Breaking Bread Is a Strategy

Editor's Note: The Patterson Foundation (TPF) Fellowship is a 2+ year, salaried, full-time opportunity for graduates of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s advanced degree programs (MA, PhilD, or PhD). Michelle Walker, TPF’s eleventh Fellow, brings over a decade of experience in nonprofit strategy, management, and intellectual capital to the foundation.

Long before philanthropy became a profession, breaking bread with others was an act of hospitality and gift giving. Sharing a meal with a stranger communicated welcome, generosity, and the possibility of relationship. While The Patterson Foundation (TPF) wasn't drawing on that history explicitly when it co-hosted a dinner with Exponent Philanthropy during the Grantmaker for Effective Organizations (GEO) 2026 National Conference, I couldn't help but think about the connection to that ancient human impulse.

The purpose of the evening wasn't networking in the traditional sense. We intentionally designed the conversation around trust, collaboration, and how organizations are approaching the kinds of challenges no single organization can solve alone. Rather than asking people to exchange business cards or describe their mission, we invited them to wrestle with questions about partnership, the realities of collaboration, and what helps trust grow and what causes it to erode.

As one of the organizers, I spent the evening watching more than participating. Every table was deeply engaged. People who had arrived as strangers were leaning into the conversation. When our time at the restaurant ended, we found ourselves having to encourage people to leave. To our delight, we found several guests continuing their conversations back at the conference hotel.

It is easy to gloss over the possibilities of dinners like this by labeling them “networking dinners.” My short time at TPF has helped me to see them differently. They are investments in the connective tissue that enables an often siloed sector to function more effectively. Collaboration doesn't begin with the grant agreement or memorandum of understanding. It begins much earlier, when people discover shared values and aspirations, build trust, and begin to understand one another's work.

That discovery, trust-building, and understanding are central to how TPF approaches philanthropy. At TPF, we talk about moving from silos to systems, not because it’s a hot topic, but because meaningful change depends on relationships that cross organizations, sectors, and disciplines. Convening people around substantive conversations is one way to create the conditions for those relationships to develop. It also provides an opportunity to recognize who is genuinely ready to collaborate. And not simply in principle, but in practice. Experience has shown us that the practice of collaboration requires leadership, willingness, readiness, capacity, and culture (LWRCC), and discerning those qualities is best done through conversations that enable understanding, relationships, and trust to emerge.

Will every conversation from that evening become a partnership? Of course not. That isn't really the point. The value of convening isn't measured by the number of collaborations announced before dessert. It is measured by whether people leave with stronger relationships, broader perspectives, conversations worth continuing, or a renewed spirit to engage with those outside of their silo.

In that sense, breaking bread is more than a shared meal. It is a strategic philanthropic investment in the relationships that make future collaboration possible.