Introducing Caitlan Cole + Eddie Whitfield
The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project welcomed two new team members this summer, Caitlan Cole (Collaboration Coordinator) and Eddie Whitfield (Learning Coordinator). Get to know Caitlan and Eddie in the Q+A below.
Briefly, can you share a little bit about yourself and your path to this work?
Eddie: I am a proud San Franciscan and first-generation college graduate who identifies as a Black queer man. My life experiences have led me down a path that is guided by giving back to my community and working to advance racial and economic equity. After receiving my degree in Africana Studies at San Francisco State University, I began working in the non-profit sector doing youth development and workforce development.
Prior to joining the TBP team, I was a Fellow in Public Affairs at Coro Northern California, a full-time graduate-level fellowship where I was able to gain experience across government, labor, non-profit, business, and philanthropic sectors. During my time in the fellow program, my cohort had the opportunity to interview Pia Infante, where I was first introduced to the concept of trust-based philanthropy.
As someone who previously worked in non-profits and had often critiqued the restraints that funding put on organizations, I wanted to work on dismantling the inequitable power structures that exist in philanthropy, and am thrilled to be doing that work with the TBP team.
Eddie Whitfield, Learning Coordinator
Caitlan: I’ve been drawn to and inspired by community service throughout my life. I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and began volunteering with local nonprofit organizations in high school. After college I joined AmeriCorps VISTA and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to serve at a public PreK-12 charter school, which became my home away from home. I spent a year supporting the development of the school’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) instructional model and then worked on their grants and partnerships team for the next four years. That fundraising role gave me the opportunity to meet and work with some phenomenal changemakers, while also exposing me to the issues of power and access that are prevalent in philanthropy and often go unquestioned.
In the summer of 2020, as calls for philanthropic reform gained momentum, I began researching equitable alternatives to philanthropy’s status quo and found the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project. Given my discomfort with the power politics I often had to navigate with funders in my role as grants manager, the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project’s explicit call to action to redistribute power in philanthropy couldn’t have been more resonant or energizing for me. I began attending TBP’s events and learning from practitioners who were reimagining the field of philanthropy. By the time I read about TBP’s open position, I was fully invested in pursuing the work of philanthropic transformation.
Caitlan Cole, Collaboration Coordinator
What's something that inspires you about this work/community?
Caitlan: I’m inspired by the humility of the leaders who have fully committed to ceding power and centering trust in their work. So often we’re told leadership only looks one way — the “ideal leader” is often conveyed as a charismatic superstar who has all the answers and who made their way to the top because they are in some way “extraordinary.” The leaders I’ve had the chance to work with since starting in this role are courageously forging a new definition of leadership — one that lifts up humility as a core value and prioritizes collective wisdom over individual judgment. I hold deep respect for these leaders and hope to learn as much as I can from them.
Eddie: I recently went back to take a look at some of the goals I set for myself in 2021 and the first goal was to lead with trust, and by happenstance, I am working with the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project. I am inspired by the project’s commitment to not just center trust in the grantmaking process but as a way of life. There is an understanding that trust starts internally and that influences how organizations are run, how we interact with our co-workers and communities we are in service to, and how much power we are willing to give up.
What does your vision for trust-based philanthropy include?
Eddie: I envision trust-based philanthropy becoming the norm in the sector. My hope is that in a couple of years it will not be radical to say, “you should listen to community leaders and let them decide how to tackle the issues they see on a daily basis.”
Caitlan: In my vision of trust-based philanthropy, funders see their primary role as facilitators, conveners, and connectors, rather than decision makers. This will involve democratizing their grantmaking so that communities have true agency over the things that will directly impact their lives. Ultimately, trust-based philanthropy cannot just be a theoretical concept but rather a catalyst for dramatic change — change that is not easy but urgently needed.
Can each of you speak to one part of your work, and what excites you about it?
Caitlan: I joke that I love collaborating and I love coordinating, so my role as Collaboration Coordinator is spot on! I can’t wait to connect with and learn from others on this journey, while also putting my detail-oriented mind to work on operational tasks.
Eddie: I love how solution-oriented my role as the Learning Coordinator is. I am excited about the opportunity to consistently be in a space to absorb, explore, ideate, and create.
Eddie Whitfield is Learning Coordinator at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project and Caitlan Cole is the Collaboration Coordinator at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project.