Big Changes Underway at Kavli

Two years into her presidency at The Kavli Foundation, Cynthia Friend spoke with Inside Philanthropy reporter Paul Karon about the foundation’s new directions under her leadership. The interview coincided with the launch of a new program, Kavli Scholars, and serves as an example of the foundation moving into new ways of grantmaking. Now under her direction, Friend helped the foundation expand its funding approach.

“When I was hired,” Friend said, “the expectation was that I would look at things and do things differently." A key element of that different approach was not simply to increase what might be called a traditional grantmaking model — that is, direct funding for research projects — but one in which Kavli’s scientific team would itself determine directions in research to fund within its fields of interest.

Read more of their conversation on Inside Philanthropy (please note that a paywall may be in place).