Working Across Differences
Kate Gannon is the Associate Director of Training and Capacity Building at Trust for Public Land. Her work focuses on building the capacity of parks and other green spaces to strengthen social ties and build a sense of belonging among community members.
Kate has extensive community engagement and…
John Sarrouf is the Co-Executive Director of Essential Partners. He teaches people to facilitate dialogue across differences and transform conflict where people live, learn, work, and pray.
Over more than two decades, John has facilitated dialogues on issues such as guns in American life, police…
Marissa has worked at the intersection of leadership development and peacebuilding for over a decade, supporting projects in Iraq, Rwanda, Armenia, Palestine, China, and the U.S. She is currently the Associate Director of Training & Field Support at Over Zero, where she leads a national…
Meg Griffiths is the Director of Programs at Essential Partners and a facilitator, process consultant, and trainer. Her professional background is at the intersection of education, dialogue, ministry, and community partnerships, with 20 years of professional experience in higher education and non-…
Join Resetting the Table (RTT) and the Council on Foundations for a training that offers a comprehensive framework for facilitating courageous and constructive communication across lines of difference.
Through this intensive training, philanthropic leaders will build advanced facilitation skills…
Join us for the Council's Annual Member Meeting!
The virtual Member Meeting will include:
A vote to approve the nominations of new members for the Board of Directors
Reports on Council's annual financials and membership milestones
A State of the Council address from Kathleen Enright,…
On Wednesday, July 29, the Department of Justice released a memo that included new guidance for federal funding recipients about what the Administration views as unlawful discrimination based on protected characteristics. The memo includes what it calls "non-binding suggestions" to help…
The Leading Across Differences peer learning circle is designed to facilitate connections, build relationships, and foster candid discussion about the rewards and challenges of working to connect and collaborate across differences. Meeting every other month, the peer learning circle…
Join us for a discussion with Johns Hopkins professor Hahrie Han, author of “Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church.” Dr. Han will reflect on heartset: who do you need to be to bridge divides with others?
The Bridging Differences Leadership Cohort is a facilitated virtual learning experience meeting monthly from April 2025 through November 2025, hosted by the Council on Foundations in partnership with the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley (GGSC). Cohort members expressed their interest in…
Liz Vogel is the Interim Executive Director of New Pluralists, a funder collaborative investing together in a culture of respect and belonging for all. Liz brings her roots as a practitioner in education and civic engagement to her leadership—grounding philanthropic strategy in the realities of…
Linda R. Tropp is Professor of Social Psychology and Faculty Associate in Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA). For nearly three decades she has studied how members of different groups experience contact with each other, and how group differences in status affect cross-…
As a Research Manager at More in Common, Calista Small leads and manages mixed-methods studies on a range of topics related to social cohesion and division in the US. She also frequently presents new research at national and international conferences. Previously, she worked across two labs at…
On April 23rd, 2025 The Council on Foundations started a new series called, "Learning Across Differences Ideas Forum". Watch this inaugural session with speakers from More in Common, and the Walmart Foundation for an in-depth discussion of new More in Common research entitled The…
Philanthropy has a unique opportunity to fund, support, and protect civil society institutions that contribute to building an inclusive democracy where everyone belongs. But, as funders, our ability to do so can be hampered by the pernicious divides that threaten to tear our society apart.…
The author of two books, including The Increasingly United States (2018), Daniel J. Hopkins is the Julie and Martin Franklin Presidential Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Hopkins studies American politics and the politics of other affluent…