Giving Compass' Take:
- Laura Steele deconstructs the idea that grantmaking must be either trust-based or data-driven, suggesting that it can be both.
- How can grantmakers change their relationships to communities to ensure that their grantmaking is equitable, trust-based and data-driven?
- Read about trust-based philanthropy.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
This post was sponsored by Submittable.
When your grant program honors the importance of community members’ perspectives alongside hard data, you power a virtuous cycle. Better relationships with community members improve the integrity of the data you collect, and better data strengthens your relationships within the community.
The first step in weaving together a trust-based and data-driven approach is to reorient your relationship with community members. You need to see them as partners with valuable perspectives. And you should be responsive to their feedback.
To build these relationships, your team should adopt “culturally responsive” data practices. Researchers define these practices as “models which treat communities as research partners and involve them in the process from beginning to end, from defining research questions to collecting and analyzing data.”
Like any partnership, building relationships with community members and leaders is all about mutual respect and genuine interest. Rather than expecting people to come to you, seek them out to learn about their unique experiences.
Read the full article about trust-based and data-driven grantmaking by Laura Steele at PEAK Grantmaking.