Since hosting the inaugural Firetree gathering held at the Starfish facility in Chiang Mai, Thailand in November 2022, we’ve had lots of requests to share how we did it and what lessons we learned from the event. 

We continue our series of systems thinking chats where we connect with different social impact leaders from the Philippines about how and why they are trying to incorporate systems thinking in their work.

A part of our efforts to highlight how different communities in the Philippines are practicing systems thinking.

After our exploration of the ecosystem supporting social impact storytelling in Southeast Asia, we wanted to continue learning, shifting our focus on narrative change.

Given the lack of sabbatical opportunities, research was undertaken by Firetree to see what would be necessary for a funder to introduce a sabbatical program.

If a young person in the Philippines wants to help solve problems in their community, what kind of support do they have access to?

Education during a pandemic is an enormous challenge. Starfish Education responded to this by designing the Learning Box program. Check out this fun video to learn more.

This blog is to openly and briefly share what we, as Firetree, did in the awful madness that was 2020. 

We wanted to explore how other funders based in our region had responded to Covid-19, as well as how non-profits had experienced different responses from various funders.

Sharing a reflection from the Starfish Education team on 2020. It has been translated into English from its original post in Thai. 

Sharing some of what TCI did over 2020, and comes from reflections written by the TCI team. 

Against all the turbulence and heartbreak of 2020, greater trust and flexibility in philanthropy has been increasingly and consistently called for this year. 

When describing what Firetree Trust does, I am always eager to talk about both of our philanthropic programs: Starfish Education and Firetree Philanthropy...

One of our biggest learnings this year was around organizational governance and the challenges of...

These are such turbulent and unsettling times — for everyone. For many of our partners they are at the frontline of the impact of the Covid-19 — and supporting people and communities that are the most vulnerable to its impact.

As part of our on-going commitment to transparency and open sharing, this blog aims to reflect upon the last 18 months of our partnership funding work and share our learning.

A few months ago, I wrote some of our key learning points from our philanthropy work over last year, as part of our annual reflections.

One of those reflections was that we need to get better at openly sharing what we’re learning and how that’s shaping our approach. These blogs aim to be a simple and informal way to do that.

Firetree Trust has three core areas of work:

1. Partnership funding

2. Developing direct initiatives, but only in contexts and geographies we know particularly well and where gaps exist that we can play a role in addressing

3. Connecting with others, openly sharing our learning, and highlighting useful research

Eight years ago, on a hot April day, Dick and I sat along the river in Siem Reap, after a long day of work with a partner. Sipping a beer we were thinking about what name we could give to an operating foundation that...