Let’s Admit Our Mistakes (And Learn From Them)

Raymael Blackwell, Senior Program Officer, Caring for Denver Foundation

When I first started in my previous role with Community First Foundation, I tried to learn all I could about being a good grantmaker. I was oriented towards being a good steward of our funds. Organizationally, our due diligence process stressed the financial history and stability of the organizations we trusted to do good work in our community. It was common to hear the question, “What is the return on our investment?”  Our intention was — and remains — to be fiscally responsible, but as we grow in our trust-based practices, we are reconsidering how that should look and feel for us, as well as the nonprofits we work with. 

My professional background has mostly focused on providing direct services for nonprofits. I’ll never forget an early lesson when my supervisor told me, “Regardless of how a participant treats you, always maintain an unconditional positive regard for them.”  This mindset was extended to our partner organizations and I learned to assume the best from people and organizations first, rather than waiting for them to prove themselves worthy of my trust and cooperation. Being newer to philanthropy, I’ve tried to bring this mindset with me and indulge in the privilege of my naivete when asking questions like, “Why are we doing things this way? Should we be doing things this way?” Well-established organizations can easily get in a groove and unquestioningly do things the way they have always been done. I’m grateful we are leaning into our learnings and adopting more trusting behaviors to best serve our nonprofit partners and our community at large. The culture of the world is shifting and we have a new strategic direction, both of which have allowed us to question and challenge how we operate so we can move into the future.

Change is always challenging; it’s downright difficult at times, but worth it. We continue to learn hard and soft lessons that help us refine our approaches. For example, we recently ran a collaborative grants program designed to foster collaboration amongst some of our nonprofit partners. It was something they wanted and we had funds to dedicate towards that purpose. I thought being transparent and announcing the amount available would liberate organizations to dream up ways they could effectively collaborate and we’d all celebrate together in the end. We encountered miscommunications and programmatic shifts along the way and it ended up feeling more funder-driven as opposed to an organic collaboration. There are pitfalls on this journey you don’t know to look out for until you’re in them — but it’s important to remember that we’re all imperfect and the most important thing is to keep learning, document, and incorporate the lesson for the next time around. 

Practicing trust-based philanthropy helps create authentic collaboration and partnership. I believe you can feel that in your body. When I’m in that space I feel relaxed, have an easy smile, and I am eager to engage. When it’s forced, I’m tense and my shoulders scrunch to my ears. Sometimes, I notice similar responses from others, therefore, I strive to create environments where people feel good about working together to fulfill the needs of our community. The more we embody and foster trust in this way, the more we understand that our investment is not only in outcomes, but also in people.