Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Earning Trust, Earning Capital: A New Blueprint to Engage the Modern Donor

What attracts today’s philanthropic investors? They look for outcomes, not outputs; for organizations with focus and sustainability. Investors seek engaged partners who help them create change.

Two large and well-respected organizations — the Smithsonian Institution and the William Penn Foundation — have recently completed long-range plans that take on complex issues and acknowledge the critical need for collaboration and additional investments. As the world’s largest museum and research complex, the Smithsonian knows that the support of the federal government is not sufficient to realize the Institution’s vision for the 21st century. Similarly, at the William Penn Foundation, even a significant increase in its endowment cannot alone achieve its goals for the region.

Join Virginia Clark, the Smithsonian's Director of Advancement and Philanthropic Giving; Jeremy Nowak, President of the William Penn Foundation; and Carol Thomson, President of SteegeThomson Communications, for a panel moderated by Chris Satullo, WHYY's Vice President of News and Civic Dialogue, as they share  their perspectives on the rapidly changing world of philanthropy.

The Smithsonian Institution and the William Penn Foundation have each recently completed long-range plans that take on complex issues and acknowledge the critical need for collaboration and additional investments. Come hear from these organizations and the communications firm that has served them — as they talk about how to seek investors to support large-scale agendas, and about what they see before them in the rapidly changing world of nonprofit philanthropy.