Giving Compass' Take:
- Shammara Wright explores how funders can lead with love and courage to shift power to communities advocating for transformative systems change.
- What is the role of grantmakers in shifting power, building trust, and collaboratively engaging with grantees who have experienced injustice and are taking urgent action for systems change?
- Search for a nonprofit focused on systems change for justice.
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Love may not be the first sentiment that comes to mind when considering the state of America today. Powerful lawmakers using divisive rhetoric are slashing programs that help families make ends meet; keep children fed, educated, and housed; and ensure that health care remains affordable. Amid mounting threats and hostility, leading with love—including compassion, humility, and generosity—is more crucial than ever for philanthropic movements charting the way forward.
When philanthropy acts with an unwavering commitment to humanity, guided by love, the field shines. From the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s focus on education to the Gates Foundation’s work on global health, myriad examples show how a shared commitment to responding to people’s needs can become a force for structural and social change. When love calls, philanthropy has an opportunity to offer tenderness, humanity, and compassion. In trying times, philanthropy must answer love’s call by shifting power to communities, building trusting relationships and collaboration, and ensuring that all grantmaking drives equity. It’s how we move through this moment with love and urgency.
Leading with Love to Shift Power to Communities
To answer love’s call, philanthropy must meet the needs of communities facing the greatest injustices. Our learning has shown that the people most directly affected by systemic barriers and inequities are best positioned to identify the solutions and actions needed to drive change. Put simply: Those closest to the problem often have the best solutions. They know the best routes and the challenges that accompany these processes, all while relishing the short-lived celebrations that follow hard-fought wins in systems that don’t make space for joy.
That is why the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has invested $90 million in community power. We know it works. Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color are leading vital movements, galvanizing people, and seeding transformative change in areas ranging from housing and health care to birthing and family caregiving.
Read the full article about leading with love to shift power by Shammara Wright at Stanford Social Innovation Review.