The deLaski Family Foundation was founded in 1999 by our parents, Don and Nancy, who started out like many first generation philanthropists. They met visionaries working to solve social issues, and they had the funds to help them build their visions. One cause or relationship at a time, they built a giving practice by providing financial and strategy support, and joining a community of friends to advocate for local philanthropy. By the time we, the second generation, were invited to join the board in 2005, there were long-term investments set up in asthma patient support, well-being and the arts in the Washington, DC area.

Today our giving is focused on both honoring our parents’ legacy and supporting social visionaries in the regions where we live – the DC-area, central California and Oregon. Beyond our philosophy of local giving, we believe that a small family foundation can best make an impact in choosing investment areas where we have subject-matter expertise and can act as a catalyst or angel investor for promising models.

One focus we have chosen is education. We believe it is the best lever to break the cycle of poverty, and we fund proof points to support new models that rethink the long-out-of-date, 500 year-old model of higher education. Today, technology makes it possible to analyze the skills that lead to the best jobs and to help people target the skills they need and earn credentials and certificates on the way to a college degree. Shorter term credentials, that can stack to a degree, provide the flexibility, affordability and portability that consumers are demanding and that can break down barriers to equity in solving the country’s and the world’s skills gaps.

In our social mobility portfolio, we are pleased to fund, in particular, the Education Design Lab and the Community College Growth Engine Fund, as they build support for an ecosystem of “visible learning” among high schools, colleges, where learners understand what skills they need for meaningful careers and can earn them in many ways, traditional college degrees, but also through their jobs and other life experiences.

Our institutional systems, from colleges to our food systems, were not originally designed to support the success of Black lives, non-Black people of color, or the poor. And, until they are radically changed in a way that respects what people bring to the table, they will continue to fail us. We are inspired to double down on acknowledgement of systemic inequality and to seek solutions for systemic change. And we are inspired beyond education. We are moved to support and create models that respect the dignity of disenfranchised segments of our population, and that respect our planet’s natural resources to create a future for all its peoples.

We do this by investing in social visionaries – they are the common thread in our giving plans since 1999. Never have we appreciated so much the challenges they face in building capacity that falls in between what government, business and the traditional social sector can provide. Whether it’s resilience training in war zones, providing tools for young learners with ADHD and autism, or bringing after-school arts to cities where school budgets have been slashed or land is being reclaimed to model regenerative agriculture, social visionaries make these opportunities happen. And we are proud to back them.

-The deLaski Family