OUR APPROACH
We believe there are important yet distinct roles for philanthropy and market-based investments in advancing systems change in our focus areas. Our love and commitment to our family and the communities we call home are at the heart of all we do. As a reflection of this sentiment, ZOMALAB is an acronym inspired by our family’s initials. Together we are guided by the following principles to achieve positive impact with our partners and communities.
NORTH STAR FOCUS
People have used the stars to navigate, explore, and find their way home for thousands of years. At ZOMALAB we set a north star goal for each focus area to ensure we never lose sight of the vision guiding our strategy. Systemic change takes time; therefore, we look for catalytic opportunities to achieve a long-term (20-30 year) vision. We strive to be disciplined in service to the vision, our communities and each other.
COLLABORATION
We believe we have to work together to find answers to the challenges our communities face. At ZOMALAB, we strive to engage and build partnerships with and among communities of active stakeholders including experts, policymakers, funders and community members of all backgrounds. We seek to examine these issues from a variety of diverse perspectives, explore new thinking and ideas, and find areas of alignment that will help identify and accelerate solutions.
EXPLORATION
At ZOMALAB, we work to find catalytic opportunities in partnership with our communities. We seek to explore and implement best-fit solutions using traditional and non-traditional approaches. We are motivated to pursue and test ideas that don’t have precedent – unexplored paths often lead to the greatest leaps forward. We closely monitor the effectiveness of efforts and acknowledge when it’s time to switch course from an approach that is not yielding intended outcomes. What is most important to us is making progress toward solutions – which is rarely a uniformly linear process. We believe there is a great value in being nimble and open-minded, guided always by the North Star of supporting more resilient communities and a brighter future for generations to come.
ACCOUNTABILITY
We commit to operate at all times with the highest standards of honesty, integrity, responsibility, and respect. We hold ourselves accountable to listen to our partners and communities, learn from our findings and to continually improve our approach. We hold our partners accountable to their commitments; collectively, we are accountable to the communities we serve.
