ORS Impact Report Offers Closer Look at Funder Listening Practices

Funders across the country are increasingly turning to community listening as a way to improve their strategies, build trust, and shift power. But how deep does that listening go? Who’s being heard? And what kinds of changes result?

Exploring Funder Listening Practices, a new report from Fund for Shared Insight’s evaluation and learning partner, ORS Impact, offers insights into how foundations are engaging communities and what those efforts are actually accomplishing. Based on in-depth interviews with leaders at 11 U.S. foundations* already implementing listening efforts — and featuring two case studies — the report paints a hopeful picture of growing engagement and a realistic view of the challenges that remain.

Among the key observations:

• All 11 foundations cited a desire to inform and improve their practices and strategies as a core motivation for their community listening practices. Seven funders identified shifting power from their foundations to other stakeholders as a core purpose of their efforts. Others emphasized listening as a way to deepen their relationships and develop a strong partnership with community members so that they can provide more tailored assistance and resources.

• Funders use an array of methods to engage stakeholders, including working with community liaisons and implementing participatory grantmaking approaches, but most efforts do not fully transfer decision-making authority to community members.

• Funders’ varying definitions of community dictate the extent to which power is shifting and to whom power is shifted as a result of listening efforts. While Shared Insight defines community as those most impacted yet least consulted, funders tend to focus on grantees and nonprofit leaders already within their networks.

• Tokenism is a real risk. Without attention to proximity, representation, and power dynamics, funders may unintentionally replicate extractive practices, engaging individuals without ensuring they reflect or represent broader community voices.

• There’s broad alignment on values, but room to grow in practice. Even among funders committed to listening, few fully meet the standards of listening to shift power as defined by Shared Insight. The field is evolving, but deeper commitments and clearer standards are needed.

Read the full report and two accompanying case studies that go deeper into the listening efforts at Hellman Foundation and The Denver Foundation.