The WHY?
For most of my career, I helped nonprofits tell their story.
I wrote the grants.
I wrote the reports.
I helped organizations become visible.
And I was good at it.
But over time, I could no longer ignore a harder truth:
"Protecting the story makes us part of the harm. I am done pretending the story is the same thing as the truth."
That question changed my work.
Are we funding the best narrative?
Or are we seeing the issue clearly enough to make better decisions?
Thri3 exists because I am done pretending the story is the same thing as the truth.
It is my attempt to help philanthropy see the issue before the story.
About Us
Thri3 helps funders see beyond AI-generated summaries by connecting fragmented information into transparent, issue-level context before funding decisions are made.
Is the right information in your room?
WHAT'S AHEAD?
Thri3 is moving from research and methodology development toward public-interest decision infrastructure.
The next phase focuses on developing the Thri3 Data Analysis Index (T3i)—an AI-supported platform designed to apply the nonprofit's research and governance frameworks in practice. T3i is intended to help organize fragmented philanthropic and public-interest information into governed, traceable, and reviewable issue-level views that support better decision preparation before resources are allocated.
As the platform evolves, it will continue to build upon the Six-Domain Issue Framework, bringing together Conditions of Need, Institutional Response, Capital Flows, Community-Level Signals, Contextual Factors, and Organization-Level Role and Fit into a more complete understanding of complex social issues.
Artificial intelligence will assist with organizing and synthesizing information within a governed framework, while provenance, transparency, human judgment, and community knowledge remain central to how information is interpreted and used.
The long-term vision is not to replace the many valuable systems already serving philanthropy. It is to help connect them through issue-governed decision preparation, supporting greater transparency, stronger accountability, and more informed decisions across the social sector.
FOUNDERS MESSAGE
I’m Mary Louise Santacaterina, and I started Thri3 because I believe public-interest information should be transparent, interoperable, and useful before decisions are made. For fifteen years, I worked inside the philanthropic system writing proposals, reports, applications, and compliance narratives that helped nonprofits become visible, credible, and fundable. That work showed me how much of the sector’s information depends on what organizations say about themselves, organized through their missions, language, and funding needs. That organization-level lens is necessary, but it is not enough.
The United States has more than 1.9 million nonprofit organizations, yet the sector still has no shared, governed way to see whether all of that activity is resolving the issues it claims to address. We can count organizations, grants, reports, outputs, and ratings. We are much weaker at connecting need, response, capital, context, community-originated information, and organizational role before resources are allocated. I have seen strong organizations struggle when they scale beyond capacity. I have watched services duplicate instead of merge, partner, or exit. I have seen programs reshape themselves around available funding even when that pulls them away from mission. Those are not isolated problems. They are symptoms of a system that rewards organizational visibility over issue-level clarity.
I started Thri3 because I believe more reports, dashboards, applications, profiles, and AI summaries do not create better decisions if the underlying information remains fragmented, delayed, inconsistently labeled, weakly traceable, or unevenly governed. Thri3 is my response to that gap: an open, public-interest structure that integrates fragmented philanthropic information into governed, traceable, issue-level views before resources are allocated, while protecting sensitive data, community-originated information, and human decision-making authority.
WHAT SETS US APART?
Most philanthropic decision processes begin with the organization.
Applications are reviewed. Organizations are compared. Funding decisions are made by evaluating the applicants seeking support.
Thri3 begins with the issue.
Rather than asking which organization should be funded first, Thri3 builds an issue-level view by examining conditions of need, institutional response, capital flows, community-level signals, contextual factors, and organization-level role and fit before organizations are evaluated.
This change in starting point changes what becomes visible.
The applicant pool is not the issue landscape.
Thri3 is also designed to work with—not replace—the many strong systems already serving philanthropy. Nonprofit profiles, grantmaking platforms, public data, impact reporting, donor guidance, and other information sources each contribute valuable perspectives. Thri3 helps bring those perspectives together into governed, traceable, and reviewable issue-level views that support better decision preparation before resources are allocated.
The goal is not to create another database or another recommendation engine. It is to help decision-makers work from a broader understanding of the issue itself before determining where resources can have the greatest impact.