Effective Philanthropy

February 6, 2026
Reflections

You spoke, we listened: 2025 Grantees’ Perspectives on Funder-Grantee Relationships and Siegel Family Endowment

We believe feedback is essential to continuous improvement. Philanthropy operates within inherent power imbalances, making it all the more important to create structured opportunities for grantees to share honest perspectives about what's working and what isn't. We believe feedback serves a dual purpose: it strengthens our relationships with grantee organizations by demonstrating that their voices genuinely shape our practice, and they provide us with the critical feedback we need to evolve our approach.

February 6, 2026
News, Reflections

Playback: Siegel’s 2026 “Ask-Me-Anything”

Siegel’s annual Ask Me Anything webinar is an opportunity for our friends and partners to learn about our plans for the year ahead and ask questions about our work and approach. This year’s event, held virtually on Thursday, February 5th, brought together over 315 attendees.

January 15, 2026
Big Ideas, News

At MIT, a continued commitment to understanding intelligence

With support from the Siegel Family Endowment, the newly renamed MIT Siegel Family Quest for Intelligence investigates how brains produce intelligence and how it can be replicated to solve problems.

March 31, 2025
Reflections

2025 Q1 Events Recap

We may be a small team, but our reach is mighty. Over the past quarter, we’ve traveled across the country and around the globe to seek out new perspectives, fresh solutions, and burgeoning insights that will shape our work in 2025.

December 17, 2024
News

Siegel Family Endowment Awards Over $16.3 Million to Strengthen Workforce Innovation, Infrastructure, and Philanthropy

Our latest grants reaffirm our commitment to building a more inclusive technological future by supporting comprehensive research, shaping human-centered policies, and fostering community-driven innovation to ensure these advancements benefit everyone.

March 20, 2024
Reflections

Highlights from our trip to SXSW EDU 2024

Early this March, Siegel staff members from our research, grants, and external engagement team traveled to Austin, Texas, for SXSW EDU 2024. We met with old and new partners, attended learning sessions, and hosted events throughout the week with a dedicated focus on working together to imagine what the future of education may look like.

February 20, 2024
Reflections

Feature: Equitable Grantmaking and Leveraging Demographic Data with GivingData and Candid

Siegel implemented GivingData as our first-ever grants management system just last year. We were thrilled to sit down with our partners at GivingData and Candid to explore how the implementation lead us to revamp our data collection protocol and processes, aligned with our vision for effective philanthropy and equitable grantmaking.

February 5, 2024
Reflections

You Spoke, We Listened: Our 2023 Feedback Report and How We’re Responding

As part of our commitment to effective philanthropy, Siegel Family Endowment collects annual feedback from our grantees. Read about the key themes put together by our third party interviewer – and how we plan to respond.

February 5, 2024
Big Ideas, News

Playback: Siegel’s 2024 Ask-Me-Anything”

We hosted an an “Ask-Me-Anything” webinar to share our plans for 2024 and open the floor to any questions about it. You can find the recording and presentation used here.

November 13, 2023
News

Fall 2023 Events Recap

Our team criss-crossed the country this Fall to participate in convenings and conferences across our three interest areas.

November 9, 2023
Big Ideas, Reflections

Event Recap: A Design-Thinking Workshop to Launch a Second Phase of Work in Atlanta

To conclude the first phase of our community-centered grantmaking in Atlanta and usher in a second one, we hosted a day-long workshop to envision next steps.

October 23, 2023
News

Event Recap: Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference 2023

Partners from our place-based grantmaking in Atlanta joined the SFE team for a panel with a “Newlyweds”-style game show twist where we reflected on significance of collaboration, trust-building, and the inclusion of diverse community voices in transforming schools into critical public infrastructure and promoting equitable education models.