Let’s Invest in Fullness, Vibrance, and Joy

Pamela Ross, VP of Equity, Opportunity, and Inclusion, Central Indiana Community Foundation

I've led with an organic understanding of being Black, of having worked in community-based nonprofits, and of understanding the realness of philanthropy including who has the money, who gets it, and how it’s allocated. I haven’t led with any blueprints for ‘being an anti-racist organization.’ And yet we’ve been moving towards trust and equity as an institution, even when it causes painful realizations. Trust-based philanthropy helped to frame some of the work we had been doing, situate it in a broader national context, and give me some leverage to push us further. 

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd alongside the tumult and urgency of COVID, we had to pivot and ask how we were going to care more about non-traditional, smaller budget, grassroots organizations. How were we going to make sure that the neighbors got what they needed? Part of my work from the beginning was about creating an authentic relationship between CICF and residents. That’s where trust is built. We created a Community Ambassador program wherein we pay residents to advise us on who to fund through their own knowledge of what’s happening in community, and who is having an impact. In other words, we pay them to help us learn. During that time, when we were considering funding an organization, a Community Ambassador joined a Program Officer to make a decision about whether or not that entity should be awarded money. They shared that power. And during the first cycle of that new granting process, 86 cents out of every dollar went directly into residents' hands under the guidance of ambassadors. And we figured, if we could do that during the tumult of COVID, we could do it as a practice. 

Our ongoing practice includes engaging with residents in as real a way as possible. One of the ambassadors has something called Sunday Funday. It’s his way to celebrate the community in the park with music and food. Recently, we got a very intentional invitation to the CICF staff to come. Sunday Funday is the face of community that gets left out of news, data, and grantmaking. People were playing kickball, basketball, jumping up on trampolines, doing flips and hoops, grilling; it was the essence of Black community. I want funders to start investing in that direction — in efforts that aren’t just about systems change, but about the quality of life. So yes, let’s fund education and equity efforts, but let’s make sure kickball is included. Let’s invest in people’s fullness, vibrance, and their joy. 

Working authentically in community is definitely messy at times — I would be remiss if I made it sound like we were in heavenly bliss all the time. You can’t be in community without witnessing and experiencing the real life challenges that are happening to them. It takes trust to remember that joy and the fulfillment you get from real connection to people; and that work is much greater than any of the mess.