Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” It’s a beautiful idea that I initially interpreted as a call to give more of myself: more time, more resources, more energy.
But I’ve come to understand this doesn’t just mean diving in more deeply. It also means stepping back. Letting go of the assumptions and instincts that often guide our giving—“what moves me” or “what feels right”—and surrendering the idea that I know best.
That shift in thinking is what led me to start Constellation. I was troubled by a stark contradiction: How can we live in one of America’s most generous states while experiencing some of the nation’s worst inequities? The answer isn’t that we just need to give more. It’s that we also need to give more impactfully.
Today, Constellation’s evidence-driven approach is delivering unprecedented returns. Our portfolio of nonprofits generates over $6 in lifetime benefits for every dollar invested, a return on investment that demonstrates the extraordinary potential when philanthropic resources are deployed with precision. We’ve also refined our evaluation methods, expanded our research capabilities through CoLab, and strengthened our capacity-building support.
But hundreds of thousands of our neighbors still lack access to programs we know can change their lives. As proposed federal cuts threaten families already struggling and state budget constraints eliminate critical services, the opportunity and need for strategic philanthropy has never been greater.
This is why we’re developing new approaches to dramatically scale our impact in areas of highest need and proven effectiveness. We’re preparing larger, longer-term investments in organizations ready to serve more people, wrapped with intensive support and rigorous evaluation. And we’re gearing up to share these proven models with policymakers who can bring effective solutions to true scale.
Our investments are guided by a powerful intersection: where the best data and research show interventions working, and where our neighbors experiencing poverty identify their key needs. This past year, we invested in a first-of-its-kind survey of hundreds of individuals and families experiencing poverty, asking them directly what they need to thrive. I believe that our community should be going all in where evidence and lived expertise align.
As a donor myself, I don’t think about giving to Constellation—I think about giving through it, leveraging the organization’s world-class toolkit to amplify every dollar’s impact. Giving inherently feels good, but when I lose myself in service to what evidence shows is working best, I find something even deeper: the satisfaction of knowing my generosity is creating impact that can be both measured and felt.
