Participatory Grantmaking
Funders are increasingly looking to engage the communities they serve in the grantmaking process, but there are few resources about how to do so. This suite of GrantCraft resources addresses this gap by exploring the what, how, and why of participatory grantmaking—an approach to philanthropy that cedes decision-making authority to the very communities affected by funding decisions. The guide, Deciding Together: Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking, features insight from a variety of participatory grantmakers and shares the benefits, challenges, and strategies for engaging in this practice. To complement the guide, we’ve collected detailed descriptions of how a few funders are engaging in this practice (the ‘mechanics’), videos of practitioners answering commonly asked questions, a collection of other online media produced on this topic, and blog posts. For published resources on participatory grantmaking, visit the collection on IssueLab at participatorygrantmaking.issuelab.org. Learn from funders that have shifted power about strategies to consider, the right questions to ask, and how this approach has opened doors to greater impact.
This is a living, growing suite of resources—so if you have something to add to the conversation, whether it be a blog post, report, video, or another form of insight, reach out to us at [email protected].
Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #ShiftThePower. You can also read our press release here.
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Link to Participatory Grantmaking: Additional Resources
Participatory Grantmaking: Additional Resources
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Link to Getting Your Board on Board with Participatory Grantmaking
Getting Your Board on Board with Participatory Grantmaking
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Link to Are You Ready to Become an Activist Philanthropist?
Are You Ready to Become an Activist Philanthropist?
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Link to Whose Impact Are We Measuring? Proving the Efficacy of Participatory Grantmaking
Whose Impact Are We Measuring? Proving the Efficacy of Participatory Grantmaking
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Link to Why Let Go of Power?
Why Let Go of Power?
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Link to Deciding Together
Deciding Together Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking
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Link to Mechanics of Participatory Grantmaking
Mechanics of Participatory Grantmaking
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Link to Announcing Our New Guide on Participatory Grantmaking!
Announcing Our New Guide on Participatory Grantmaking!
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Romy Krämer, FundAction and Guerrilla Foundation
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Romy Krämer, FundAction and Guerrilla Foundation
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Wanja Muguongo, UHAI EASHRI
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Link to Insight On Participatory Grantmaking: Patricia Eng, New York Women’s Foundation
Insight On Participatory Grantmaking: Patricia Eng, New York Women’s Foundation
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Aisha Mansour, Dalia Association
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Aisha Mansour, Dalia Association
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Diana Samarasan, Disability Rights Fund
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Diana Samarasan, Disability Rights Fund
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Mutisya Leonard, UHAI EASHRI
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Mutisya Leonard, UHAI EASHRI
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Patrick Fotso, Red Umbrella Fund
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Patrick Fotso, Red Umbrella Fund
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Lina Ismail, Dalia Association
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Lina Ismail, Dalia Association
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Valerie Lemieux, Catherine Donnelly Foundation
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Valerie Lemieux, Catherine Donnelly Foundation
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Arundhati Ghosh, India Foundation for the Arts
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Arundhati Ghosh, India Foundation for the Arts
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Kaberi Banerjee-Murthy, Brooklyn Community Foundation
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Kaberi Banerjee-Murthy, Brooklyn Community Foundation
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Rose Longhurst, EDGE Fund and FundAction
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Rose Longhurst, EDGE Fund and FundAction
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Link to Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Camille Emeagwali, New York Women’s Foundation
Insight on Participatory Grantmaking: Camille Emeagwali, New York Women’s Foundation
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Link to Why Every Funder Should Consider Participatory Grantmaking
Why Every Funder Should Consider Participatory Grantmaking
Contact: [email protected]. Twitter: @grantcraft, #ShiftThePower.
Blueprint Series
The Blueprint series is a collection of annual industry forecasts about the ways we use private resources for public benefit written by Lucy Bernholz. Each year, Blueprint provides an overview of the current landscape of philanthropy and the social economy, points to major trends, and directs your attention to horizons where you can expect some important breakthroughs in the coming year.
Some ways you might consider using this series include:
- With colleagues at your organization, these publications can open conversations about the context for your work and any thoughts on expanding your strategic framework.
- With grantees, these publications can foster conversations outside of specific funding conversations that might also lend context or theory to their approaches.
- With peers and other foundations, these publications can lead to dialogue about how we as a collective sector may contribute to or challenge the predictions for the year, and if we're tuned into current trends and buzzwords.
