“Onside Partners was critical to the formation of and success of the Digital Trust Foundation, a $7M spend-down foundation that was created in a court settlement involving Facebook. Sam guided the directors through developing our goals, strategy, and operating model, helping us avoided pitfalls in an area where we had little experience (philanthropy). Christine drafted RFPs and created systems consistent with best practices in grantmaking. Christine also handled grantee relations professionally and, in a few instances involving difficult personalities, with integrity and forbearance. The energy and expertise that Sam and Christine brought to the foundation resulted in reliable, fair, and credible processes, and we made more strategic grants as a result of their advice. They both have deep expertise in public health policy, which helped us take a systems-change perspective and make better decisions in online privacy and security. I can recommend them both enthusiastically and without any reservation whatsoever.”
Chris Hoofnagle
President, Digital Trust Foundation
“Sam and Christine are smart, analytic, and versatile – a team you can call on to handle challenging projects. They have been invaluable contributors to the heavy strategic lift involved in shaping and launching an ambitious national initiative in the environmental field. Sam has also been helpful to me in thinking about a wide range of other topics: budget policy, organizational development, and other foundation management topics.”
David Beckman
President, Pisces Foundation
“Sam worked closely with us on the strategic plan that launched PPIC’s Water Policy Center. She was an invaluable thought partner and brought rigor and creativity to the process.”
Mark Baldassare
President and CEO, Public Policy Institute of California
“The experience with Onside overall was outstanding. I was really pleased with how we worked together as a team. We were able to affirm and clarify our vision, mission, audience, and focus areas. Onside was very strong in helping us through the process and thinking through our needs, and that led to ensuring our results were authentic and true to the organization.”
Paula Conolly
Director, Green Infrastructure Exchange
“Sam provided a disciplined structure to describe and assess Kingfisher’s work thus far, helping draw out and clarify our philosophy and intent. By asking good questions that elicited honest and direct answers, she challenged me to hone my thinking and my ability to communicate my thinking. I ended up with much more clarity on our strategy and theory of change and with a more deliberate approach to grantmaking, which in turn improved communication with grantees, helped clarify expectations and desired outcomes, and yielded better results.”
Kristine Johnson
President, Kingfisher Foundation