Why Your Foundation’s Institutional Memory Matters More Than Ever

Every foundation carries knowledge that took years to accumulate—insight developed through partnership, experimentation, reflection, and relationship. It’s the reasoning behind strategic pivots, the context behind funding decisions, and the history of what has worked … and what has not.

Our new guide, Why Your Foundation's Institutional Memory Matters More Than Ever — And How AI Can Help You Keep It, examines what happens when institutional memory is left to chance, and what it means to protect it deliberately.

Expanding on the key insights from our recent Webinar "AI as Your Institutional Memory: Building Your Foundation’s Knowledge Asset", featuring Cheryl Contee and Dr. Astrid Scholz, the guide highlights how some foundations are beginning to treat institutional memory as strategic infrastructure.

Purpose-built AI,  when implemented intentionally and securely,  is helping make that knowledge usable again – not to replace human judgment, but makes it easier for staff to learn from past work, onboard more quickly, and retain the depth of relationship context that shapes good grantmaking

The work foundations do is long-term by design and as a result, the learning required to do that work well must be long-term too.

Preserving institutional memory, with the assistance of purpose-built AI tools, ensures that progress does not reset, that relationships are honored, and that future decisions are grounded in the full depth of what has already been learned.