Listen by changing the composition of staffs and boards
Changes within your organization that bring new voices and perspectives into decision making can advance equity, surface critical knowledge, and shift power. Be sure to provide sufficient training and support (including, for example, mentorship and compensation) to all decision makers, as appropriate in your context.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has piloted an internship program for young people who have experience in the foster care system, and it is developing a fellowship program to provide leadership and professional development opportunities for people with lived expertise in other issues areas where the foundation works.
ReWork the Bay, which focuses on economic equity and justice, transformed from doing work as a traditional funder collaborative to a collaborative led by what they call “proximate leaders” who serve on their Equity at Work Council (EWC). The EWC, a 17-member body of people with experience in economic justice, education, workforce development, small business, and philanthropy, leads ReWork’s programmatic strategy, generates policy and systems change recommendations, approves the budget, and makes final decisions on grants.


Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) created a Community Advisory Council of 24 local leaders of color to advise the community foundation on grantmaking strategies, identify emerging leaders, and provide frank feedback on whether the funder is authentically there for the community and following its lead. The group, which had a hand in SVCF’s latest strategic plan, convenes four times a year following agendas members set and carry out. “We went from a transactional listening practice — where we asked members to come to our meetings and tell us what they think we should do — to relational practices where conversation is dynamic, fluid, and not predetermined, and where learning is made within the engagement,” said Mauricio Palma, SVCF’s director of community building.

With a strong commitment to raising youth voices and ensuring that young people inform its work, Global Fund for Children (GFC) works closely with an active Youth Leadership Council (YLC). Representing different countries and holding unique experiences of activism across sectors, the YLC’s 11 members play an important role in GFC’s strategic planning, program development, and grantmaking processes. The YLC’s chair also sits on GFC’s governing board. A position on the YLC is a volunteer role but members are paid an annual fee and are also compensated for other time commitments. Additionally, they gain access to networking, capacity development, and other career-enhancing opportunities.

The California Endowment engages young people living in California to serve on its President’s Youth Council, intended to center youth voices and help shape the foundation’s investments and culture. During three-year terms, council members provide community perspective and also get leadership, professional-development, and networking opportunities.

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.


Through a community-based research process that tapped the wisdom of local movement leaders and grantee partners, the Tzedek Social Justice Fund recognized that it needed board members with direct experience doing the kind of work that Tzedek funds. Founder and donor Amy Mandel stepped down from the board, and Tzedek is now governed by a board of community leaders with diverse backgrounds and lived experience.


When the Community Foundation of Greater Flint was looking for a new CEO in 2017, its retiring head knew the funder, as she told The Chronicle of Philanthropy, “needed to involve community members who before had not been involved in our grantmaking decisions.” The board selected as the new CEO Isaiah Oliver, who had joined the foundation as a vice president three years earlier and had stood out for his leadership style, which included listening, consensus-building, and connecting with the people and communities the foundation serves. Oliver was the first Flint native to hold the post, telling The Chronicle that he grew up poor not far from a church-housed community outreach center that the community foundation supports.


The Ford Foundation created a professional development program for graduates of the Bard Prison Initiative, a program Ford had long supported that gives incarcerated people an opportunity to earn a degree from Bard College while serving their sentences. Participants spent a paid year exploring career paths at the foundation and getting other supports, such as opportunities for networking and building technical skills.


Real-life examples highlight practices and policies that value lived expertise, improve grantmaking, and advance equity.
About this collection
We offer a range of examples 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.
We encourage you to examine the menu with a willingness to turn kernels of ideas into something right for you. Remember to assess your organization’s understanding of the values, commitment level, and resources needed to implement high-quality listening and feedback practices. For more information on preparing to incorporate new practices or programs, check out our Participatory Philanthropy Toolkit’s Funder Readiness Assessment.