Connecting People, Ideas, and Action Around a Common Purpose
Finding Common Purpose brings people and organizations together around the challenges that matter most to communities. We believe meaningful progress happens when diverse perspectives come together, shared priorities become clear, and resources are aligned around measurable outcomes. Our work is grounded in collaboration, transparency, and a shared commitment to the American Promise.
News, Events & Insights
The Business of Giving
CBS News
Coverage of an exhibit put on by Steamboat for All, a Finding Common Purpose grantee, that combines local data and personal stories to explore how the rising cost of living is affecting Coloradans who live and work in the Yampa Valley
Read hereThe Fulcrum
Andrew Wolk argues that America’s affordability crisis is also a democracy crisis, because stagnant financial security is eroding trust in institutions. He puts forth that trust can only be rebuilt by measuring and transparently demonstrating real improvements in people’s ability to afford essentials.
Read hereVermontBiz
Vermont Futures Project receives grant funding to aid a six-month educational campaign to translate broad agreement into policy aligned with the goals of the Vermont Economic Action Plan.
Read hereGoverning
Instead of repeating the mistakes they made with tobacco money, states should set clear goals — and measure outcomes through dashboards accessible to all — for programs addressing social media’s harms to teenagers.
Read hereSteamboat Pilot & Today
Steamboat For All aims to make housing and childcare more financially feasible for the local workforce
Read hereWashington Examiner
In this op-ed, Andrew Wolk argues that America needs an Outcomes Movement that measures success not by good intentions, spending, or headline economic indicators, but by whether working families can thrive and not merely survive.
Read hereOur Story
Finding Common Purpose was founded by Andrew Wolk following a career as a social sector entrepreneur. After decades of work, he became increasingly frustrated with the misalignment between how much money–governmental and philanthropic– and positive effort was being invested in the social sector and how little tangible progress was felt in the daily lives of working Americans. When one looks at the data it wasn’t just a lack of tangible progress, the conditions as measured across factors like housing affordability, healthcare, childcare, and wages were stagnating or getting worse. He began looking at communities where real, measurable progress towards thriving lives and opportunities was occurring and asking what similarities existed across communities that were making tangible progress.
This led to a large scale research effort looking at effective place-based work across the country to identify what works. After looking at over 500 place-based organizations one commonality emerged: an outcomes-focused approach to change. Communities that collectively identified the outcomes they wanted to achieve, measured progress over time and aligned strategies in service of these outcomes, had a higher chance of achieving and sustaining progress towards thriving.
Finding Common Purpose was founded to expand what works. We fund communities, through a lead non-profit organization to help support more communities as they develop and solidify an outcomes focused approach to creating change. Long term the aim is that expanding this way of working will improve lives for working Americans by really focusing on and giving communities enough runway to move towards what matters to them.
Meet the Team
Andrew Wolk
Founder
Andrew Wolk, FCP’s founder and lead donor, is a pioneering social entrepreneur who, for more than twenty years, has been exploring how to ensure resources result in outcomes.
Shannon Murtagh
Executive Director
Shannon Murtagh, FCP’s Executive Director, is a leader in education equity and community‑driven change, with a decade of policy experience and a passion for place‑based initiatives.
Hephzibah Okorie
Program Officer and Project Manager
Hephzibah Okorie is a program officer and project manager at FCP, passionate about advancing social impact through research, strategy, and community collaboration.
Marvin Vilma
Chief Development Officer
Marvin Vilma is an educator and social impact leader advancing innovation in education. He serves as FCP’s Chief Development Officer and CEO of Bevy Studio.
Frequently Asked Questions
Finding Common Purpose was founded by, and received an initial donation from, Andrew Wolk. He spent his career building: running Root Cause, teaching at MIT, working with foundations and nonprofits. From the outside, it looked like success. But over time, he realized that as much as he and his organizations were doing, it wasn’t really changing the bigger picture.
The same problems were still there. People were working hard, but life wasn’t getting easier for them. That disconnect made him rethink how he wanted to use the rest of his career and his own resources.
That’s how Finding Common Purpose started. It’s the first time Andrew Wolk has built something that he’s also funding himself. This work has the potential to scale if others recognize its value and invest. The goal is simple: help communities focus on outcomes that actually improve everyday life: things like how much of a paycheck goes to housing or whether kids are reading at grade level.
Outcomes are measurable metrics that track progress towards community held goals. FCP believes that tracking outcomes publicly empowers communities to shift collaboration, allocate resources and drive policy that make systemic change possible.
A community dashboard is a digital platform that publicly shares outcomes and tracks progress toward community visions for economic and social wellbeing.
We believe that the power for sustainable change lies in placed-based work—local, coordinated efforts led by passionate and invested community residents—and that accessible data-sharing practices are imperative for setting clear visions and moving power to community members.
We partner closely with grantees, offering both funding and thought partnership that strengthens infrastructure, capacity and approach. Beyond the infrastructure developed, we see the long-term benefits of an outcome-based approach in the improved strategy, increased access to funding and more robust community engagement that grantees see. Our commitment to continuous learning and improvement also support grantees in examining and strengthening their approaches.
We fund work across three key pathways: efforts to develop and strengthen community infrastructure for tracking and sharing outcomes, efforts to expand understanding of an outcomes-based approach in the social sector and efforts to protect and reimagine public data infrastructure. Our funding also supports place-based partnerships in implementing the six effective practices in their outcomes efforts. Please visit our granting page to learn more.
We do not currently grant through open calls. Instead, we connect with and fund organizations whose goals and efforts align with our mission. Connect with us if you see potential alignment in our efforts.
Yes, FCP is a pooled philanthropic fund powered by a collective commitment to see communities, and the nation as a whole, thrive.
We are not currently hiring, please subscribe to our mailing list and follow us on LinkedIN to learn about future opportunities.
Get involved with Finding Common Purpose
Send us a message. We'll be in touch. Start making a difference.