“We have too many people trying to problem-solve from a distance,” says Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). “And when you try to problem-solve from a distance you miss the details and the nuances of the problems and your solutions don’t work very effectively.”

Earlier this year at the 2017 CEP Conference, Stevenson talked about his and EJI’s work providing legal representation to people appealing death row convictions, sharing powerful stories about his interactions with those who have been treated unjustly by the legal system. The plenary left me wondering: Which foundations are indeed staying connected with their beneficiaries? Why is this work important to them? How do they do it well?

CEP’s new report, Staying Connected: How Five Foundations Understand Those They Seek to Help, provides concrete answers to these questions.  My biggest takeaway from this research? Nothing should keep us from listening and here are three reasons why:

  1. First, from the nonprofit perspective, in order to be effective, foundations must understand the end beneficiaries of the work they are funding.
  2. Second, staying connected outside the foundation starts inside with a mindset of openness, curiosity, and willingness to see and do things differently — all of which is within a foundation’s control. 
  3. Third, implementing practices to stay connected is something any foundation can do well.

Read the full article about why foundations need to stay connected by Lindsay Louie at The National Center for Family Philanthropy. 

To read more by NCFP, check out their Family Philanthropy magazine on Giving Compass.