Our Focus

We engage with organizations led by inspiring, entrepreneurial pathfinders who boldly challenge the status quo and deliver tangible results. We look for teams that prove, execute, and grow. We steer clear of those that oversee and administer. Our ‘firestarter’ approach is to support high-performing organizations seeking to increase their scale and impact through the introduction of targeted initiatives or amplification of what they know is working. We leverage alternative investment vehicles and remain open to exploring new and innovative ways to support the organizations we are privileged to serve. We will prioritize work in the 9-county Bay Area, although we’re open to supporting some work with a California or even national reach.

Our Approach

Great leaders. We will support organizations with leaders who have a clear-sighted vision of what they want to achieve and how they will achieve it. They are strong managers, critical thinkers, and constant learners. They have the confidence to boldly advance their organizations’ work, balanced by the self-awareness to know when they need to shift their approach. They have strong bench strength and an active, committed board.

Sound footing. We will support organizations with stable leadership teams and a solid, sustainable financial picture. We recognize that not every organization will have the resources to adequately support finance, technology, human resources, and other operational functions. The entrepreneurial leaders we seek know how to do more with less while committing to strengthening their systems and processes as further resources become available.

Strong impact. We will support organizations that exert a meaningful impact on whatever problem they seek to address. We understand that impact is not always numerically measurable, and that change takes time. We’re comfortable taking the long view if the cause is compelling and its execution is methodical.

Focused on the end-game. We will support organizations that always keep the interests of their clients or ultimate beneficiaries front and center. Their ultimate goal as a social change agent should be to become irrelevant and unnecessary, not to preserve their position or their patch.

Always learning. We will support organizations that want to do better. They are not satisfied with the status quo and consistently use data (both quantitative and qualitative) to evaluate their work and identify how they can improve.

Clear program rationale. We will support organizations that have a well thought-out approach to how its day-to-day work leads to clearly defined outcomes and long-term goals.