ANNUAL REPORT 2024

Building a more
open future

A year of practical optimism, thoughtful partnerships and measurable progress.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

The work of a foundation is rarely a straight line. It is a pattern made from people who show up, listen closely and make room for a better answer. In 2024, our community did exactly that.

This report is a record of those choices — and an invitation to keep making them together.

Mara Thompson
Executive Director

CONNECT
THE DOTS

01Our 2024 focus: widening access to learning, tools and one another.

AT A GLANCE

Small shifts,
lasting change

Our partners met complexity with curiosity this year. Together, they moved ideas from the margins to the middle — making programs more useful, more welcoming and more ready for what comes next.

42community grants↑ 18% from 2023

8.4klearners reachedacross 19 regions

91%partner renewalour highest yet

Where the work landed

2024 program allocation
Program	Partners	Reach	Investment
Open learning labs	18	4,820	$1.24m
Neighbourhood makers	12	2,190	$780k
Care & connection	9	1,430	$510k
Total	39	8,440	$2.53m

1 Investment includes direct grants and program support. Participation increased across every region.

CONTENTS

What we are
learning

01 A generous starting point04
02 Learning in public08
03 The partnership effect14
04 Notes for the year ahead20

Learning in public

We published our first open toolkit, hosting the messy middle of the work instead of only the polished outcome. More than 300 practitioners used the prompts to make a decision, run a session or invite a new voice into the room.

We are learning to value the questions that remain open.

The partnership effect

Our strongest results came from relationships with a long horizon. A small grant became a shared curriculum; a workshop became a network; a listening session changed a product brief.

“The most useful thing Northwind gave us was time to think together.”— Jamie Wu, Open Learning Lab

JT

Jonah TorresComment · 2 days ago

Could we add the partner quote source before publishing?