The context

The Perigee Fund is a philanthropic organization that seeks to help end intergenerational trauma through the power of early relationships. Perigee was established by a psychologist and leader in the field of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) in 2018. In 2023, after the first five years of grantmaking, the Perigee team sought to reflect back their progress to-date and hone their strategy for moving forward with an aim to amplify Perigee's impact in an emerging field.

Our approach

The Afton Bloom team worked closely with the Perigee Fund team to reflect on the variety of strategic approaches in their early portfolio, considering where the team had the most impact, were experiencing tensions, or had major strategy questions. Key questions included, for example, the balance of direct support to organizations and investments in systems change, balance of work at the national and state levels, and the balance between benefit to a larger swath of families and deeper support for those at the greatest and most immediate risk of intergenerational trauma. In addition to a series of deep working sessions with the Perigee Fund team, we also incorporated external voices from the field that included Perigee's partners, field experts, and peer donors to inform perspectives on key strategic questions.

The result

The process resulted in a refined strategic framework to guide the work of the Perigee Fund over the next fifteen years. The framework anchored Perigee's work on a goal in support of its vision to end intergenerational trauma – that supports for caregiver and infant mental health are increasingly valued and embedded in policies and systems to equitably reach families where they are. 

The refined strategy reflected a number of choices for the Perigee Fund – a sharper focus on intergenerational trauma, elevation of Perigee's role as a leading national funder in a growing field, and clarity around ambitions to shift systems and policies and invest in emerging culturally- and linguistically-tailored models of mental health care.

Afton Bloom has continued to work with the Perigee team as it translates this framework to action.