In this Issue:

• • Giving Thanks for Wise Guides
  • Holding Together What Polarization Pulls Apart
  • Developing Legacy Giving in Congregations
  • Lake’s 2026 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

By David P. King, PhD, Karen Lake Buttery Director and Associate Professor, Philanthropic Studies

As we enter 2026, we could not be more excited about the work that we are called to at Lake Institute. In fostering a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationship between faith and giving through research, education, and public conversation, we are eager to continually learn and listen. In this new year, we have been busy setting the strategic priorities that will guide us across Lake’s third decade as we seek to respond to the challenges that religious institutions, individuals, and communities are experiencing amidst all the shifting ground around them.  

This is exciting work, and we cannot wait to invite you – Insights readers – into this process with us as a key audience and vital link to this shared work. We look forward to continuing to connect with you here to ensure that we are addressing the practical questions that religious, philanthropic, and nonprofit leaders are asking.  

A metaphor that Lake Institute has latched onto over the past year is that of a trusted bridge. Working at multiple intersections, we strive to be bridge-builders. We seek to bridge research and practice; we workacross religious traditions and types of institutions; and we examine philanthropic practices both old and new to educate leaders, inform practice, and reimagine how generosity takes root in a changing world. That often means working across sectors, introducing religious and nonprofit leaders to one another, or introducing philanthropies to the vital role that faith communities play in many of our world’s most pressing problems. It takes a commitment to learning multiple languages and gaining fluency as a translator across traditions, sectors, and communities. It benefits the curious who are eager to listen, learn, and ask questions. Overall, it’s an extremely privileged position for which Lake is grateful for the confidence and trust that others put in us.  

And it takes so many gifted colleagues to serve in this bridge-building capacity. It starts with our gifted staff, but we could not do our work without colleagues across the School of Philanthropy and with an adjunct faculty of talented instructors who are experts both in the teaching and the practice of faith-based fundraising across a diverse range of communities. Alongside this team, we are linked to dozens of partners who have worked with us for years to offer courses in their communities, shared data for joint research reports, or sought to co-convene conversations on the pressing issues around faith-based generosity and the public good.   

A group that we are most thankful for at Lake Institute, but is rarely out front is our Advisory Board. From Lake’s inception, this group has served as chief among the wise guides that have helped to shape our work. They represent much of the diversity that Lake’s work seeks to address, such as scholars across multiple disciplines, faith leaders across multiple religious traditions, theological educators, and leaders of philanthropic networks. Each member embodies that desire to work directly with practitioners while also bridging the multiple communities with which Lake seeks to work. Our advisory board meetings are generative with new ideas, suggestions of new possible approaches, and affirmation for the importance of the work at hand. Each of these leaders brings their own reputation as generous and curious colleagues to the table, even as they provide hard-earned practical wisdom. In sharing their questions, networks, and support with us, they are offering a great gift. 

Embodying that spirit on our Advisory Board is our outgoing chair, Rev. Libby Manning. Libby serves as the Director of the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program as well as a Development Advisor for the Madison County Community Foundation. In her spare time, she is in the thick of her doctoral studies in philanthropic leadership at the School of Philanthropy. Libby is the definition of a bridge-builder. Her work at Wabash focuses on supporting Indiana clergy while also connecting them with civic leaders across sectors. As an engaged donor of time, talent, and treasure in her own community, she has also stepped up to support her local community foundation in its work in supporting philanthropic partnerships as well. As a neighbor, pastor, teacher, philanthropist, and doctoral student, Libby exemplifies the ways in which Lake seeks to live into our work. As she rotates back into leadership as past-chair and advisory board member, we are tremendously grateful for the ways in which she set tables for just the right kind of conversations and with the hospitality that is evidence of incredible intention and forethought.  

As Rabbi Adam Miller and Rev. Dr. Reggie Blount take on leadership as chair and vice-chair in this coming year, we will strive to follow the example that Libby has set for us across Lake’s Advisory Board, and in the ways that extend across our work with friends and partners in this work. In this new year, let us make space for the hard but invigorating conversations that require all of us operating at our fullest best selves to engage together in order to support one another. As we enter 2026, I am thankful for all the wise guides who are willing and able to take on the most vital questions defining faith and giving for this current and future generation.