Hope you got back to San Francisco ok today! Thanks for the blog. I’m interested in what was discussed about evaluation and whether the idea of success and failure as a ‘funder’ was discussed. I sometime feel that exmining our efficacy as funders is left in the background. Was there any discussion about improving how we give?

I look forward to following those ‘harder questions’ with you. Most groups in the environment movement will tell you that they need long term funding for long term projects, as most of their work is about short term projects with the funding they can get. But if we want to support outcomes that have quite a bit effect on the earth, we are looking at longer term projects with bigger visions. This may be something that comes up, and as you say, something for us to grapple with. Interested to hear about the mix of advocacy and action – a lot of us steer away from funding advocacy, but I think we should be opening up to mixed bag approach as this type of action is often the most effective way of getting real change in the natural environment. Stay in touch. Wish I was there. Hi to Amanda. Beth.