The Collaborative Change Initiative was created to honor legendary philanthropist Warren Hellman. His tenacious, pragmatic and creative approach to collaborative change brought diverse stakeholders together to roll up their sleeves and tackle tough local challenges. The initiative also reflects the priorities of the current Hellman Foundation leaders, who are driven by an agenda for fairness and justice for Bay Area communities and believe in the power of collaboration as a strategy to impact these goals.

Since 2014, the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative has awarded close to $5.5M to enable collaborations in Alameda and San Francisco Counties to scale exciting solutions and impact systems, tackling disparities in health, education and opportunity.

We recognize that long-term social change requires innovative solutions backed by meaningful financial and organizational support. It is our goal to provide flexible dollars, responsive capacity building support and other resources to enable new levels of impact on these critical local initiatives.

We embrace the unknowns and the risks of working in collaborative endeavors, and look forward to partnership and discovery. Learn more about our work in a recent Inside Philanthropy article featuring the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative.
​The Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative is a program built around the concept of bringing people together to solve tough problems. It recognizes that, fundamentally, no one person, organization or sector can solve our most intractable social issues. We believe that bringing together unlikely but equally passionate partners towards a common goal is the most productive path forward. - Susan Hirsch, Executive Director & Advisor of the Hellman Foundation

Annual Collaborative Change Initiative Event

We are thrilled to share a few highlights with you from our 2018 event to celebrate the incredible work of all 10 Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative partners: