A Journey from Traditional Grantmaking to Trust-Based Philanthropy

Jill Miller, President and CEO, Bi3

When I joined bi3, a philanthropic initiative to transform health in Greater Cincinnati, we operated as a traditional grantmaker. There were tedious reporting requirements, intense focus on measurable outcomes, and we put the onus on grantees to provide information available publicly. As I dove into the work, I realized we needed to work differently and emphasize partnerships, learning, and what we could do as a funder to achieve greater impact. To maximize our potential, our grantees needed to be our trusted partners.

I educated my Board on the Principles of Trust-based philanthropy and challenged them to see impact through a more expansive lens.  I lifted up a particular grant partner who did not reach their original metric of reducing infant mortality by 10%, but did achieve a reduction in extreme preterm birth – the leading cause of infant death. This accomplishment was achieved by  breaking down silos, building cross-sector collaborations, intentionally listening to moms to develop a new model of care, and capturing valuable learnings.  This set the stage for attaining their original goal over time.

bi3 recognizes success is not a straight line. We encourage our funded partners to avoid solely focusing on achieving outcomes so they don’t miss valuable learnings and new opportunities along the way. Our funded partners think bigger and accomplish more when we provide the flexibility to create, learn, adapt and try new things.  bi3 adopted Nelson Mandela’s motto: “You never fail. You win, or you learn.”

As we build trusting relationships with our funded partners and genuinely understand the opportunities and barriers they face, we can start to identify ways to push on the systems-level change needed to scale and sustain new approaches that lead to better outcomes. For example, when our OB/Gyn partners shared that 60 days of postpartum Medicaid coverage is not enough to ensure good health for moms and babies, bi3 entered into a new partnership with Groundwork Ohio, a nonprofit advocacy group supporting early childhood development. Together we advocated for funding in the Ohio State Budget to extend Medicaid coverage to one year postpartum.  It will take more than programs to achieve the change we seek.

We encourage other funders to practice Trust-based philanthropy. One thing I’ve noticed is that funders struggle with the accountability piece. I’ve often heard questions like, “So you just write them a check and let them do whatever they want to do? What about measuring impact?”  Trust-based philanthropy doesn’t mean we’re not going to measure anything; it just means that we will work with grantees to figure out what is most meaningful to measure and adapt as we learn to achieve even greater impact. And before we hold grantees accountable, we must hold ourselves accountable as funders. For example, if we say we are committed to improving our community’s infant mortality rate, we need to support our partners in listening to those with lived experiences. Creating community change doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so we shouldn’t be surprised when the metrics we identified at the beginning of a grant end up needing some tweaking. We need to be open and receptive to the feedback we receive from the community and our partners, provide them the flexibility to pivot and then respond – by refining metrics and adjusting budgets. 

We need to be flexible, build trust, listen and ask good questions, and always ask our funded partners, “What can we do to better support you?” We’re still growing in the Trust-based philanthropy principle of soliciting and acting on feedback.  We plan to conduct focus groups with our funded partners in 2022. 

Practicing and growing in Trust-based philanthropy is a journey that brings great joy to the bi3 team. Building transparency and trusted partnerships, identifying new opportunities to create change, capturing and building upon learnings, and receiving positive feedback from grantees regarding our unique approach–all make the work so much richer, powerful, and impactful.