The Covid-19 pandemic upended many of the ways we live and work—but some of these changes have been positive. For example, 2020 saw communities banding together to help neighbors in need, increased national awareness of systemic racism and record levels of charitable giving. These are trends we should cultivate for the long term, and philanthropic leaders have an important role to play in doing so.

Charitable foundations are influential players because they direct the flow of large amounts of capital with the potential to drive impact and respond to emergent challenges. As foundation leaders, we have a responsibility to regularly reflect on and evaluate our grantmaking, take a hard look at how we engage the communities in which we’re investing and refresh our approaches accordingly.

Prior to the pandemic, the organization I lead, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), undertook a strategic planning exercise aimed at rethinking how we work with donors and communities. In 2019, we partnered with The Bridgespan Group to reset SVCF’s strategic priorities. We held extensive conversations with donors and partners, conducted interviews with issue-area experts and looked at trends related to our focus areas.

Because we had already begun looking inward and engaging our donors and community partners, we were able to quickly lean into our new strategic direction to meet the moment. While all foundations are different, our process uncovered four key approaches leaders can consider in their efforts to foster effective philanthropy:

  1. Prioritize local communities in your decision-making.
  2. Make sure your giving strategies have a strong equity lens.
  3. Consider giving more general operating support grants.
  4. Deepen engagement with individual donors to increase impact.

Read the full article about approaches for effective giving by Nicole Taylor at Forbes.