approach
working with VIVA means...
01
Donor advising and donor organizing
○ Developing your vision and giving plan ○ Recommending organizations to support ○ Applying an equity, gender, and intersectional lens ○ Understanding the spectrum from social change to direct service ○ Supporting racial, gender, environmental, youth, reproductive, LGBTQI+, and economic justice ○ Funding community organizing and power-building, including 501(c)(4)s ○ Strengthening democracy, voting rights, and integrated voter engagement ○ Gender lens investing
02
Funder briefings and donor development
○ Curating virtual funder briefings ○ Donor development strategy ○ Donor engagement ○ Grant proposals ○ Individual major gifts ○ Official development assistance (ODA) and multilateral grant management
03
Writing for impact and advocacy
○ Impact studies, reports, and briefs ○ Annual & anniversary reports ○ Guest articles and op-eds ○ NGO shadow reports to the UN CEDAW Committee and the Universal Periodic Review ○ Landscape mapping and analysis ○ Research and data analysis ○ Keynotes and talking points
04
Supporting progressive and feminist philanthropy
○ Collaborative funds, feminist funds, and giving circles ○ International and local funds ○ Philanthropic strategies for systems change, advocacy, and lobbying ○ Field catalysts and philanthropic affinity groups ○ Trust-based philanthropy, feminist principles of philanthropy, and Black equity principles in grantmaking and organizational culture ○ Equitable disaster response and rapid-response grantmaking
05
Building communities and stakeholder engagement
○ Leading peer-learning communities ○ Designing workshops and trainings ○ Coordinating delegations and proposing conference sessions ○ Participatory grantmaking and evaluation ○ Focus groups and in-depth interviews
06
Racial and gender justice and democracy
○ Advocacy, evaluation, and inside/outside power strategies ○ Theories of change and results-based management ○ Advising on fiscal sponsorship ○ Network development and coalition building ○ Intersectional grantmaking program design
Founder & President
of VIVA
Sarah Vaill is the founder and president of VIVA Strategy | Vital. Intersectional. Vibrant. Advising + Strategy. VIVA is a consulting practice for racial justice and gender justice through global feminist and collaborative philanthropy, philanthropic advising, donor organizing, and strategic campaigns and communications. In 2024, Sarah and VIVA colleagues co-authored Change That Lasts, a 40-year impact study for the international feminist fund Mama Cash, tracking decades of wins by feminist movements for reproductive justice, environmental justice, economic justice, and more. Since then, VIVA has launched a training and advising program on how to fund 501(c)(4)s (Funding 4ward), a network of philanthropic advisors working with a gender lens (Philanthropae Mavens), and a tool for charting intersectional grantmaking strategies.
Proud to have worked with
