A Love Letter from Tulaine

Greetings, good people!

As I near the one-year mark as CEO of New Profit , I’m taking a moment to reflect. The past 11 months have been, in a word, abundant! Bundled in that bountiful term are deep wells of gratitude, learning, and reflection that I’m eager to share with this community. In fact, this is an offering I plan to share on a regular basis: This is the first of a series of ‘love letters’ to you all, my village. 

Why love letters? Maybe you’ve heard me say this before, but I’m fascinated by the origins of words because language is so powerful. The etymology of philanthropy is ‘a love of humankind’. And when it comes to love, philanthropy today still has some clear deficits to overcome. Embracing a love mindset—guided by bell hooks’ love ethic—can drive positive change within philanthropy and society more broadly. Leading with love requires us to see each other in our full humanity, not as flattened characters. It illuminates brilliance and expertise, it removes restrictions we put on ourselves and each other, it powers our multiracial, intergenerational, cross-sector coalitions, and it is fierce and powerful. Love is not a synonym for a bleeding heart, it is simultaneously the foundation and the archstone for building a better future.

So let me start this love letter by taking stock of what we’ve been able to achieve together in my inaugural season as CEO of New Profit.

My primary focus since stepping into this role in July has been to continue the amazing—and abundant—work New Profit and our community have been advancing for more than 25 years; work that is now culminating in the greatest momentum and deepest impact we’ve seen in our organization’s history. As one example, we recently welcomed into our portfolio 8 high-impact organizations that are strengthening our economic, education, and democratic systems:

• America On Tech
• Center for Black Educator Development
• Digital Promise
• Generation Citizen
• The Marcy Lab School
• OneGoal
• Propel America
• Surge Institute  

We also launched our fourth Civic Lab cohort and our second Economic Mobility cohort —together consisting of 24 early-stage organizations expanding access and opportunity in America.

I’m also celebrating the many recent and remarkable achievements of leaders and organizations we have the honor of supporting: 

• Sixto Cancel and Think of Us received $47.5M from the Audacious Project to accelerate their efforts to transform the nation’s child welfare system; 
• Ashanti Branch of The Ever Forward Club was honored by the U.S. Surgeon General for his efforts to combat loneliness for young Black and Latine boys during and after the pandemic; 
• Aimée Eubanks Davis of Braven received the national Innovator of Color Award at the ASU+GSV Summit for her organization’s work to help restore the American promise for college graduates from humble economic backgrounds. (This award is becoming a bit of a tradition for our community: In 2018, Phyllis Lockett , Founder of LEAP Innovations and a former New Profit grantee partner received the award; I was honored with the award in 2021; and in 2023, Sharif El-Mekki , Founder and CEO of The Center for Black Educator Development, a current grantee partner, received the award).

I am thrilled that these visionary leaders are being recognized for their brilliance, and I am grateful that our team at New Profit can continue to support and enhance the social changes their organizations are creating. 

And I know it takes more than dollars to support innovators—it requires our trust and our confidence.

Part of that work includes building a supportive ecosystem around these high-impact proximate entrepreneurs so they can access the partners and resources needed to transform systems. In August, I sat down with Janell Ross of TIME to discuss what needs to be true in philanthropy and social impact investing if we are to build a better future. One of the key discussions with philanthropists, innovators, and other changemakers at the Impact House, presented by our friends at TIME and UBS , explored the imperative that we must be guided by the assets, expertise, and aspirations of the communities we aim to serve. It is crucial that we come together across identity markers and lived experience to co-design solutions that will get us closer to an America where everyone is afforded access to opportunity. That is the work of social impact. 

If you’re reading this then you already know that social impact work is hard. It’s complex, emotionally taxing, and can at times feel Sisyphean. 

Therefore, it requires rest.

In July, New Profit will once again take a collective breath during our annual period of rest. It’s a time when we disconnect from our devices and reconnect with the people, places, and activities that rejuvenate each of us. For some that includes travel, for others that means quiet days at home, and for many that means spending time with loved ones. Regardless of how we spend our rest period, we cannot do this challenging work when we are at our most depleted. We also cannot do this work on our own. 

This month, the entire New Profit team will come together for our all-staff retreat. We’ll spend three days listening, connecting, and being in community to strengthen our relationships, understanding, and empathy for each other—across teams, tenure, and geography. It’s the power of community that we tap into at New Profit to drive impact as an organization.

Along these same lines, I am always energized by the conversations I have on Say More with Tulaine Montgomery , our podcast where we explore what it means to adapt and evolve together at a moment where our society feels more divided than ever before. Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Krista Tippett of The On Being Project to discuss how we can envision the kind of world we want to inhabit. Rachel Cargle , best-selling author and founder of The Loveland Foundation , explained how we can self-study to learn to be our true selves and give back to our community. Both conversations with Eric Liu of Citizen University and Marshall Ganz of the Harvard Kennedy School shed light on what is required of us to build and benefit from our multiracial democracy. I hope you’ll take a few moments to subscribe to Say More so you never miss a new episode! What I love most about the podcast are the brilliant and thought-provoking questions we get from our community of listeners—please keep them coming! 

As I said in a recent interview in The Atlantic , wherever we’re going to get to as a nation, we’re going to have to get there together. 

I am deeply grateful to this community for supporting me in this role with an abundance of love, well wishes, and support. I know that this work is never done alone; we do it together, in meaningful partnership, and with a shared vision for an America where everyone has the access and opportunity to thrive.

With love and appreciation,

Tulaine