Build communities of practice that thrive without you

Dan Hibberd: Lee, welcome to Shapeshifters Transformation Series. We're excited to have you join us. We had a recent conversation and, and I just think some of the work that you've been doing is really cool and worth sharing. So, why don't we start with who are you, who you're working for, and, and explain your role at Ares Management?

Lee Fabiaschi: Well, thank you so much for the opportunity. My name is Lee Fabiaschi. I'm based in New York, New York, and I work for Ares Management, specifically for the Ares Foundation.

And so my role within the foundation is I support a learning community with our nonprofit partners. So we find different nonprofits across the globe and ask them to dream big about blue-sky thinking. If you could have funding to take on a project that helps remove the barriers of economic mobility in your community and with your geography, what would that look like? We're not for everybody. So we offer project-based funding, it's time-bound, it's we look for big, measurable deliverables, and also ways that we can have our portfolio influence other work that we take on.

But once we find projects and find partners that are aligned with us with mission and sort of ethos, I get the great opportunity to work with our nonprofit leaders and thinking about how we can support their capacity building. So it's both looking at the organization as a whole, thinking about the project we've committed to, but also just working with the individuals who run these amazing organizations.

So I feel very privileged to get like a welcome look under the hood about their organizational strengths, their individual strengths, leadership strengths, and just thinking about some challenges that are common across different orgs, how we can think about content that supports them, and then also having them learn from each other. Something that we've really taken to heart is that we are not the experts in the room, and so how do we lift up the voices of those who are doing the amazing work, have figured out how to solve some of these problems? So it's really fun to be

Lee Fabiaschi: ...the container and the dot connector. But I'm newer to this space of organizational capacity building, so I'm "-ing"—learning, iterating, all of it very frequently.

Dan Hibberd: That's fantastic, Lee. And I think you've got a really fascinating role. The fact that you are supporting learning in these partner organizations, so multiple organizations, you're in this position of influence potentially, but you're not directly controlling them. And so there's some really unique factors that you're having to to deal with. And we're going to double-click on this idea of communities of practice and why you landed on that in just a moment.

But maybe to start with, I've got three little girls. How would you describe what you do to my seven-year-old?

Lee Fabiaschi: I love this. Um, I help design and deliver curriculum that you might get in a classroom to nonprofit leaders. So these are folks who are taking on huge challenges, from the barriers of access to entering the economy, thinking about how to train and reskill folks to enter the workforce, to a whole swath of other issues. So we're thinking about how we can offer them different learnings to help them be stronger and get their work done more efficiently.

Dan Hibberd: Fantastic. I'll run it past her later this morning, and I'll let you know how you got on.

So let's jump into the conversation a little deeper. And one of the things that is interesting about your role and the work that you've been doing is the fact that you've been leading in these communities of practice. And so maybe let's start with a little bit of context. Did you start with communities of practice? Is that something that's been introduced? And what drove that decision?

Lee Fabiaschi: Our foundation has been—this is our fifth year, so we're still relatively new. I think we were able to become very mature very quickly because we spend a lot of time in deep partnership. I mentioned a bit of our process of how we end up finding and, ultimately, agreeing to work with different organ—

Lee Fabiaschi: organizations, um, but that takes time. So, it's we go back and forth. We make sure it's the right fit for them, right fit for us. And the benefit of that is there's a lot of trust that comes with that relationship. So, as we thought about what can we offer beyond just our grant funding, we wanted to support the organizations and the people who run the organizations. So, we landed on a communities of practice.

You know, in our year one, we did some focus groups and some surveys to understand just common challenges across our partner landscape and came up with some really big rock topics around measurement, learning, evaluation, and storytelling. With the benefit of hindsight, I think we could have picked one of those and gone really deep because you think about the facets of evaluation or storytelling, many and and challenging. But we moved folks along that learning arc.

And so, we offered content that was applicable to a range of different titles and levels across the nonprofit space. So, we have everyone from executive leadership, to program officers, to chief development officers, more junior staff. And I'm so grateful to our folks who are in our 2025 pilot because just the level of feedback and, you know, empathy and care, but also patience as we were learning with them about what was the best way to deliver different content and also recognizing that by having such a range of organizations and titles and experience in the room, not everything was as applicable to everyone.