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Link to Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2017
Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2017
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Link to Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2016
Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2016
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Link to Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2015
Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2015
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Link to Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2014
Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2014
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Link to Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2013
Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2013
Advocacy Funder Collaboratives
For this suite of resources, we captured the wisdom of philanthropic leaders who have participated in multi-party advocacy collaboratives and conducted a literature scan of how foundations talk about advocacy-focused collaborative work. Drawing on additional themes and ideas explored in earlier GrantCraft pieces about funding advocacy and donor collaboratives, we synthesized new information to dig deeper and understand the pain points and levers of success. Examples have been anonymized to ensure candor and clarity, as well as to broaden the appeal and applicability of wisdom derived from a specific collaborative example. The bite-sized articles are intended to make this work easy to reference and share, and to read either as a full body of work or in shorter spurts as is helpful and relevant to your work.
The guide, Teaming Up For Advocacy, brings the knowledge found in every blog post in one place. Browse the content as individual blogs or through the guide depending on what works best for you!
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Link to In 2020 We’re Thinking about Philanthropy, Politics, & Advocacy
In 2020 We’re Thinking about Philanthropy, Politics, & Advocacy
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Link to Teaming Up For Advocacy
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Link to Funder Advocacy Collaboratives: Framing Thoughts
Funder Advocacy Collaboratives: Framing Thoughts
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Link to What Are the Benefits of Being Part of an Advocacy Collaborative?
What Are the Benefits of Being Part of an Advocacy Collaborative?
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Link to What Makes Advocacy Collaboratives Successful?
What Makes Advocacy Collaboratives Successful?
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Link to Sticking Points: Groupthink
Sticking Points: Groupthink
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Link to Sticking Points: Personality Conflicts
Sticking Points: Personality Conflicts
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Link to Sticking Points: “My Foundation Is Nervous About Policy Advocacy”
Sticking Points: “My Foundation Is Nervous About Policy Advocacy”
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Link to Sticking Points: Agreeing to Strategies
Sticking Points: Agreeing to Strategies
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Link to Does Size Matter?
Does Size Matter?
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Link to Sticking Points: Grantee Roles and Relationships
Sticking Points: Grantee Roles and Relationships
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Link to Do We Need Staffing?
Do We Need Staffing?
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Link to Types of Advocacy Collaboratives
Types of Advocacy Collaboratives
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Link to Sticking Points: Chasing the Money
Sticking Points: Chasing the Money
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Link to Advocacy Collaboratives Just May Not Interest Everyone…
Advocacy Collaboratives Just May Not Interest Everyone…
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Link to Decision-Making Tree
Decision-Making Tree
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Link to Multi-Party Advocacy
Multi-Party Advocacy
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Link to Acknowledgements and Methodology
Acknowledgements and Methodology
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Link to Funder Collaboratives
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Link to Advocacy Funding
This project is supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and the Center for Evaluation Innovation, and is part of the Atlas Learning Project. The Atlas Learning Project is an initiative coordinated by the Center for Evaluation Innovation to synthesize and share lessons from advocacy and policy change efforts that The Atlantic Philanthropies and other funders have supported in the U.S. The project aims to help push philanthropy and advocacy in bolder and more effective directions. To learn more, go to atlaslearning.org.
All articles in this series are licensed for sharing and reprinting, with attribution to GrantCraft, a service of Foundation Center. Research was conducted by Cynthia Gibson, Ph.D., and reviewed by Jen Bokoff. For questions, please email [email protected].
Funding Innovation
This series explores funding practices and trends at the intersection of problem-solving, technology, and design. Please contribute your comments on each post and share the series using #fundinginnovation.
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Link to Open Yourself Up to New Solutions
Open Yourself Up to New Solutions
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Link to Innovation at the Speed of Change: Exploring Knight’s Tech Innovation Portfolio
Innovation at the Speed of Change: Exploring Knight’s Tech Innovation Portfolio
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Link to Soulful Innovation: Increasing Diverse Tech Entrepreneurship
Soulful Innovation: Increasing Diverse Tech Entrepreneurship
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Link to Tips from the Tech Sector on How Philanthropy Can Scale Impact
Tips from the Tech Sector on How Philanthropy Can Scale Impact
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Link to From Good Idea to Problem Solved: Funding the Innovation Means Funding the Process
From Good Idea to Problem Solved: Funding the Innovation Means Funding the Process
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Link to From Early Stage Funding to Lasting Impact: The Venture Philanthropy Approach to Funding Innovation
From Early Stage Funding to Lasting Impact: The Venture Philanthropy Approach to Funding Innovation
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Link to Fueling Innovation Through Competition
Fueling Innovation Through Competition
Produced by Foundation Center's Glasspockets and GrantCraft, and underwritten by the Vodafone Foundation.
