How can philanthropists translate vision into a transformative program that serves an entire nonprofit ecosystem?
Transformative Philanthropy Through Strategic Program Design
The San Francisco Bay Area’s extraordinary nonprofit organizations influence communities, change policies, and create innovative solutions to our toughest challenges. Yet this rewarding work comes at a steep price — growing community needs, overstretched budgets, understaffed teams, and near-constant overwork test even the most stable organizations and leaders.
Despite their passion for social change, nonprofit executives risk burnout, exhaustion, and turnover, often with no succession plan in place.
Philanthropists Lynn Feintech and Sakurako Fisher, who share a deep history of engagement in the nonprofit sector and a passion for partnership, recognized this critical challenge. Inspired by the transformative impact of the Durfee Foundation’s sabbatical program in Los Angeles, they began dreaming of bringing a similar program to the Bay Area.
Lynn and Sakurako turned to Third Plateau to co-initiate the O2 Initiatives Sabbatical Award for nonprofit leaders — a program built on the belief that when nonprofit leaders have time to recharge and refocus, they are better prepared to ignite positive change.
Designing a Philanthropic Model for Leader and Organizational Renewal
Third Plateau partnered with Lynn and Sakurako to create a sabbatical program that would simultaneously support individual leader renewal and strengthen organizational capacity across the Bay Area nonprofit sector. Achieving this required navigating significant complexity:
- Designing financial and structural support that would enable three-month sabbaticals for high-performing executive directors while maintaining organizational operations
- Building leadership capacity within organizations by supporting interim leaders who assume additional responsibilities during executive absences
- Creating coaching and peer networks that would facilitate preparation, interim support, and successful re-entry for sabbatical recipients
- Ensuring lasting organizational impact beyond individual renewal—strengthening teams, developing succession plans, and building resilience
This work demanded a comprehensive program design that could deliver transformative benefits for leaders, their organizations, and ultimately the communities they serve.
“My life was creatively disrupted and I will never be the same.”
— O2 Awardee Regina Jackson, President & CEO, East Oakland Youth Development Center
A Transformative Sabbatical Program
Third Plateau designed O2 Initiatives and continues to manage the program’s operations and evolution. Third Plateau Senior Director Emily Cohen Raskin serves as the founding Executive Director, leading a team that delivers all aspects of the program’s administration. The program has been recognized as a national model, featured in Forbes and The New York Times for its transformative approach to nonprofit leadership sustainability.
The O2 Sabbatical Award honors exceptional nonprofit leaders in San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties, providing the cost of a three-month sabbatical plus financial and professional development support for interim leaders.
The program includes coaching to help organizations prepare in advance, assist interim teams during the sabbatical, and support executive directors upon re-entry, while facilitating lasting connections to an influential peer network. This comprehensive approach ensures sabbaticals create perspective shifts away from constant stress toward more expansive thinking around sustainability and growth.
Ripple Effects Across Leaders, Organizations, and Communities
O2 Initiatives: 2019 Recipients Retreat
The program’s impact extends far beyond individual renewal. Regina Jackson, who spent 22 years helping youth achieve their full potential at East Oakland Youth Development Center, used her sabbatical for a long-dreamed international adventure. She returned with fresh reserves, newfound confidence that her team could maintain operations, and a greater commitment to self-care for sustaining life-changing work over the long term.
O2 Initiatives has supported powerful leaders including Emily Arnold-Fernández of Asylum Access, advancing global refugee rights; Saru Jayaraman of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, improving conditions for 12 million restaurant workers; José Quiñonez of Mission Asset Fund, creating financial innovations for low-income communities; and Robyn Thomas of Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
By enabling changemakers to return to more-resilient organizations energized and ready to amplify community impact—addressing chronic homelessness, protecting immigrant rights, healing racism and trauma, and reducing global pollution—O2 Initiatives creates a powerful ripple effect.
Ultimately, the program strengthens leaders, builds smarter teams, and creates more resilient organizations, proving that investing in the well-being of nonprofit leaders is essential to building a sustainable, effective sector.
Ready to translate your philanthropic vision into programs that meet local community needs? Reach out to start the conversation.
