In the Right Hands: A New Documentary on Trust-Based Philanthropy

By Sebastian Africano

10/25/2024

Last week, Trees, Water & People (TWP) released the short film In The Right Hands - Trusting Community to Guide Philanthropy. 

We at Trees, Water, & People were inspired to make this film because we have experienced the impacts of trust-based philanthropy firsthand. When donors have trusted our organization to invest in what’s most important, we’ve been able to extend that trust to our staff, our partners, and the communities we serve. 

At its core, this film is about giving nonprofit and philanthropy professionals the courage to have real conversations about the long-term nature of the challenges we face, the abundance of resources available to address them, and the opportunity to let communities lead a long-term response.

In TWP’s case, flexible relationships with our funders allowed us to build deeper trust with the communities and organizations we support, created a healthier working environment for our diverse team, and allowed us to think and plan long-term, instead of on short-term grant cycles. 

As a result, we have made significant strides in advancing environmental justice. In Honduras we advanced a proposal to a congressional vote that established a new 12,650 acre biological reserve on Indigenous land, co-managed by our local partner. In New Mexico, we signed a five year agreement with the Santa Fe National Forest to allow Tribes in the Jemez mountains access for restoration and fire prevention work on the National forest. We also  planted tens of thousands of trees, hosted thousands of volunteers, cut miles of fuel breaks, and provided salaries to dozens of people, but the real impact was so much more significant than the outputs. 

TWP’s hope is that the film sparks deeper conversations and reflection among donors and foundations about how they can reimagine their practices and structures in order to better support the needs and dreams of our communities. We encourage you to watch the film, share it with colleagues, and identify some action steps that can help you deepen your impact. (The resources page of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project offers great tools and tips if you’re not sure where to start.)

Ultimately, we can get more done, and in a better way when we all focus together on the problem we seek to solve, reframe our ideas of risk to include the risk of inaction, and treat all stakeholders as essential contributors to potential solutions. The relationships drive the impact, and the impact becomes more significant when we focus on the true, long-term needs of the community.

Sebastian Africano is Executive Director of Trees, Water, & People