Grantmakers In Health’s Maya Schane spoke with Stephanie Teleki of The California Health Care Foundation, Laila Bell of The Skillman Foundation, and Jaime Vazquez of The Pew Charitable Trusts about their recently published article in The Foundation Review, “When Shift Happens: Navigating Toward a Framework for Responsible Philanthropic Exits.”

Exits are a part of philanthropy, and few funders stay engaged in one approach or strategy indefinitely. The piece explores how philanthropy can be a powerful source for social change beyond the funding period, and how a foundation’s exit can significantly impact the field it is leaving in both the short and long term. When done thoughtfully, work can continue long after a foundation ceases its funding, but a poorly executed exit risks undermining progress that has been made and can leave the field worse off than before funders became involved.

The article offers a framework for responsible exits, outlining seven core elements for foundations to consider to support grantees, communities, and fields in continuing the work even as the funder steps away. This framework is meant to serve as a starting point for other funders to engage with, challenge, and refine for future use.

What prompted the Skillman Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, and The Pew Charitable Trusts to come together to develop this publication at this time?

Stephanie Teleki: In each of our roles, we have experienced exiting processes at the foundations where we work. Also, speaking as a grantee before I came to philanthropy, I experienced foundations coming and going. Now, each of us works in learning-focused units in philanthropy. We are interested in helping our organizations enter and exit funding spaces thoughtfully and responsibly, and we were grappling with questions of what that means in practice.

We know each other from different circles, like Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and the Emergent Learning Community. We were each independently working through these questions at our own foundations as we were entering and exiting different portfolios.

Read the full article about responsible funder exits by Stephanie Teleki, Laila Bell, and Jaime Vazquez at Grantmakers In Health.