Our Approach

Our Process

A Different Way of
Approaching Philanthropy

At DNBF, we seek long-lasting partnerships with changemakers whose vision aligns with our own. We are grateful to our partners who help hold us accountable to our mission. We recognize that philanthropy carries power, and we aim to approach our giving with humility, transparency, and trust.

The impact of our grantmaking is strengthened by relationships built on trust and mutual respect. With input from our partners, we continuously adjust our strategies, refine our priorities, and deepen our understanding of the issues our community faces and the solutions they craft. We commit to listening, learning, and adapting.

Our Mission & Vision

What We Fund

DC Heritage

Our work begins at home. The wealth that created the Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation came from the family’s real estate business in the Washington, DC region. We are therefore committed to allocating the bulk of our grants to the Greater Washington community to ensure that everyone in our community may thrive.

Jewish Values

As a Jewish family foundation, we are guided by the principle of Tikkun Olam – repairing the world. In this spirit, we also maintain a small portfolio of national and international partnerships that reflect our global responsibility and shared humanity.

Funding Priorities

We strive to make the greatest impact with the resources entrusted to us. By concentrating funding around a few key areas, we aim to balance going wide enough to support fundamental needs with going deep enough to make a transformative and lasting difference.

Our Funding Priorities

How We Partner

The Diane & Norman Bernstein Foundation only accepts proposals by invitation or at the referral of one of our partners, including current grantees, philanthropic colleagues, and community partners. As a small team, we unfortunately cannot accept unsolicited proposals. We keep our operations lean so that we can direct more capital into the grants themselves.

The “Yes, and” Approach

To identify potential grantees, we engage with our nonprofit, civic, and philanthropic partners to discover effective collaborations that strengthen their ecosystems. We aim to foster collaboration rather than competition, embracing a “yes, and” approach that amplifies impact across the community.

Staying Informed

Our partners in the field help us stay informed and grounded in the realities of the work. We are deliberate  in drawing on their insights to avoid making funding decisions in a vacuum.
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As we listen and learn, we evaluate organizations through careful analysis of criteria specific to our shared mission.

Trust

DNBF predominantly deploys unrestricted grants, trusting our partners to know their organizations’ needs and giving them flexibility in uncertain and rapidly evolving times. To our longstanding partners, we reaffirm our trust and commitment with multi-year support, providing them the stability to plan ahead and pursue bold goals.

We strive to make our funding as low barrier as possible.

In an effort to reduce the administrative burden of traditional grantmaking and to uphold our commitment to trust-based philanthropy, DNBF operates without a formal application process.
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Instead, we prioritize open communication to gain a deeper understanding of our partners’ strategy and impact. We make every effort to stay informed behind the scenes and do our own due diligence with readily available information from grantees.