About

Who We Are

The Team

Key People

The Team

The Proximate Futures team has decades of experience as funders, nonprofit leaders, social entrepreneurs, and network builders. Having sat on both sides of philanthropy—as grantmakers and grantees—we understand the challenges of identifying trusted organizations, navigating unfamiliar contexts, and deploying resources effectively. This experience shapes our conviction that the future of philanthropy depends on closing the distance between those who hold capital and those who hold local knowledge.

Governance

We are a fiscally sponsored project of, and governed by, Accountability Lab. And we are guided by our Executive and Advisory Committees, whose members include:

Azad Oommen, Independent Expert in K-12 education in the Global South
Jennifer Wegbreit, CEO, Shockwave Foundation
Julia Pettengill, Executive Director, Schooner Foundation
Kathie Paul, Manager - Capital, Rippleworks
Kathryn Harrison, Director - Portfolio and Investments, Skoll Foundation
Kevin L. Brown, CEO, Mighty Ally
Leah Shearman, Global Director of Development, Accountability Lab

Our Values

What guides our work

Proximity Matters

We believe those closest to a problem often have the deepest understanding of its causes and the pathways to change. Local knowledge, relationships, and lived experience are not peripheral to effective philanthropy—they are essential to it.

Trust is Intelligence

Trust is one of the most important—and most overlooked—forms of information. We believe that strength of relationship, reputation, and peer recognition provide powerful signals about who is best positioned to create change.

See the Ecosystem

Organizations do not operate in isolation, and neither should philanthropy. We seek to understand the broader conditions, relationships, and dynamics that shape outcomes, recognizing that lasting change emerges from ecosystems rather than individual actors alone.

Shared Knowledge, Collective Learning

Knowledge becomes more valuable when it is shared. We believe insights generated through one engagement should strengthen the next, creating a growing body of collective intelligence that helps the sector make better decisions over time.

Participation is Essential

Those affected by decisions should have a voice in shaping them. We believe local leaders, organizations, and communities should not simply implement solutions, but play a meaningful role in defining priorities, identifying opportunities, and informing how resources are allocated.