Strategic Evolution
This year, the Memorial Fund is undergoing a strategy evolution. This will be an intentional process that ensures our strategy is community-informed and suited for this moment.
We are unwavering in our mission to achieve equity in education by working with those affected and inspiring all to end racism and poverty.
Throughout this process, we will honor past learning while listening closely to what communities are sharing today, allowing our approach to evolve with intentionality and purpose. Our goal is for this work to be courageously responsive to community needs and to contribute meaningfully to advancing more equitable education systems while building a shared future in which all can thrive.
We invite you to join us on our journey.
OUR Journey
COMPLETED
Over the summer, and into the fall and winter, we began planning our strategic evolution. We began to imagine what would be necessary to build the thriving, liberated, and equitable communities we all deserve and how we could come together to develop strategies that meet immediate needs while also reimagining and rebuilding systems.
OUR CURRENT PHASE
To ensure our process is inclusive, we are reaching out to many of our current and past partners, as well as other members of the community. With the help of our consultants, Frontline Solutions, people will be invited to participate through a mix of surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Once insights are gathered and analyzed, smaller groups of partners and community members throughout the state will convene in Dream and Build design sessions where we will imagine what could be possible and develop options for the Fund’s core work moving forward.
SUMMER 2026
After we have completed Engagement phase, all of the information we have gathered will then be synthesized and operationalized to leverage the fullness of the Fund’s resources in the most strategic ways possible.
FALL & WINTER 2026
The information we have gathered will be used to create or update new goals, initiatives, and activities that will be courageously responsive to community needs and to contribute meaningfully to the collective effort to build a shared future in which all can thrive.
WINTER 2027
We expect our new grants program and other initiatives, grounded in trust-based philanthropy practices and the lessons we have learned, will be ready to implement in early 2027.
SPRING 2027
By mid-2027, we expect our strategic evolution will be complete. We will have an updated, actionable strategy that meets the needs of WCGMF in the coming years, and remains adaptive and community-centered. We will have cultivated the clarity and courage needed to strategically amplify efforts to eradicate racism and poverty, and to create a society with just and equitable education systems where all can thrive.