October Must-Reads 2018

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This month, we were challenged to examine our silence by The Heinz Endowments’ Grant Oliphant. We were encouraged and equipped to put decision-making power in the hands of people affected by those decisions through GrantCraft’s new participatory grantmaking guide (which includes the art in this blog post) and Jennifer Vanica’s twenty-year story about the Jacobs Family Foundation. We were inspired by the public policy wins supported by Meyer Memorial Trust. And we were reminded by the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies of the messiness and fruitfulness of striving to work more equitably.

What caught your attention this month?


1. Deciding Together: Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking

GRANTMAKING STRATEGY | GrantCraft | 2-hour thorough read

This robust GrantCraft guide is great for funders looking to more deeply understand why and how they can cede decision-making power to the communities they seek to serve. It delves into what exactly participatory grantmaking is and the benefits, challenges and best practices. The guide is rooted in lived experience, drawing on more than a dozen examples to illustrate the mechanics of how decisions in participatory grantmaking can be made, what the process can look like and how it can differ from funder to funder.

2. Affordable Housing Initiative: Changing the statewide conversation around housing issues

PUBLIC POLICY & SYSTEMS CHANGE | Meyer Memorial Trust | 4-minute read

A recent evaluation of Meyer Memorial Trust’s 2017 efforts under their Affordable Housing Initiative offers three takeaways for funders:

  1. Funders can legally and successfully support policy and advocacy efforts
  2. Targeted grants have elevated and amplified the voices of low-income Oregonians most affected by housing issues
  3. It’s important to work on both longer-term and more immediate goals around policy and systems change

The evaluation goes on to share statewide and local public policy wins, what the foundation has learned, challenges it encountered along the way, and thoughts on how the foundation can better operate, such as collaborating more with other funders. Meyer’s choice to publish this report demonstrates how foundations can be transparent and support each other’s learning.

3. Wielding Philanthropic Leadership With, Not For

LEADERSHIP | Stanford Social Innovation Review | 6-minute read

At a time of frequent displays of hate, prejudice and discord, it can be tempting to think the role of philanthropy is to “stay above the fray,” as Grant Oliphant of The Heinz Endowments writes. Yet philanthropy has an obligation to use its voice, he argues. To be courageous and ethical leaders, grantmakers need to learn from, listen deeply to, and share their power with others—including the power of their voice.

4. BALLE–Racial Equity Change from the Outside In

EQUITY | Nonprofit Quarterly | 17-minute read

Seven years after deciding to center racial equity in its work, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) shares why and how it began making that change and where the organization is today. The article walks through the process of seeking to become a more equitable organization, the changes that developed organically and those that were made strategically, and the inevitable tensions and discomforts. BALLE team members offer advice for others on an equity journey and a reminder of the need for constant collective inquiry and learning.

5. Courageous Philanthropy: Going Public in a Closely Held World

GRANTMAKING STRATEGY | Jennifer Vanica | 534 pages

Over two decades, the Jacobs Family Foundation and residents of San Diego’s southeastern neighborhoods built a partnership that aimed to rest decisions in the hands of those affected by them. In this book, the foundation’s CEO, Jennifer Vanica, shares this story along with a broader one: “what can happen when philanthropy is aligned with community, determined to ensure equity, unafraid to share power, and committed to strengthening democracy by lifting the voice of those living change on the ground,” as PolicyLink’s Angela Glover Blackwell writes in the foreword. This book is for funders looking to work more equitably and forge more courageous relationships with the communities they seek to serve.

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September Must-Reads

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This month, we read transparent accounts from the Ford Foundation’s Megan Morrison and Chris Cardona, who shared the foundation’s journey addressing its flawed approach to collecting grantee diversity data, and Laura Weidman Powers, who wrote about why and how she stepped down as Code2040 CEO. We also read about the importance of getting out the vote, tensions in philanthropy and a report on young professionals in philanthropy.


1. Making It Count: The Evolution of the Ford Foundation’s Diversity Data Collection

EQUITY | Center for Effective Philanthropy | 10-minute read

When the Ford Foundation revisited its grantmaking process, it also revisited the questions it asks applicants and grantees about diversity. In this blog post, the foundation shares its journey identifying flaws in its previous approach to gathering grantee diversity data, how it now collects and analyzes the data, and what it’s learning. This journey also led the foundation to turn the spotlight on itself and begin an internal diversity, equity and inclusion audit.

2. How to Know When It’s Time to Go

LEADERSHIP | LinkedIn Pulse | 11-minute read

In a powerfully transparent blog post, Code2040 cofounder Laura Weidman Powers shares the story of why and how she stepped down as the organization’s CEO. She writes openly about the pressure and loneliness that can come with leadership, how she prepared for a successor and how she knew when the organization’s success no longer depended on her leadership.

3. Stop Sitting on the Sidelines, Nonprofits, and Get Out the Vote

ADVOCACY | The Chronicle of Philanthropy | 4-minute read

Outcomes of the November midterm elections will impact the work of nonprofits. More than ever, nonprofits should—and legally can—encourage and educate voters this year, argues Billy Shore, the founder of Share Our Strength and Community Wealth Partners. (For more resources on how foundations can effectively and legally support voting and advocacy, explore the Council on Foundations’ Advocacy Toolkit and Bolder Advocacy’s resources for foundations supporting advocacy.)

4. Gospels of Giving for the New Gilded Age

EQUITY | New Yorker | 15-minute read

Is philanthropy solving problems or creating new ones? Should philanthropists be focused on doing more good or doing less harm? Starting with a description of Andrew Carnegie’s approach to donating his wealth while cutting wages for employees, the writer of this article considers these questions through four pieces of literature, including the recently published “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World” by Anand Giridharadas.

5. Dissonance & Disconnects: How entry- and mid-level foundation staff see their futures, their institutions and their field 

SECTOR TRENDS | Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy | 20-minute read 

This report by Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy shares findings from a 2017 survey about early- and mid-level foundation staff members’ thoughts, feelings and experiences in philanthropy. The survey results reveal that:

  • 55 percent of young professionals in philanthropy see themselves leaving philanthropy within the next five years
  • 6 percent see a clear path to advance from their current positions within their institutions
  • 51 percent think philanthropy is an effective player in social change
  • 21 percent think the culture of philanthropy is inclusive of all backgrounds
  • 40 percent think their institutions are in touch with the needs of the communities they support

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