We started Foundational because the best nonprofit founders deserve the same room as the best startup founders.

A few of us came out of the early YC and Stripe orbits. A few of us came out of community organizing, public health, and public defense. We kept noticing the same thing: there are people quietly building extraordinary nonprofits, and almost no infrastructure to back them early.

A first-time startup founder can walk into Demo Day with $500k and a ready-made network. A first-time nonprofit founder usually walks into a grant cycle that takes 14 months and demands metrics they can't possibly have yet.

So we bought a house. We pooled grant capital from a handful of donors who wanted to fund people, not programs. We invited a small cohort to spend a summer building. The first year worked. We're doing it again.

"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?"

Foundational is named for a refuge for people on long journeys. That's what we want this house to be.