Building Bridges and Leading Courageously in Turbulent Times

Reflections from the Center of Effective Philanthropy’s 2025 Conference

By Ali Knight, CEO, GreenLight Fund

The five hours of travel between Los Angeles, host city of the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP’s) 2025 Summit, and Dallas, where GreenLight celebrated the launch of our 15th city, offered time to reflect and re-center.

Over three days, the Summit provided insights, challenges, and a shared reckoning with what it means to advance mission-driven work amid rising fear, uncertainty, and worsening conditions for those experiencing poverty. We heard sobering data about the current state of the nonprofit sector, reminders of similar moments in history, and stories of how today’s policy shifts are shaping everyday lives.

Yet I left encouraged by a collective humility and urgency across philanthropy. As someone still relatively new to this field, I feel newly called to action. As GreenLight closes a turbulent year in pursuit of inclusive prosperity, I carry forward three key insights from the Summit into our 2026 work.

Courage is Contagious
In a time when fear — of safety, of the future — paralyzes so many, courage is essential. As leaders, we may feel fear, but we can’t afford to be ruled by it. I was reminded early in the Summit that while leadership can be lonely, courage is contagious.

Now is the time to stand firmly in our values and mission. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not political choices; they are human rights and core to democracy itself. At GreenLight, our commitment to racial equity is the foundation for our efforts to move children and families toward inclusive prosperity. We will continue to identify and invest in innovative, proven, and resilient solutions that advance opportunity for those most impacted by structural barriers.

Reaffirming our values is easy compared to what many of the communities we serve face daily—hunger, instability, disconnection. Our challenge is to act boldly when our institutions and ideals are questioned. As Bryan Stevenson reminded us in the closing plenary, courage requires proximity, discomfort, and truth-telling. He likened it to acknowledging a diagnosis before healing, “No one chooses chemotherapy without first admitting they have cancer.” The courageous work before us is to name the illness, commit to healing, and do the work.

Listen to Community
Doing more, doing differently, and doing better begins with listening, especially to those most proximate to the challenges we seek to solve. Listening takes time and humility, but it is essential for trust, understanding, and lasting solutions.

Research presented by CEP’s Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. revealed a growing disconnect between how foundations and nonprofits view philanthropy’s effectiveness. Nonprofit leaders rated funders significantly lower, by as much as 40%, across all measures, underscoring the need for deeper communication and connection.

GreenLight’s model is rooted in listening to the community and co-creating change. In 2026, we’ll strengthen our network by deepening relationships across our 15 sites and 70 portfolio organizations, expanding to our 16th city, and building new partnerships that amplify collective impact. We’ll engage more directly with our portfolio to understand their challenges and better support their work.

As Angelique Power of the Skillman Foundation reminded us, “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.” Listening, learning, and leading with courage will allow us to weave stronger connections and meet this moment together.

Building Bridges that Last
Meeting this moment requires learning from the past while acting for the future. Philanthropy’s charge is generational, to address the legacies of injustice while shaping a more equitable tomorrow.

A day 3 session traced U.S. immigration policy from slavery’s abolition to today, revealing how deeply history informs our present. It was a stark reminder that our progress depends on acknowledging truth.

From our founding, GreenLight has been anchored in bridge-building, across communities, sectors, and moments in history, to advance socioeconomic mobility and inclusive prosperity. Bridges to justice are not built on comfort or civility; they must withstand turbulence and be grounded in truth. Stevenson again reminded us that healing begins with honesty, and Trabian Shorters urged us to add to the narrative — to tell a fuller story that disrupts bias and division.

Building resilient bridges requires widening our tent, challenging assumptions, and finding strength in diversity of lived experience and perspective. Divisions deepen when we build walls instead of bridges.

Even in uncertain times, especially now, philanthropy must serve as a bridge to progress, bending the moral arc toward justice. Our shared work is to weave the threads of humanity into a fabric of love, dignity, and opportunity for all.

In the end, the 2025 CEP Summit reminded me that courage, listening, and bridge-building are not separate calls. They are interconnected disciplines that define effective philanthropy. To meet this moment, we must hold fast to our values, stay proximate to community, and continue weaving connections across difference and distance.

GreenLight’s work has always been about creating pathways toward inclusive prosperity; now, it must also be about sustaining the courage and collaboration needed to carry that vision forward. As we look to 2026 and beyond, may we meet the moment not with fear or fatigue, but with conviction, clarity, and collective purpose.