Claudia DeCasas

In 2022, I celebrated my first full year with Phīla. I'm incredibly lucky to work with amazing leaders in the philanthropic field. I love my team and I believe what we do has a positive impact on the world. How many people get to say that about their job!?

This year I was promoted to Operations Manager. Behind the scenes, Phīla has been growing! The most exciting part of my year has been getting to witness and participate in that growth. The care and thought that Stephanie and the whole team puts into building and reinforcing the foundation of Phīla as a business, really speaks to the deep level of care they put into everything that they do. I've spent this year learning new systems and building out processes. That might not sound like exciting work to everyone, but for me this type of work is my happy place. Phīla has given me the space to use my skills and the support to learn new ones.

Lastly, I adopted a grumpy, senior dog named Oso, celebrated my mom's 60th with a mother daughter trip to New York, and met my personal goal of getting more connected with my local art scene.

Stephanie Ellis-Smith

This year, like every year, was full of milestones and highlights for me. I am continually inspired by our clients and their work. We are generalists at Phīla and that means we go where our clients go. As a result, this year I got to take deep dives into issues like forestry, conservation, Native rights and sovereignty, and another that animates me personally the most, the racial wealth gap. This was also a big year for corporate philanthropy for me. Helping corporate clients reimagine giving programs is completely different from our work with families, and rewarding in a totally different way.

Though a lot was still done on Zoom, I met incredible people who opened my mind and allowed me to share my thoughts on this crazy and ever-changing world of philanthropy. A few highlights were facilitating retreats with an incredible cohort of family foundation CEOs, supporting the Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving to reform Federal rules on giving, and collaborating with the Giving Pledge and the National Forum for Family Philanthropy to help donors make the best choices not just for themselves, but for their communities as well. There’s too much to share in such a small space, but suffice it to say, this has been rewarding and challenging in all the right ways. I am grateful to be among this small yet mighty group of women who push me and inspire me with their creativity and optimism every day!

Lauren Janus

This year was one of growth, discovery and finally even some travel for me at Phīla! An unquestionable joy for me this year–as it is every year–has been our client work. Here are some highlights:

• This fall, The Share Fund, a participatory grantmaking body we manage on behalf of two particularly forward-thinking clients, made its second year of grants in support of racial and gender justice in Washington State. 

• Over the summer, Janell and I started work to launch two corporate foundations with the intention and purpose their corporate founders deserve. 

• I’ve worked alongside several other individual family clients to ensure their giving is a powerful expression of their personal values at a time when democracy, women’s rights and our environmental sustainability have felt increasingly fragile. 

Buoyed by multiple COVID vaccines and a trusty mask, I literally took flight this year! In March I flew to Toronto where I met some of the inspiring donors part of Phila’s learning cohort on racial equity giving, hosted by The Philanthropy Workshop. Then in the fall, I presented  on family philanthropy at the University of Wisconsin Family Business Center on the way home from attending Exponent Philanthropy’s annual conference.

Finally, it’s been such a rewarding experience to engage with the wider philanthropy community this year through online discussions, webinars and articles. In the spring, I had the opportunity to indulge my curiosity in the fascinating practice of Zakat giving among the global Muslim community. In July, Janell and I read an online critique of the practice of trust-based philanthropy and had to weigh in. Then just last month I had the opportunity to share my thoughts on MacKenzie Scott’s transformational giving style for the Associated Press. 

As we close out 2022, I’m grateful for the work I get to do each day, but also for those it brings me closer to. In my experience, everyone who works in the field of philanthropy or practices it with real intention, is internally driven to make life better, full stop. These are the people I want to learn from, be inspired by and work in support of now and for years to come.

Janell Turner

2022 was a big year for Phīla—not only for the company itself in terms of our growth and impact, but also for our clients who grew leaps and bounds in their philanthropic pursuits. Philanthropy has become incredibly dynamic as generosity shifts to adjust to our changing world. Phīla clients are at the forefront of this shift and their eagerness to embrace new concepts and ideas to do more good in the world inspires me daily.  It’s been a privilege to explore the intersection of wealth, charitable giving, and impact as we learn and grow together. As a woman of color working in a space where racial justice and inequity are always on the menu, there have been moments of vulnerability and honesty that have led to richly rewarding conversations and relationships. The work of allyship in philanthropy can be fraught, raw, and dynamic as we work together to dismantle systems of oppression and inequality; but the friendships formed are life changing.    

Some of my most memorable moments this year have involved working in collaboration with other professionals to bring these perspectives to light. Over the summer Stephanie and I attended the Purposeful Planning Institute’s annual conference and presented on the topic of Giving Circles through a social justice lens to a group of financial and legal advisors with high net worth clientele. In the spring I co-authored a blog post with Nancy, our impact investing partner, on Community Development Financial Institutions and how they are used to deploy philanthropic and investment capital into underserved communities.

2023 will surely present new opportunities for bridge building and educating, and I look forward to sharing these moments with all of you—our beloved philanthropic community!   

Nancy Reid

The year began with two big client projects. In collaboration with colleagues from the philanthropy community, I supported two foundations as they navigated the realities of shifting their nine-figure endowments toward mission-aligned investing strategies. One was more oriented toward environmental issues, while the other had a clear focus on racial equity. Both organizations will be shifting some portion of their corpus in a nuanced way over time.  

By late spring, both foundation projects had wrapped up and I was able to catch up with a handful of individual investors engaged with similar issues at a smaller scale. I love doing personal impact statements and advisor searches! Helping move money into values-aligned strategies is the most impactful work I have the opportunity to influence. I also learn a lot along the way.

This fall I’ve engaged in a completely different set of projects, the most public of which has been EnVest. I co-founded EnVest in 2017, when accelerating capital into technologies that ameliorate environmental challenges felt like a new idea, and when investors in regenerative agriculture, oceans and fisheries, circular economy, and carbon reduction needed a convening to accelerate deals. Five years later, it’s immensely satisfying to support the EnVest community as they move meaningful capital into more and more inspiring solutions.  

As we approach year end, I’m hoping my energy and optimism from EnVest will fuel me as I catch up on continuing education for my Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA) designation. While I don’t work as a financial advisor, I do enjoy brushing up on innovations and constraints within that industry. Will I enjoy it enough to get me through 42 hours of content on investment management, tax, and trust administration?  Only time will tell!

Tara Smith

2022 was very busy. I started out the year in the middle of wedding planning and law school applications. As you can imagine, that was A LOT.  In April, I had a beautiful wedding surrounded by the people I love. Then, it was summertime for what seemed like a week. Later on in August, I found myself attending evening classes for law school while continuing to work. To keep things interesting, my husband and I decided to start house hunting and then we moved. And now, out of nowhere, it is the end of November and here I am reflecting on the year that has passed!

I am so grateful for this last year at Phīla for so many reasons. For one, I get to work alongside a team of brilliant, thoughtful, and strong women who are leaders in this field and in everyday life. I have been engaged with different topics in philanthropy and have had the opportunity to share our thoughts on topics and activity in the field with our audience on social media. I’m proud to have grown enough confidence to write and share my first featured blog on Slacktivism. I look forward to writing more throughout the New Year. For me, 2023 is all about what's next in philanthropy!