Dietel Pickering and Partners is a left-of-center for-profit philanthropic advisory firm founded by former Rockefeller Brothers Fund president William “Bill” Dietel and two of his daughters.  Following the senior Dietel’s death in 2023, Dietel Pickering and Partners has become wholly women-owned and works with organizations aligned with the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) movement. ^{1 2 3}

Background

Dietel Pickering and Partners was founded as a philanthropic advisory firm in 2007 by William “Bill” Dietel, a former president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as well as his eldest and youngest daughters, Tori Dietel Hopps and Betsy Dietel. Following the senior Dietel’s death in 2023, the firm, which claims on its website to have experience with “America’s most influential families,” became wholly woman-owned. As of February 2025, it is managed by four partners and a small support staff. ^{1 3}

According to its statement on guiding principles, the firm claims that “diversity, equity, and inclusion” make the world better, and that a philanthropic focus on women and girls has a disproportionately positive impact.” ²

Though Dietel Pickering and Partner’s main office is in Cumberland Center, Maine, the firm also has other locations in Seattle, Washington, and Flint Hill, Virginia. ⁴

Clients and Partners

Left-of-center organizations that Dietel Pickering and Partners describes as “Major Co-Funders” include the 11th Hour Project, Agua Fund, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ansara Family Fund, Barr Foundation, Bertha Foundation, Bohemian Foundation, Child Relief International, Draper Richards Kaplan, Echoing Green, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, Foundation for the Mid-South, GRACE Communications Foundation, Imago Dei Fund, Joyce Foundation, Kendeda Fund, Kresge Foundation, Lemelson Foundation, Mulago Foundation, Oak Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Panorama Global, Path Foundation, Peery Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Segal Family Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust, Wallace Genetic Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, Wellspring Advisors, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. ⁵

Leadership

Tory Dietel Hopps is a co-founder and managing partner of Dietel Pickering and Partners as well as a faculty member of the Girl Child and Her Long Walk fellowship and an advisory board member of organizations including the Imago Dei Fund, Nyaka Global, and the Northern Forest Fund. Previously, Dietel Hopps was a principal of Turning Point Consulting, a strategic advisory firm focused on nonprofits, co-chair of the board of Health Care Without Harm, and fellow with the Just Economy Institute. ⁶

Carol Pickering is a senior partner of Dietel Pickering and Partners as well as vice president of the Pickering Foundation in Salem, Massachusetts, and a steering committee member of the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network. Previously, Pickering was a reporter with the Writing Company in Portland, Maine, a staff writer with Forbes ASAP and Business 2.0, as well as a co-founder of the Maine Food Producers Alliance. ⁷

Betsy Dietel is a co-founder and senior partner of Dietel Pickering and Partners as well as a board member of the Path Foundation and member of the Rappahannock Communities, a housing-issues nonprofit. Previously, Dietel was the founding executive director of the Lake County Community Foundation (an affiliate of the Chicago Community Trust), founding director of the Liberty Prairie Conservancy, chair of the Child Care and Learning Center’s board of directors, and a board member of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. ⁸

Ren Dietel is a senior partner of Dietel Pickering and Partners as well as a member of the environment grant committee of the Washington Women’s Foundation and board president of the Lyon Family Deer Island LLC in Saranac, New York. Previously, she worked for the Capital Group, an investment management firm. ⁹

Mike Sands is a senior advisor with Dietel Pickering and Partners as well as the owner and operator of Bean Hollow Grassfed in Flint Hill, Virginia, and vice-chair of the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District in Virginia. Previously, Sands was the environmental team leader of Prairie Crossing, and the founding executive director of the Liberty Prairie Foundation. ¹⁰

1. “WILLIAM DIETEL.” Legacy.com. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/william-dietel-obituary?id=53401086.
2. “What We Do.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/what-we-do.
3. “Who We Are.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/about
4. “Contact.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025.  https://www.dietelpickering.com/contact.
5. “Our Network.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/network-affiliations.
6. “Tory Dietel Hopps.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/tory.
7. “Carol Pickering.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/carol.
8. “Betsy Dietel.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/elizabeth.
9. “Ren Dietel.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/ren.
10. “Mike Sands.” Dietel Pickering and Partners. Accessed February 17, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/mike