Staying Connected: A Note to Our Members

Staying Connected: A Note to Our Members
How We Show Up

These past weeks, months and longer have been a very painful time for many people and communities, and in our living history, with unbound stories of resistance, retaliation and resilience. For some, our call to action is clear and for some, it might feel the barriers to engagement are high or like we aren’t doing nearly enough.

I was on a panel recently where speakers were posed the question: “What are you doing that you want everyone to know about?” The question was not so much an invitation to humble brag, but rather a reflection to give voice to a galvanizing energy in these challenging times. This was a question intended to shine light on the importance of how we, individually and collectively, are showing up.

Finding ourselves at yet another inflection point, I reflect on what we at Grantmakers for Education heard from so many of you and observed in the field throughout last year and into 2026 about how we as a field are showing up for learners, educators and education organizations and institutions. We see several dualities:

• A concern that the politicization of education has narrowed the middle ground that the space once offered for cooperative, big-tent behaviors, and that political debates shape how people think and talk about learning and schooling. Despite these concerns and the widespread value philanthropy holds for education, not all funders view education as a policy agenda.
• Movement of philanthropic organizations through a continuum of activity: from paralysis to sensemaking to grappling with how to best address the pressures and threats affecting, on one hand, education organizations and systems, and on the other, nonprofits and civil society broadly. A continuous risk analysis sometimes constrains imagination about what behaviors some grantmakers believe are possible, though there is a deep desire to address present realities and create space for freedom dreaming.
• Collective re-assessment with firm roots for a holistic view of education in the political economy and social ecosystem, contrasted with a segmentation of the field that inhibits its translation into behavior.
• There is both funder fatigue and emerging or renewed energy for coordination and collaboration. On one side, concerns persist that long-term investments lack impact; on the other, these concerns are lessened by new proof points that bring fresh energy, perspectives, exemplars, and philanthropic approaches.

This month, I have been in spaces and with people who inspire and challenge me and all of us to stand in our leadership, anchored in our convictions, visions and joy as we wade through multiple crises affecting our childcare centers, classrooms, campuses and communities. From an executive leadership summit led by the Fund for the City of New York to a closed-door conversation of funders hosted by The Harwood Institute to Together for Democracy 2026, a convening of democracy warriors from across the country, I have been in spaces and with people who remind me and all of us that the habits of democracy - including imagining, storytelling and critical thinking - are central to building a healthy and safe public square and a well-knitted social fabric.

We at Grantmakers for Education begin this new year focused on how we show up and what we do. We believe that grantmakers, when acting as a well-informed, connected network guided by evidence, imagination, agility and resolve, can build educational spaces and systems that support healthy development, broaden inclusion, foster collective prosperity and renew democratic civic traditions.

Amid profound political and economic shifts—when social spaces are weaponized, and education leadership changes at federal, state and local levels are both complex and consequential—Grantmakers for Education works to strengthen the sector and mobilize philanthropy to:

• Recognize and promote education as a vital dimension of individual and societal well-being, across sectors and systems.
• Champion broad and enduring support for education.
• Energize a cohesive community of learning and practice rooted in principled and effective philanthropy.
• Contribute to shaping the future of education, strengthening the public, nonprofit and private capabilities that condition it.

Our commitment is to each of you and to the field – to connect, partner, challenge, uplift and advance your efforts.

Over the coming weeks and months, I invite you to share with us your answer to that question, “What are you doing that you want everyone to know about?” We want to hear your stories, to know your successes and your obstacles, and stand at the ready to be your trusted partner, your critical friend and your biggest cheerleader.

As always, my door is open.

Warmly,

Nicole Rodriguez Leach