Democracy Fund’s Post

Building trust between funders and grantees is key to maximizing impactful community outcomes. Achieving this involves more than just giving and receiving feedback. It's about fostering effective relationships rooted in mutual respect and accountability. For example, this Center for Effective Philanthropy blog post shares how a funder engaged with grantees to shift its grantmaking policy, processes, and culture: https://lnkd.in/eqb7urny Grantees: How do you think funders can engage more effectively with you to enhance partnership and trust? Funders: Reflect on the lessons in the post. How can you implement changes within your organization to better listen, be accountable, and strengthen relationships with grantees? Join the discussion and drop a comment below! 👇 #TrustbasedPhilanthropy

Last week we said that we’d share thoughts on Fozia Irfan OBE's important new report, ‘Transformative Philanthropy: A Manual for Social Change’. This post focuses on our initial key takeaway from the Manual, although we're sure that we'll keep returning to it over the coming months! Key takeaway: The manual identified the values and principles needed to develop #TransformativePhilanthropy What is #TransformativePhilanthropy? It’s a push for collective action that recognises that the challenges in the UK are not isolated problems, but deeply connected systemic issues that require holistic, long-term solutions. “It places at its heart, principles of social justice but also includes a number of other dimensions, necessary for social change. It is a concerted effort to recognise the failings of traditional philanthropy and build a new paradigm which reimagines the place we inhabit, the role we play and the values we embody.” The Manual provides detail on the necessary phrases for turning #TransformativePhilanthropy into real-world action, such as phase one, Grounding, that includes using a social justice framing and phase three, which is about embodying being community centric, intersectional and focussed on movement. The Manual ends by stating that “the independence of philanthropy means that we are one of the few institutions who has the ability to purposefully work across siloes and traditionally divided sectors – this should be our superpower.” We agree that this *should* be our superpower and believe that #TransformativePhilanthropy is an incredibly helpful model that we can all use to support more examples of collective action, rooted in social justice, to tackle systemic issues. Other things to know about the Manual: -         This manual relates to institutional philanthropy in the UK, although its content was inspired by some international work. -         The original focus for this research was racial inequality, however what emerged is a much broader focus on social justice. Therefore, some language and quotes cited, were given within a racial inequality context. We’d like to thank Fozia once again for so generously sharing such an inspiring and practical contribution to philanthropy. We hope many more people will consider and use the Manual in their own work! You can find the full report here at Why Philanthropy Matters: https://lnkd.in/eDQKEb24. There's also an accompanying Workbook that can be downloaded for free. #grants #grantsmanagement #funding #philanthropy #foundations #transformativephilanthropy 

Interesting exploration by Proximate on whether donor collaboratives are better for grassroots groups. The Freedom Fund was formed out of a need to direct more support to frontline anti-slavery groups, who face many obstacles in accessing sustainable funding. In line with the article's statement that "the donor collaborative format is not a panacea to the broken power dynamics in traditional philanthropy", we've found that simply pooling funding for anti-slavery work isn't enough. Our grantmaking principles and practices- everything from strategy setting to partner selection to evaluating impact- have to be centered around the needs and priorities of grassroots partners. We've shared our learnings about this through Funding Frontline Impact (https://lnkd.in/eVv4nmgF) in hopes of helping others to do the same. https://lnkd.in/dcBeigsj

On this #givingtuesday2023, we join one another in the joy of giving. We might also reflect on the ways philanthropy is shifting away from traditional power structures and towards including community voices. The concepts of participatory grantmaking and trust-based philanthropy are supporting this change. Here's a good overview of the two frameworks - from Center for Effective Philanthropy

Traci Johnson, MPM emphasizes the need to shift from transactional to transformational philanthropy by focusing on #relationships over #transactions. She applies a Trust-Based Philanthropy Project lens to #grantmaking. For example: 👊 co-designing programs with community input, 💰 compensating community members, and 😍 extending support beyond grant dollars. One minor edit I would make to this stellar article: "The ability to leverage social, moral, intellectual, reputational, and financial capital requires programmatic staff to have relationships with #grantees and communities beyond what they see in grant applications." AND final reports. The reporting and application process needs to be revised to facilitate #learning and #impact generation --- so that we can leverage our collective #inputs #talents #passion to begin solving this planet's wicked problems. So many #nonprofits survive by the renewal of #philanthropic funding. Renewal information may not come until after the final report is submitted and therefore, from the grantee perspective, so much hinges on that document ... and the #future support they may or may not receive for their efforts. Traci, continues, "We must be intentional about creating safe spaces where nonprofit leaders can share their successes, challenges, and failures—and where they are valued as educators and thought partners." We are better together 🌻

The emerging approach more and more foundations are adopting moves beyond trust-based philanthropy to empowerment philanthropy. The core reasons for this, consistent with the fundamental premises that 1) communities have the collective wisdom to solve their problems if given the resources, autonomy, and support; 2) foundations have a woeful lack of knowledge and understanding of the lived experiences of the most vulnerable and marginalized in communities (and how to listen in ways that inform strategies; and 3) foundations don’t have the patience, expertise, and right models to change the trajectories of lives. This SSIR article is powerful!

Since 2019, MacKenzie Scott has given over $16 billion through 1,964 unrestricted grants, 360 of which were awarded recently in 2023. Scott's giving remains critical in addressing disparities in Education, Equity & Justice, Economic Security & Opportunity, and Health, and she shows no signs of slowing down! Through the Collaborative Learning for Impact Philanthropy initiative, Panorama has analyzed Scott's giving to date. Get the in-depth analysis of Scott's latest round of unrestricted grants here. 👉 https://bit.ly/3OdPYu4

Nonprofits are the drivers behind creating real difference at the crossroads of social, cultural, and political transformation within the communities they serve. Discover insights shared from nonprofit leaders about how to fundraise effectively and create impact in your community.

We’re thrilled to see the William Penn Foundation taking bold steps to shift solution-making to the community. With their new strategic plan, they are prioritizing transparency, accessibility, and elevating community voices, especially in areas that have faced significant racial and social injustices. As Shawn McCaney, Executive Director of the William Penn Foundation, emphasized, this approach moves away from being highly directional and instead invites community input to determine the best approaches for issues like illegal dumping and expanding cultural opportunities. This inclusive strategy not only reduces the administrative burden on nonprofits but also ensures that the solutions are driven by those most affected. At NCRP, we wholeheartedly support this move towards trust based grantmaking. It aligns perfectly with our Power Moves toolkit, which helps foundations leverage their power for equity and justice by building, sharing, and wielding power effectively. By fostering community partnerships and prioritizing long-term, equitable solutions, foundations can truly make a transformative impact. 📣 Shoutout to the William Penn Foundation for leading by example and showing us the power of sharing decision-making with the community. Let’s continue to support and amplify these efforts to aid in creating a more just and equitable world. Read more about their inspiring strategy here: https://bit.ly/4c66o0w and more about our Power Moves here: https://lnkd.in/g-saee6D #Philanthropy #CommunityEngagement #PowerMoves #Grantmaking #Nonprofits #SocialJustice

As community power builders and social movement organizers engage in vibrant debates on how to address the immediate expressions and root causes of these multiple crises, social justice funders should take their own hard look at why the problems they have sought to address persist in such an exacerbated form. What can philanthropy do to expand movement power? 1. Focus on power, not policy 2. Trust the field 3. Stick with it for the long haul Read on for more from Nonprofit Quarterly: https://lnkd.in/gNmv2nzp #socialmovements