Tools & Resources to Shift Power
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Looking at your role/function within your foundation.
What are listening practices that can shift power?
Assess how you are listening through a set of reflection questions.
Change the composition and roles of your staff and board
Listening doesn’t have to be a distinct practice; instead it can be woven into the fabric of organizations through how — and by whom — they are governed and staffed. For example, you might hire staff or recruit board members who have lived expertise in the issue areas you are addressing.
Remember that when working with community members in these new ways, it’s critical to build a culture that makes everyone feel welcome, supported, and able to contribute.
Get inspired by what other funders are doing
As part of a 2022 strategic plan that included a commitment to sharing power with grantees
and the community, Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2) appointed three nonprofit leaders to its governing board that had always been comprised only of donors who fund the organization. SV2 is also including for the first time community leaders on the panels making the grants recommendations that go to the board for final determination. And a committee with an equal number of fully voting members representing donors, staff, and the community will have the authority to shape and approve of final plans on the focus of a new initiative that will represent SV2’s largest-ever funding commitment.
The Samuel S. Fels Fund committed to recruiting board members more representative of its Philadelphia community, evolving its board over a three-year period to be 75 percent BIPOC, with more than a third of members born outside the United States. Fels also adopted a set of values that include: Trust that those most directly harmed by injustice are in the best position to know what is needed to address harms and to build well-being.
As part of an emergent approach that includes leaning into values around supporting individuals and community empowerment, in 2021, the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation held its first open call for board members. Six new people joined the board in this bid to attract more diversity and broader community representation.
The Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge (CFCBR) and Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) each employ full-time community liaisons. Unlike program officers who deal with grants and grantees, these staff members have a mission to hear directly from and build relationships with the people their foundations seek to serve, reporting back in both formal and informal ways to inform and shape decision making at the organization.
The CFCBR’s director of community engagement, who has lunch every week at a local homeless shelter, says his strategy is to make himself a “part of the fabric of the community.” At MFH, the director of community relationships says for herself and the other field-based staff, the “whole job is just talking and listening to everyone” they can.
Dive into this menu to spark the changes you want to see.
Mix and match to find the examples, resources, and reflections best suited to help you and your organization shift power to the people and communities at the heart of your work.
About this collection
We know that you and other funders are moving toward listening and participatory practices at different rates and from different starting points and perspectives. We also know that shifting power is not easy work and requires a strong internal commitment and continuous learning. It’s best to be clear on your organization’s motivations, capabilities, and goals. And as you engage with this menu, consider your funding practices, operations, policies, and values — and then where change will best serve your foundation and the people and communities you seek to serve.
We offer a range of examples and resources because there are no one-size-fits-all solutions; and we share them in a menu format so you can pick and choose what’s interesting or relevant to you. We don’t rank the practices or the organizations employing them or intend to signal that any featured funder has listening figured out or listens well across the board. Each example represents only a moment in time — a practice one of your peers told us (or an intermediary) about, and that we hope might inspire you to enhance your own listening work.
Similarly, we do not rank the recommended resources, though we did select them based on a set of criteria, including:
- We and/or our partners have personally used the resource and find it is high-quality, promotes impact, and aligns with our power analysis
- The resource is widely and publicly available (not just to paid members) and, ideally, accessible to people with disabilities
- The resource is relevant to, and includes applicable lessons for, a variety of types of funders
- The resource is as evergreen as possible
New resources are always coming online. We hope that the ones we've included are helpful while also sparking your curiosity and helping you forge an ongoing relationship with the creators and other aligned efforts.
We encourage you to examine the menu’s resources and examples with a willingness to turn kernels of ideas into something right for you. We also hope you spend time on the reflection questions, which will help you and your organization better understand and prepare for what it means to listen to shift power. Checking out our Participatory Philanthropy Toolkit’s Funder Readiness Assessment will also help prepare you for changes in your priorities and practices.
We are always looking to add more funder listening examples and more resources. Please take a few minutes to share your stories and ideas on our Lift Up Listening online form.
Have questions about the menu or ideas for resources or examples?
Please reach out to our communications manager, Debra Blum.
