Letter

Founding Donor Letter

Andrew Wolk

Founding Donor Letter

For more than twenty years, I’ve spent my career building organizations focused on one thing: helping communities deliver better results for the people who live there. I’ve founded and grown nonprofits, taught future leaders, and worked alongside philanthropists, government, and community leaders across the country.

Over time, one reality became impossible to ignore: for too many working Americans, life has shifted from striving to simply surviving. People are working full-time—often in essential jobs—and still can’t afford housing, childcare, or basic stability. The types of jobs available and what they pay no longer align with what it actually costs to live.

At the same time, those of us who give—whether philanthropically or politically—are pouring enormous resources into programs, causes, and campaigns, often without clear evidence that outcomes are improving. We fund effort, activity, and good intentions, but too often we can’t answer the most basic question: are people’s lives getting better?

That frustration is what led me to start Finding Common Purpose (FCP), this time putting my own resources on the line as a founder AND philanthropist.

Finding Common Purpose is a pooled philanthropic fund built around a straightforward idea: outcomes matter!  As a country, we can define what progress looks like—and then track it in ways that are public, practical, and hard to ignore. Measurable outcome examples include living wage, % of income spent on housing and childcare, and 3rd grade reading proficiency. When outcomes are visible and shared, it becomes easier for leaders, institutions, and resources to discuss and align on what matters most: whether people can afford to live where they work, whether kids are on track, and whether hard work actually leads to stability.

FCP isn’t about collecting data for its own sake. It’s about building an outcomes-driven approach that brings focus, accountability, transparency, and course correction to work that too often lacks all four.

I’ve spent more than twenty years advising and supporting other people’s efforts. This time, I wanted to put real skin in the game. I made a meaningful personal investment to get Finding Common Purpose off the ground, hired a small team, and began building this work across several early partnerships—including one in my own backyard, we’re calling Steamboat for All in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where housing affordability has become the defining challenge. For the first time, we’re tracking housing affordability in a way that’s changing how people talk and helping local government, businesses, and community leaders work from a shared set of facts.

As a funder collaborative, FCP does the work that individual donors often can’t do alone: identifying promising communities, conducting due diligence, pooling capital, and reinforcing work already happening on the ground, while keeping everyone focused on outcomes, not just activity. The goal is simple: help philanthropic dollars work harder and more honestly focused on outcomes.

Now we’re building toward a $10 million pooled Outcomes Fund to expand this approach beyond our initial grantees and help more communities move from effort to outcomes.

This kind of philanthropy isn’t flashy. It’s disciplined and an alternative for donors who are frustrated by seeing resources flow without clear results. I believe this moment calls for people who are ready to do something different: to leverage their giving, learn faster, and take smart risks in service of outcomes that actually improve people’s lives.

If you’re looking to make your giving more accountable and effective, I invite you to join me.

Andrew Wolk
Founder and Lead Donor, Finding Common Purpose

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