So, for year one, we moved along that continuum, and our content alternated between sort of classic workshop content, and then we had these open forum sessions that we called community conversations, where folks were able to parse out the learnings that they experienced, uh talk through some challenges, talk through some successes. And I think what was great about that space for us as we

Lee Fabiaschi: continued to evolve was recognizing we don't need to be in the room for all of these conversations. So coming into 2026, we took some of the great learnings, but also sort of flipped the script a little bit. So we gathered folks together in person. We met in Asheville, North Carolina in February this year. Wanted to have them gain deeper partnership, deeper insight. We did a deep dive into the history of Asheville, the economic mobility landscape, which again is the focus of our foundation and our mission.

And then coming out of that, we've had a mix of more consultative focus, so it's what's in it for me if I'm going to go through this year-long learning community cohort. So doing more specific, curated content for our learning community organizations. And then we're in kind of the back part of our year where we're looking at more of those like staple pieces of content that are applicable across common challenges. And I think something that's really been a big takeaway for us is recognizing when we should be in the room and when we should not be in the room.

As much as we would like to not have this be the case, there is, you know, a dynamic of having the funder present for some of these more vulnerable conversations. So we really see ourselves as, we are in partnership with our nonprofit organizations, but we are trying to create the container for where they can have their own learning, their own innovation, and how we can be that dot connector to think about different solutions that work across organizations. So that was a tangent answer. I'm happy to go deeper into any of it, but that it's really sort of the swath of how we we think about our learning communities.

Dan Hibberd: No, that's fantastic, and I think, you know, this being cognizant of the environment that you create by being present is really interesting, and I know from our perspective, we've seen, uh, some really interesting dynamic changes when you remove the expert or facilitator from the room around how comfortable people feel throwing

Dan Hibberd: out a silly question, or how safe they feel. And so I think, you know, just knowing that your presence is influencing that environment, and being able to both be present when needed, and to not be there to to create that space is a really critical part of the ultimate design of the program.

Lee Fabiaschi: It's challenging, because as a practitioner, my want is to make sure I'm delivering the most successful facilitated discussion, or whatever the content sort of pieces are, but I think it's a real discipline to recognize, first of all, that there's so much expertise in the room. And again, to we are just in such reverence and awe and respect of our community partners that it's would be unbecoming for us to be the the only voice that's sort of present.

But I've gotten feedback from our '26 group that it's just really helpful to have conversations that are vulnerable and challenging, and we're asking folks to share your biggest organizational challenge or if you have a gap in fundraising, or what you're looking across, you know, at your staff and seeing that we're having a gap in this talent, or we're having challenges in this market trying to hire new people. And so, as much as we are here to help and be in support, which is the whole concept of our learning community, is to learn with and learn through our partners, I'm very much a fan of we don't need to be in every space, and so how can we reposition ourselves as the container to create that trust and vulnerability, and also community? The benefit is that they have their peers, they have each other. Who better to ask than sort of your peers and colleagues in the space?

So, I have to sit on my hands sometimes, cuz I'm like, "I want to be in there." But it's just to recognize, again, the ultimate goal is to have our community members, yes, learn with us, but learn from each other, so taking yourself out sometimes, too.

Dan Hibberd: I love that. And so, how do you strike the balance between we know

Dan Hibberd: is these maybe topics or areas that are important for us to facilitate learning around versus creating the container or the space, and maybe giving it some direction, but not having complete control over you know, the direction that people are moving in or or the topics that they end up discussing and supporting each other through?

Lee Fabiaschi: Yeah, it's a great question. Um, I think So I I mentioned the design of our 25 program, which was much more classroom-style learning, and that was really helpful for anyone who's thinking about this space because it allowed me to anchor on certain topics, and then also, the kind of coupling of that was let's open it up and have library hours or classroom hours of talking about that same topic. So we are we are guiding, but also leaving the space open for the group to direct.

Um, I So I think the biggest way that we're able to achieve this balance of when we're in the room, when we're not in the room is in the way that you design the content. So we brought the group together in person, which was just very helpful for relationship building, those conversations that you can't necessarily like you can't architect when someone's sitting next to someone on a bus and connecting in a really meaningful way.

Um, so if that's a possibility, I think anytime you can get groups together in person, especially at the start of something, just really sets the tone for how they can connect with each other.

