The London- and New York-based Institute for Philanthropy and the San Francisco-based The Philanthropy Workshop West, leading providers of strategic philanthropy education, legally merged on 1 March.

The name echoes the origins of TPW. The Philanthropy Workshop or TPW was established by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1995 and moved to the newly established Institute for Philanthropy five years later, in 2000.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the TOSA Foundation, in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, launched TPW West in 2001. In 2009, members of TPW West moved the programme out of the Hewlett Foundation and into an independent organization.

The merger brings these two separate entities full circle but as an independent entity. This new entity will have offices in London, New York and San Francisco, and be named The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW). The two respective brands and websites (http://www.instituteforphilanthropy.org and http://www.tpwwest.org) will continue to operate until the organizations are fully integrated.

According to Katherine Lorenz, TPW’s new board chair: ‘TPW’s combined network of more than 300 philanthropists – all trained in strategic philanthropy by our organizations – is the largest of its kind and unique to the field of philanthropy.’ The network hails largely from the US and the UK, with significant numbers from Canada and countries throughout Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

TPW’s curriculum includes case studies, site visits, peer discussions and skills-building sessions, involving some of the best thinkers and leaders in philanthropy. Each cohort participates in three weeklong modules in different parts of the world, with an optional fourth module in Washington DC.

For additional information about TPW’s programmes, contact Glen Galaich in San Francisco (glen@tpw.org) or Tracy Mack Parker in New York (tracy@tpw.org).