8 Bridges Workshop + Philanthropy
As a key partner to philanthropic organizations, 8 Bridges Workshop’s expertise spans governance, strategic planning, work processes, program development and evaluation, grant review, and program research.
8 Bridges Workshop is supporting the launch of this new independent foundation that will serve the Greater Philadelphia region. IPMF was formed with the proceeds from the FCC’s spectrum auction, whereby WYBE Channel 35 successfully raised $131 million. The new foundation will support the independent media, community expression, and the ecosystem of media makers in the region.
In 2018 the Wyncote Foundation published our report, Investing in Local Journalism, Public Media and Storytelling: Examples from Place-Based Foundations. The report profiles eight foundations whose distinctive media funding reflects local communities’ concerns and priorities. The report is part of an ongoing initiative at Wyncote to encourage media funding among place-based foundations.
8 Bridges worked with the McKnight Foundation’s communications staff and program directors team to understand how program areas approach media and strategic communications and to identify and propose a learning agenda for the team, in part based on similar work among comparable place-based foundations in the U.S.
In 2016, we worked with the foundation’s Detroit Program to conduct a formative evaluation of the Kresge Artists In Detroit program at its 10-year point. The evaluation encompassed the Kresge Artist Fellowships program, Creative Many’s professional practices program, and ArtX: Detroit, a festival featuring Kresge Fellows’ work. We wrote the final report detailing our findings.
We prepared a background paper suggesting approaches and offering examples as background for a board discussion about whether and how the foundation might add operating support grants to its portfolio.
Wyncote commissioned our research into digital innovation in legacy cultural institutions. We created Like, Link, Share: How cultural institutions are embracing digital technology, featuring 40 legacy cultural institutions that were nominated by peers as innovative leaders in technology. The report and its accompanying website summarize key themes and lessons learned, profile eight organizations in depth and provide background on 32 others.
Philanthropy clients
F.R. Bigelow
Program development
George Family Foundation
Program development
Greater Twin Cities United Way
Editorial development & storytelling
Independence Public Media Foundation
Strategic planning
Mardag Foundation
Program development
McKnight Foundation
Program evaluation
Media Impact Funders
Research
Minnesota State Arts Board
Program development
MSPWin
Capacity building
Opera America
Capacity building
Start Early Funders Coalition
Capacity building