And then we focused from let's say like March to June very deeply on individual organizational consultations. So just to understand what each organization was challenged with, what their strengths are, what resources they might be able to offer. So we had it's labor-intensive, but it's how do you connect with the smaller groups and then bring sort of big themes back to the collective?

We also had something called braintrust groups, which is not new per se, but the way that we were sort of architecting it was around peers of similar

Lee Fabiaschi: titles, similar geographies, that we said, meet asynchronously. If you have four people in the group, you meet four times, and then you rotate, so one person comes with a challenge or an opportunity and just talks amongst your peers. So we had some facilitation guides to help them get to that point.

And then part one was like, what's in it for me? Let's go deep and connect with each organization. And then part two, this fall, is thinking about sort of bigger themes, bigger content pieces, bigger workshops. So it's, we're bringing folks back together again, we are doing a mix of content that we are designing and delivering, we are working with existing content creators that already exist. You know, we are big fans of build, buy, or borrow, so not everything needs to come from our four walls of our minds.

So that's how we're striking the balance. I'm curious to get the feedback from our current cohort to just, hopefully this is resonating with them. For folks that are thinking about this work or thinking about moving into this space, I would say just try to strike that balance of where do you have structured workshop content, topics, and then can you also just encourage that space to have it without you? So this has been our small foray of doing that, again, just working with each individual organization on a more consultative basis, and then asking them to meet in small groups without us.

Dan Hibberd: One of the things with communities of practice and stepping out of the room is the challenge potentially of getting people to engage. This is an optional thing that they're attending, like learners in every organization, time is one of the biggest barriers or challenges we see. So what's been the feedback or your experience with how open people are to being part of these communities, and especially, you know, given the lens of you're working across multiple partners, you're not able to focus on on a specific partner, it's it's multiple. What what does that look like?

Lee Fabiaschi: Yeah, I think choice is so important in learning. It's, everything

Lee Fabiaschi: from how the modality of how you choose to engage with content, but also from the jump, we ask folks to opt in. So if it's not a fit, we are not offended. Um, we also ask for a year-long commitment about monthly meetings. So it's we tried to outline from the get-go just what was expected.

I'm with you, though, cuz I think I you learning is such a wonderful opportunity, but then you look at your day and your inbox and whatever else gets in the way. So it's trying to strike that balance of let's tailor content that feels value-add to organizational challenges and opportunities. So it's sort of like, "Ooh, there's something in this for me, or I can bring this back, or I can action it." But meeting people where they are, so that means that some things are asynchronous, that means that if you can't make it each month, we have recaps, we have one-on-one times we can connect.

Something we added this year to help address that is we offer individual learning credits, almost like a professional development incentive. Each individual participant has access to $500 US for conferences, accreditations, something that may be outside of the scope of budget. It's not a ton of funding, we recognize, but just wanted to start somewhere to realize what the appetite was for this kind of funding.

And then each organization, so we have six nonprofit partners who are in our 2026 cohort, so each organization has access to a one-time $5,000 capacity-building support. So as they identify a new software, a challenge, something that just might be able to a physical thing that can help them solve for an organizational opportunity. So I think just outlining like, "What's in it for you?" has been really a meaningful way to connect people to the learning.

And also, there's a book that came out so many years ago, but it's I think it's called Influence Without Authority. And at the time, it was my living bible, cuz I have no authority over the folks in the room. But I think it's just like, again, going back to like deep relationships. So we are working with six organizations, which can sound small, or

Lee Fabiaschi: big depending on who's hearing that. But for us, we've just found that that size feels really meaningful. We're able to engage really deeply. We're able to draw out those individuals what's in it for me conversations. I think going forward as we look to the future, we're building in joining this learning community as part of our grant agreement. And so it's not to remove choice from our learners, but just to outline the expectation that part of our partnership is, yes, grant funding for projects, but also is that your commitment to sharing resources, knowledge, space with peers in the space. So changing it a little bit to have it be just built into our partnership, but it's a tough balance because anyone out there without any authority knows how challenging it is to say, "Please, please, please come, it's going to be so great for you, you're going to learn so much. It's going to be super applicable." So I'm not above begging and cheerleading also. You just, you do what it takes. Free pizza in a conference room is very appealing sometimes.

