FFI’s Closure Story & Resources on Endings

Since announcing our organizational winddown in November 2024, FFI remained committed to modeling a responsible ending while sharing what we were learning. We’ve collected our various leadership on endings to equip the sector and encourage transparent dialogue about ending with integrity and care.

• In November 2024, FFI announced our organizational winddown with a letter from Katya Fels Smyth.
• In her Medium article “Funders, I want to Tell You About My Donkeys,” Katya Fels Smyth argues that the sector faces a likely wave of nonprofit closures, and crucially, how we end matters. The piece calls on funders to recognize struggling organizations early, provide sustained support and invest as boldly in ending well as they would any other critical mission phase.
• Katya Fels Smyth shared lessons learned from our thoughtful closure process and the role of philanthropy in ensuring ending with integrity and care at How We Leave Matters: Endings as Process and Power, a webinar hosted by the Rx Foundation.
• In her Medium article “If We Care About Justice, We Have to Care About Endings,” Katya Fels Smyth argues that talking about, planning for and leaning into good endings is social justice work.
• Katya Fels Smyth, on the Equal Measure podcast, shared how we’re transferring our 15+ year legacy to our network of champions while ensuring our extensive knowledge base remains accessible to all.
• On Medium, in “Buying Time,” Katya challenges the sector’s approach to organizational endings by calling on philanthropy to seize its unique potential to turn abrupt endings into thoughtful winddowns that reduce harm and honor the work.
• In May 2025, Katya Fels Smyth reflected on FFI’s winddown process and how good endings launch new beginnings in a closing letter.