Collective Impact Demands Nuance

Anonymous Storyteller

I’ve been in philanthropy for several years, and prior to that worked at nonprofits and political campaigns. I see all of my work as relationship-based–it’s what has carried me through in all the jobs I’ve had, and it even goes back to how I was raised. When I came into philanthropy, I found that relationship-building work to be so important. That’s the core of my leadership style: I want everyone that I work with to feel that when they come into the office every day, they get to be themselves.

With non-profit and funder relationships, there’s always going to be a power dynamic there. Nonprofits feel they have to put their best foot forward, do this whole presentation, prove that they can measure the complexity of their work, and make a dollar go as far as possible. I can’t remove that power dynamic, but I’m always asking how I can build a relationship in spite of that. Sometimes that means being creative about what meetings look like–can we meet for coffee, or a walk in the park, instead of sitting at a big table firing off a bunch of questions? Sometimes it just means getting out of the way and giving our partners the funding they need to make it happen.

We do a lot of collaborative work at our foundation, and it can be messy. Sometimes there’s conflict, and you’ve got to be okay with that. We tell our grantee partners, “if you get in and you run up against something, or there’s conflict there, that’s probably a sign you’re on the right track.” It’s the quality and depth of our relationships with partners that makes it okay to sit with conflict. There’s also a long time horizon–you can’t say, “here’s what we’re gonna see in six months.” As a foundation leader, you have to prepare your board for that. In foundation work, you have to examine leverage points and go beyond data points like “we gave this much money to a food bank, how many people does that feed?” Those types of metrics can be helpful at times, but when you are considering systems change work, you need to look at other impact.

I love being able to fund the work that nonprofits can’t sell to other funders. Nonprofit leaders are always prioritizing frugality–because they have to, and because they’ve been trained to by the funding community. One of my favorite conversations to have with our funding partners is to say: Let’s step back. What would you do if you had some financial freedom around this? Instead of us penny pinching over specifics, what if we gave you support to develop your ideas, build your capacity, and increase your ability to serve clients in the communities you’re trying to work with? We don’t have to have perfect output on our five deliverables. I’m continuing to find ways to build more authentic and visionary relationships with partners, even with the work that feels harder to sell because it’s nascent or emergent. Those relationships provide the space to breathe, grow, and see where that takes us.

* While open communication and mutual accountability are core values of trust-based philanthropy, our sector still holds barriers to transparency. Navigating complex power dynamics and the history of oppression that underscores our field takes strategy and courage. Some storytellers may elect to remain anonymous as a part of that navigation process.