Giving Compass' Take:

• Women's Funding Network recently conducted research on their grantmaking practices, which have an inclusive, participatory, and open style. They claim that this type of grantmaking is yielding successful results for women's philanthropy. 

• How do you think practicing open-ness and inclusivity in grantmaking can help build trust in the process? Do you think the trend towards participatory grantmaking will grow?

• Participatory grantmaking is trending but has always been a big part of feminist philanthropy. 

I spent a lot of time in the month of March (Women's History Month) researching and thinking about how women’s funds feed social change. Most of what I learned reinforced the theory that women’s funds represent a unique approach to philanthropy that the rest of the sector would do well to replicate.

Something unusual happened recently in philanthropy: Bill and Melinda Gates opened their annual letter by answering 10 “tough” questions from the public about their philanthropy. The Gates’ Q&A is just one example of philanthropists becoming more responsive to the public. Funders are growing more aware of the value of engaging with the communities they seek to serve.

The Fund for Shared Insight (FSI) which is dedicated to bringing more openness to philanthropy is cultivating a trend. A trend toward participatory grantmaking — a method of listening to and engaging with grantees and community members in the funding process, making the interventions being supported more impactful.

With help from FSI, Women’s Funding Network recently conducted research on the standard openness practices of its members, yielding significant findings about the power of participation. So how do women's funds practice openness?

  • Women’s funds recruit community members for several parts of the grantmaking process.
  • Women’s funds use listening tours and other engagement strategies. Listening to the voices of community members is a key strategy that women’s funds practice.
  • Because women’s funds listen, they do some of the most effective advocacy.
  • Women’s funds prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion. Engagement and listening tours in the community help women’s funds fully appreciate and elevate the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Women’s funds’ standard operating procedure of listening and understanding a community from its perspective, empowers grantmakers and community members to be more effective change agents.

Read the full article about women's funds' practices by Kiersten Marek at Philanthropy Women.