Discovery
Find out who you are now that you have exited, the kind of philanthropist you want to be, and what change you want to see in the world.
001
Philanthropy for operators.
You built a company. You saw it through to an exit.
Giving has been part of your life for a while. Now it feels different. The wealth you earned brings a pull to do more. You are ready to take on a different challenge: becoming a deliberate philanthropist.
Deliberate philanthropy runs on a working thesis.
It is your argument for how targeted investments lead to specific outcomes. It names the assumptions behind the argument and sets a date to review them against the evidence. Your investments test those assumptions. The date keeps you accountable.
This will feel familiar. It is how operators think.
Six phases, one practice.
Modern Funder takes the instincts you built as an operator and applies them to philanthropy. By the end of Definition you have a thesis you can put into motion. Build, Launch and Operate are yours to take on with me or on your own.
Research
See where you stand among others working on the same problems.
002
Definition
Write your thesis, with its assumptions and a date to revisit it. I help you shape it. It is yours.
003
Build
Set up the systems that run your philanthropy, minus the bureaucracy.
004
Launch
Begin making investments, deliberately.
005
Operate
Back the leaders and organizations whose results will show whether your assumptions hold or need to evolve.
006
Your judgment stays central.
I do not take over your money or your decisions. I set you up to lead your own philanthropy. I work as your partner and a peer, building on what you already know as you expand into a new field. You bring your full self to the causes you care about, which means your skills and networks, not only your checks.
I'm Patrick Diamond. I've raised money inside nonprofits and given it away alongside some very big foundations. At MIT I built out its global platform for social good.
The funders who stand out are the ones who write down a thesis and learn by doing.
So I'm creating Modern Funder so people who've built companies can do the same, and move at the pace the world's problems demand.