Women in Philanthropy: A Powerful Retreat to Elevate Philanthropic Leadership
2026 Women in Philanthropy Cohort 2
For years, Hedgebrook has used its retreat spaces to convene groups of women authoring change in the world. Most recently, we convened a group of Indigenous writers (fall 2025) and female justices on the Washington State Supreme Court (spring 2026), thanks to a generous grant from Inatai Foundation. This summer, we convened a second cohort of women leaders in the field of philanthropy around the country. They lead community-changing efforts every day, and we wanted to give them space to write, reflect, and return to their work stronger than ever, with new ideas about how writing can be used as a tool to lead and drive change in philanthropy and in the communities they serve.
Minal Hajratwala — a Hedgebrook alumna, vice chair of the board, and founder of the Unicorn Authors Club — first conceived of the idea to convene women foundation leaders at Hedgebrook. She worked closely with Judy Belk, a fellow Hedgebrook alum and board member in designing a retreat experience to support the leaders as they completed books, drafted op/eds or incorporated writing and storytelling in their philanthropic strategies. Judy, who most recently served as President and CEO of The California Wellness Foundation, knows firsthand that many women running foundations are often writers: “They have big jobs, but what they don't have is time in their day-to-day to really sink into a project. Hedgebrook, with its radical hospitality, offers them that time and place.”
Women in Philanthropy is designed as an invitation-only program focused on leaders in the field who have demonstrated an interest in amplifying their voices as writers. Potential candidates are nominated by peers throughout the field. “The first year, everyone said yes within days, and we started a waitlist,” said Minal. “This year, most invitees said yes within twenty-four hours.”
Women in Philanthropy Cohort 1 enjoying the sun next to the Farmhouse.
These titans in philanthropy clear their schedules for a long-weekend retreat on Whidbey Island. For five days, we open up our cottages and offer seminars from esteemed Hedgebrook alumnae, including Judy and Minal, as well as Rinku Sen, our current Board Chair, co-founder of the retreat, and Executive Director of Narrative Initiative, where she helps social justice movements develop the power to move ideas.
“We built the retreat around the idea that we first must reclaim the word ‘retreat,’” said Judy. “If you’ve ever attended a staff or board retreat, you know that they have a way of becoming exhausting and anxiety-producing. We believe you can't write and do your best creative thinking without being rested.”
At the opening reception, attendees are told that they don't have to show up to a session if they don't want to. We promise that no one is tracking word count. If they do nothing but rest, we encourage that. In our 2025 cohort, one participant kept waiting for the group to get to the theory of change, to talk about how to save democracy. "We're not here to solve the problems of philanthropy,” Judy told her. “We’re here as writers."
For Women in Philanthropy attendees, the results of their time on the land have been transformational. One participant covered both desks in her cottage with pages of a manuscript she'd been sitting on for years. "There's an agent who's waiting for it, but I'm kind of stuck," she told Minal during their 1:1 coaching session, offered with each of the facilitators to all attendees as part of the retreat. They talked it through for an hour and a half. By dinner that night, the writer had tried the prompts Minal gave her and had a breakthrough.
Cohort 2 welcome gathering in the barn.
Judy describes the cohort as more diverse, in every sense, than the field has traditionally been. Judy, who is African American, remembers coming up in philanthropy decades ago. "I didn't see anyone that looked like me in those positions. And there is still an embarrassingly low number of philanthropic dollars that go to women and girls. It's outrageous."
Judy – like many of us – believes that if we can get more women in the room where decisions are made, the money will move differently. And providing supportive scaffolding to the women already in leadership positions is one of the intentions of the Women in Philanthropy Retreat. Every woman who leaves our land is more confident in her voice, which we hope will shift where the largest checks in American philanthropy go.
Attendees also walk forward with a renewed sense of self, an expanded network, and, most importantly, having been seen as a writer.
“We give the busiest, most powerful women in the field a few days of quiet, and trust that whatever comes out of it will have ripple effects well beyond their time on the land,” said Judy.
Thanks to our retreat attendees
2025 Cohort
Brenda Anibarro – Vice President of Learning and Community Engagement, Inatai Foundation
Angel Roberson Daniels – Executive Director, Angell Foundation
Latanya Mapp Frett – Former President & CEO, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Joanna S. Jackson – President & CEO, Weingart Foundation
Rachel Garbow Monroe – President & CEO, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Foundation
Connie Archbold Robinson - Former CEO, Panta Rhea
2026 Cohort
Tonya Allen – President, McKnight Foundation
Brooke D. Anderson – President, Pivotal Ventures
Cynthia “Cinny” Kennard – President, Wallis Annenberg Legacy Foundation; Board Chair, USC Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy
Nichole June Maher – President & CEO, Inatai Foundation
Sarita A. Mohanty – President & CEO, SCAN Foundation
Alesha Washington – President & CEO, Seattle Foundation
These women pay it forward by identifying other women in their field who would benefit from being part of next year's retreat. The invite-only event follows a process to evaluate which philanthropic leaders would most benefit from time at Hedgebrook. We are already planning our 2027 retreat, and invitations will be extended at the end of October 2026.