Dan Hibberd: Well, I think just the fact that you are bringing people together with their peers will be a major attraction for a lot of people. It's something that definitely in in our experiences is powerful. Also, I'm from a health background, and I think about over the years my ability to maintain a routine of exercise, it's on and off on any activity that I do by myself. But the consistent thing has been whenever I'm part of a sports team, I know that, you know, those periods go for far longer and are far more consistent. So I think this the approach that you're taking with communities of practice really is beneficial for you guys as a an organization, but for everyone coming along as well. And I have no doubt that that adds to the to the motivation. Well, maybe as we you know, kind of look to wrap up, as you continue to iterate the community of practice and the work that you're doing into kind of the the future kind of year or or years ahead,

Dan Hibberd: What are you planning to change and and where are you planning to push deeper?

Lee Fabiaschi: I really want to drill deep into measurement and evaluation for this program more broadly. So we're looking to help our organizations be stronger as they think about the funding they receive from the Ares Foundation and beyond, and how that work sustains beyond our partnership. So, just as a a practitioner, I really want to be clear about how we're benchmarking our own success in addition to content and that we're providing. I think some of the pieces that I mentioned earlier around, you know, going deep sort of on a consultative basis, having more workshop content, all these things are almost like chess pieces that you can kind of figure out how it all works together, but just really understanding the impacts that we're trying to have, what changes were made going through this program.

We heard from our '25 group that, you know, we we offered, like I mentioned, lot— some of these big-topic conversations, and folks shared that, you know, "Maybe it wasn't what I needed today, but I did end up drawing back on it in several weeks or months." And so, I think as a sort of the ethos of our foundation really have this patient capital, and also the firm as well, that, you know, we're willing to put in the time to understand how our efforts are measured and having more ripple effect.

But so that's what I'm looking to focus on in 2027. And then in terms of the content, this is something we started in '26, but we just come with a template that sort of says, "Here's what we're thinking about for objectives." We have some ideas, so it's not just a totally blank piece of paper, but having the group really lead. So I think wherever you can offer that flexibility, and so it might look a little same, it might look a little different next year, I think we'll be able to iterate on some of the pieces that we already have, but there's this, uh, real excitement to thinking about how do you reflect content to match the learners in the room with you. And so, yeah, we'll see where our '27 cohort directs us, but just giving us enough scaffolding to know that we are moving in some—

Lee Fabiaschi: ...kind of consistent way, but we have the flexibility to meet the group. So, those are my my two big things: Let's measure how this is actually working and make sure that we're matching content to our learners.

Dan Hibberd: Amazing, Lee. Well, it's been fantastic to uh have you join us for this conversation to learn a bit about the work that you've been doing.

As we wrap things up, as a final uh little gift to our listeners here, yeah, what would be the one piece of advice you have for any kind of leaders that are looking to go down the path of creating a community of practice? Yeah, what would your one piece of advice be to ensure that they're successful or or to get them as close as possible to success the first time around?

Lee Fabiaschi: Ooh, love it. I was really nervous for a lot of my first year in this space. I think as much as you can be working with your learners, whether that's through a community of practice or if you're in a more traditional L&D space, but I think wherever you can be understanding the challenges through surveys or focus groups, whatever, but just to make sure that you get a real pulse on what the people who are going to be experiencing the learning are looking for. That's just been, when I'm in the dark, that's the flashlight that turns on for me.

And maybe this is just more of a personality thing, but I would say just go for it. You know, I just thinking about you don't want to do things that are not fully thought through, but I think we can spend a lot of time over-architecting, and so I think call it a pilot. Call it a pilot, and that way you can iterate and change and evolve, ask for feedback, but I think there's something about just getting started somewhere. So, I would say go for it. That's my very Pollyanna, hopeful advice for anyone listening out there.

Dan Hibberd: I love that, Lee. Call it a pilot. I feel like that just removes barriers right there. If you're struggling to get started, just get started and call it a pilot, and then barrier removed.

Fantastic, Lee. It has been awesome to have you join us, and I have no doubt that

Dan Hibberd: listeners will be thankful for everything that you've had to share. So, we look forward to seeing the next phase of your communities of practice work.

Lee Fabiaschi: It's been a real treat to have the time with you. I hope this is valuable. Thank you so much just to kind of geek out and have the time together, so the pleasure is all mine.