Making Change by Spending Down
In September 2013, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies (ACBP) and GrantCraft partnered to tell the story of the ACBP spend down. Few stories of foundation spend downs—that is, spending all of a foundation’s endowment deliberately with the intent of closing—have been publicly told, and none to our knowledge using a primary medium of a blog series. ACBP’s goal was to build on GrantCraft’s strength of sharing funder wisdom by highlighting more than 20 voices connected with the spend down over the 28-month period until it closed its doors. Please contribute your comments on each post and discuss the series using #spenddown.
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Link to The Power of Philanthropy
The Power of Philanthropy
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Link to When Legacy and Field-Building Go Hand-in-Hand
When Legacy and Field-Building Go Hand-in-Hand
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Link to The Green Environment Fund: Exiting a Field
The Green Environment Fund: Exiting a Field
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Link to Getting Past the Hamster Wheel
Getting Past the Hamster Wheel
- Link to Cultivating Programs for Next Generation Donors
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Link to The Parting Glass
The Parting Glass
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Link to Thinking Outside the Box: How Partnerships Grow a Foundation’s Impact
Thinking Outside the Box: How Partnerships Grow a Foundation’s Impact
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Link to Foundation Life: Beyond Money and Grantmaking
Foundation Life: Beyond Money and Grantmaking
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Link to Communicating The Lia Fund’s Sunset Plans to Our Grantees
Communicating The Lia Fund’s Sunset Plans to Our Grantees
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Link to Protect Your Mission: Offload non-core activities and share services
Protect Your Mission: Offload non-core activities and share services
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Link to Retaining an Engaged Staff to the End
Retaining an Engaged Staff to the End
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Link to Enhancing Canadianism through a Partnership Mosaic
Enhancing Canadianism through a Partnership Mosaic
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Link to Improving Communities in Israel through Partnerships
Improving Communities in Israel through Partnerships
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Link to What Do You Do With a Couch Potato?
What Do You Do With a Couch Potato?
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Link to Transitioning Legacy: Maintaining philanthropic tradition during and after spend down
Transitioning Legacy: Maintaining philanthropic tradition during and after spend down
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Link to Archiving Simply: How the French American Charitable Trust (FACT) Prioritized Sharing
Archiving Simply: How the French American Charitable Trust (FACT) Prioritized Sharing
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Link to Why Document Spend Down?
Why Document Spend Down?
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Link to Five Steps to a Successful Spend Down: Operational Priorities
Five Steps to a Successful Spend Down: Operational Priorities
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Link to Steps to a Successful Spend Down: Strategic Priorities
Steps to a Successful Spend Down: Strategic Priorities
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Link to Debating Perpetuity: Five considerations
Debating Perpetuity: Five considerations
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Link to Our Road to Independence
Our Road to Independence
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Link to Managing Human Resources During a Foundation Spend Down
Managing Human Resources During a Foundation Spend Down The Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies
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Link to Doing Spend Down Right
Doing Spend Down Right
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Link to The Sloping Reality of Spend Down
The Sloping Reality of Spend Down
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Link to The Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies
The Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies On Transparency & Spending Down
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Link to History of Grants while Spending Down
History of Grants while Spending Down
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Link to Making Impact at a Spend Down Foundation
Making Impact at a Spend Down Foundation
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Link to Philanthropy to Food
Philanthropy to Food
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Link to The Mission of Spend Down
The Mission of Spend Down
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Link to A Generational Transition
A Generational Transition
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Link to The Transparent Spend Down
The Transparent Spend Down
A project of GrantCraft and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies (ACBP)
Storylines in Pittsburgh Philanthropy
We developed five companion pieces to stories shared through the Pittsburgh Philanthropy Project. The Pittsburgh Philanthropy Project, in association with the University of Pittsburgh, showcases the rich and varied narratives of giving in the region through comprehensive storytelling techniques, giving insight to the philanthropy landscape and approach for residents, researchers, and practitioners. We wanted to amplify these stories for the field to learn from, and to inspire other cities to tell their philanthropy stories.
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Link to Transformation at the Intersection
Transformation at the Intersection How public-private partnerships changed Pittsburgh into a thriving arts district
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Link to Listening for Change
Listening for Change How Community Foundation for Northern Ireland is changing conflict dynamics from the bottom up
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Link to Grantmaking for a Sustainable Future
Grantmaking for a Sustainable Future Lessons learned from Eden Hall Foundation’s unusual gift
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Link to Daring to Invest
Daring to Invest How the Early Childhood Initiative’s attitude towards risk impacted Pittsburgh philanthropy
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Link to Together We Give
Together We Give The collective power of giving circles