, to focus on advancing collective action through field building, movement infrastructure, and collaborations–all indispensable ingredients of the influence and alignment needed for significant social change.
We are mindful, because our partners have told us, that these types of investments can be among the most challenging to secure. Our intention is to be a resource for more influential advocacy that generates true breakthroughs, providing the types of investments leaders tell us are needed to win the big victories.
Our team will apply this lens to the challenges of climate, water, and environmental education, where we have focused to date, and also to addressing urban challenges, such as those facing our hometown of San Francisco. To support our approach, in the year to come we will be evolving from an organizational structure of separate programs on water, climate, and environmental education to a single, holistic effort focused on the environment, which will advance these topics and more. Just as important, alongside this work, we are excited to add a new San Francisco initiative to scale up solutions to challenges right here at home, with the goal of helping our city thrive.
Our core principle of valuing the natural world and strong, healthy communities for all remains our guiding star, even as we focus and expand our contributions to this vision. We look forward to sharing more details this fall, both about the shape of our programs and the new teammates who will be joining our efforts.
Our work of the past decade and the years ahead would not be possible without your partnership. Please know we are grateful for all you do to advance a world where people and nature thrive.
