January 2025 Newsletter
To those in our network celebrating Lunar New Year, Happy Year of the Snake!
I’m going to be vulnerable and kick off this newsletter a bit differently than many you probably have gotten this week. Have you taken any deep breaths today yet? If not, I invite you to now.
Over the last two weeks, nearly every person I’ve talked to across our staff, membership and partners seems to have a similar refrain right now: this month has felt like a year already. Folks are recalibrating their relationship to news and information, figuring out how to stay focused amidst fear and concern, and in some cases, how to rapidly reconfigure funding pathways to support organizations impacted by multiple EOs. And lest the news cycles ask us to forget, our colleagues in L.A. are still in crisis-response mode in the aftermath of the fires.
Read moreDecember 2024 Newsletter
Like so many of you, we at EPIP have been grappling with how to show up and make sense of the political moment unfolding over this last month (and arguably, over the last months, years, or centuries depending on when you start the clock). Across the team, we have felt rage, fear, horror, despair… and also hope, curiosity, connection, resourcefulness, and commitment. Through all of this, we’re trying to practice the act of witnessing: all that each other are holding, all that we are experiencing, and how we are continuing to tend to our spirits and hearts through so much uncertainty and forthcoming upheaval and institutional violence against our communities.
Read moreOctober 2024 Newsletter
Fall greetings from EPIP!
As we enter the last months of 2024 and look ahead to 2025, we are reminded of the work yet to come. Like all of you, we are wading through this season of uncertainty and staying open and curious about the possibilities ahead for EPIP and our broader philanthropic ecosystem. Despite all we may still be unsure of with elections and beyond, EPIP is looking forward to entering the new year with renewed purpose, and a clear goal to see through our forthcoming strategic framework, which we’ve been hard at work on for the last many months.
Read moreSeptember 2024 Newsletter
This past week, the EPIP team held an extremely energizing board meeting. Not only did we welcome 6 new board members (you’ll learn more about them next month!), we got a preview of the discovery findings for our strategic framework refresh. For the last many months, we’ve been working with Mandala Change Group to conduct interviews with members, chapter leaders, funding partners, and peer organizations. The findings are exciting, affirming, and give us a lot to think about for the years ahead at EPIP. We can’t wait to share the results and new strategic framework with you in 2025.
Read moreAugust 2024 Newsletter
On a recent chapter leader call, we reflected on the seeming audacity of seeing Halloween decor already out in the world. It feels like we blinked and catapulted from our incredible convening in New Orleans to the end of summer.
Read moreMay 2024 Newsletter
Reflections from Laura Collier, EPIP’s Chapter Liaison
Read moreApril 2024 Newsletter
A Message from EPIP’s Board Chair Emeritus and Board Chair
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