FROM THE PEAK TEAM

A Note of Gratitude 

Without question, the greatest gift of the past year was being able to finally reconnect with our community in person. Between our annual convening, chapter events, peer group meetings, and gatherings hosted by our sector allies—combined with our deeply engaged online learning spaces—2023 felt like a continuous family reunion. 

And the PEAK family continues to grow! Our team expanded to better support our community, which now includes some 8,000 professionals—a 2,000-person bump from where we were just two years ago. As a result, we are thankful to say that we have a deep network of thought partners, and we’ve collaborated with both individuals and organizations in many ways to innovate and advocate for equitable practices. We published a collection of resources to help members put our Steward Responsively Principle into practice. We brought the concept of emergent learning to the forefront through the Journal and at PEAK2023, inspiring us all to be curious, vulnerable, and collaborative learners. And looking ahead, we’re excited to unveil an expanded Journal next month that’s dedicated to our Learn, Share, Evolve Principle, publish a salary report in February, and to convene again in Seattle in March! It’s both heartening and humbling to have this level of support behind PEAK’s work to realize the full potential of philanthropy to drive equity and opportunity.

As we prepare to continue on our learning journey in the new year, PEAK’s offices will be closed from December 22 through January 2 so that we can take some much-needed rest. In the meantime, thank you so much for all you do to help make PEAK the close-knit community of philanthropy professionals that it is. The ways in which we come together give us great hope for what we can achieve—and we look forward to working with you in 2024.

Cheers!

Altinay, Betsy, Caitlin, Carolyn, Clare, Davis, Dionne, Dolores, Jesse, Kaitlyn, Kristen, Lita, Makayla, Mlyssa, Nichia, Rafael, Rahmirah, Sara, Satonya, Vanessa, and Zakiyah

Peer Network Spotlight

PEAK offers members diverse peer spaces for learning, sharing, and evolving in our thriving chapters and peer groups. Each month, we showcase the meaningful programming and networking taking place in these volunteer-led spaces and how the PEAK team is supporting their work.

As the end of the year neared, chapters and peer groups have made time to connect, learn, and be in community with one another. PEAK Pacific Northwest and PEAK Greater Washington, DC discussed current events in philanthropy and staffing trends in the nonprofit sector post-COVID-19. The PEAK Small Foundations Affinity Group as well as the PEAK Southeast and PEAK Southwest chapters used their final programming of the year to reflect, plan, and discuss meeting topics for 2024. The PEAK Southern California and PEAK Northern California chapters hosted festive and fun celebrations to end the year with joyful cheering, with the PEAK AANHPI Caucus closing out 2023 this week!

MEMBERSHIP

PEAK Consultant Member Dues Update  

In 2024–25, PEAK Grantmaking will shift how we calculate dues for our Consultant Members by moving from dues based on the total annual giving of their clientele to dues based on their total number of staff. Before finalizing this update, we spoke with many members who would be impacted by these changes to share our rationale and intended rollout plan and to understand their concerns. The feedback we received was supportive of this shift in how we calculate dues, the timing, and the tiers. These changes will support our efforts to go deeper in practice-change work with our Consultant Members, bring PEAK into better alignment with comparable philanthropy-supporting organizations, and ensure more equitable structure dues amounts among our Consultant Members.

PEAK in Community 

Here’s the latest on how PEAK is engaging with member organizations, partners, nonprofits, and allies in advocating for transformative change and leading the way in advancing equitable and effective grantmaking practices.

Hosted by the National Council for Family Philanthropy, Partnerships Director C. Davis Parchment moderated a panel discussion with Yvonne Belanger from the Barr Foundation and Brenda Solorzano from Headwaters Foundation on developing intentional, high-quality listening practices that do not burden nonprofit partners while generating genuine feedback loops.

President and CEO Satonya Fair and Programs and Knowledge Director Lita Ugarte Pardi attended Philanthropy Southeast’s annual meeting, Moving Forward Together: Committed to Southern Communities, in Montgomery, Alabama. In addition to connecting with PEAK members and introducing many more to PEAK, Satonya and CommunityBuild Ventures founder Natasha Harrison spoke to the incoming cohort of Hull Fellows, Philanthropy Southeast's leadership program. Satonya also partnered with Kaki Friskics-Warren of the Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund to lead a session focused on executive transitions, “Beyond Succession Planning: How to Prepare for a Graceful Exit.”

Chief Operating Officer Dolores Estrada keynoted AZ Impact for Good’s annual Transform Arizona event, speaking about PEAK’s philosophy of courage in practice.

Senior Programs and Knowledge Manager Vanessa Elkan presented at Wisconsin Philanthropy Network’s 2023 conference in Milwaukee on PEAK’s Steward Responsively Principle. She spoke on how funders can reframe risk and recalibrate their vetting processes to make grantmaking more transparent, trust-based, and nonprofit- and community-centered.

CAREER SUPPORT

The Latest on PEAK’s Job Board

Explore career opportunities from across our member community. Searching for a new team member? PEAK members are invited to add job postings at no cost. Simply log in, complete a brief form, and your post will be added shortly.

Here are a few current opportunities:

• Program Associate, Child and Family | The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Los Altos, CA 
• Communications & Storytelling Officer | Woods Fund Chicago, Chicago, IL | Hybrid 
• Content Development Associate | Center for Disaster Philanthropy, Remote 
• Grants Manager | Health Resources in Action, Remote
• Grants Manager | Hawthornden Foundation, New York, NY 
• Hawthornden Brooklyn Site/Residency Director | Hawthornden Foundation, Brooklyn, NY 
• Grants & Data Assistant | Burton D. Morgan Foundation, OH