A Love Letter from Tulaine (December 2025)
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Hello good people,
As we prepare to close out 2025, I hope this letter finds you well and supported. In many ways, this year felt more like a decade compressed into twelve months. And yet, the reality is that we are still in the early innings: the early innings of change, transformation, and progress.
With the clock counting down, I find myself sitting with gratitude and some hard-earned wisdom about what it means to do this work for the long haul. At New Profit, we’ve been listening to and learning from the leaders we support—and their work illuminates a path forward for all of us in philanthropy, grounded in four core beliefs:
Trust is built by working shoulder-to-shoulder on meaningful problems. When leaders and communities show up together, trust becomes a catalyst. Cara Collective embodies this by partnering with individuals navigating employment barriers, not as “clients” but as collaborators in designing pathways to opportunity. Their model shows that when institutions and communities share in the hard work, trust deepens and results endure.
The people closest to the problem are closest to the solution. When philanthropy invests in proximate leaders—those living with the systems we aim to change—innovation takes root. America On Tech, founded by young leaders who experienced firsthand the barriers to entering tech careers, is equipping underrepresented students with skills, networks, and supports to thrive in the digital economy. Their lived expertise fuels solutions that institutions alone could not design.
To meet this moment, we must dare to dream of the world as it ought to be, as Toni Morrison implored us. Generation Citizen is doing just that by reimagining civics education, empowering young people not just to learn about democracy but to practice it. In a time of polarization and fatigue, they remind us that radical imagination looks like preparing the next generation to build the systems we have yet to fully realize.
No one leader, organization, or sector can solve our most pressing challenges alone. What we need are constellations of entrepreneurs, philanthropists, community leaders, and institutions working in coalition. BARR Center (Building Assets, Reducing Risks) shows the power of this approach: their model brings together teachers, administrators, and community members to ensure every student is known, supported, and thriving. By strengthening relationships across an entire school ecosystem, BARR proves that real change emerges not from isolated efforts, but from coordinated constellations of care and accountability.
These truths ground me. But I also know that having the right approach isn’t enough if we can’t sustain ourselves in the work. We know leaders across the sector are burning out. We’ve seen it. Many of us have felt it.
The practices that got us here won’t necessarily get us through the next season. And the question I’m sitting with is: How do we sustain ourselves AND create change?
This isn’t about choosing between impact and self-preservation. It’s about recognizing that our ability to do this work over the long haul requires us to pace ourselves differently, to see rest as a strategy, and to acknowledge that boundaries are powerful (and strategic) acts of preservation.
This year we engaged Brandeis University to conduct the largest third-party impact evaluation in New Profit’s history. The findings affirm what happens when we work in ways that are both effective and sustainable:
92 percent of our social entrepreneurs reported high satisfaction with their New Profit relationship
Our Deal Partners—New Profit staff who serve as strategic advisors—were universally rated “very” or "extremely” effective across support dimensions
Social entrepreneurs (across the board) experienced gains in impact, geographic reach, and new funding opportunities
These results remind us that our greatest impact comes when we work with committed partners in ways that are generative and replenishing, not extractive or depleting. You can read more about our work and impact in our Annual Report.
Looking ahead to 2026, I’m committed to embodying this learning: To name when something isn’t sustainable and to build practices that nourish and replenish. As Governor Wes Moore advised us at The Well, the work of transformation is not a sprint, it’s not even a marathon. Transformative work is more like HIIT training—we give it our all, we rest, we adjust, we get back to it.
As the writer Anne Lamott reminds us: “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” Unplug, recharge, and I look forward to connecting again with all of you in the new year.
With love and gratitude,
Tulaine