This is part three of a CEP blog series in which leaders from eight foundations shared — in their own words — the most important changes they have made at their foundation since 2020 that they plan to sustain going forward. These funders’ stories, which can be read in full here, explore numerous changes on several dimensions. In each post in this series, we will explore changes centered around a particular theme — be it increased focus on advancing equity, greater flexibility and responsiveness, or more listening and collaboration. It’s our hope that the stories collected here foster learning and inspire further action.

In CEP’s report, Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting Change?, a key theme that emerged was a greater emphasis on the part of foundation leaders to listening to grantees and communities, collaboration, and driving systems change. In the stories that eight funders shared for this series, we see these themes surface again.

The stories shared in this series reveal a deep interconnectedness between funders’ desire to listen to grantees and communities, their pursuit of greater collaboration, and an increased focus on systems change and advocacy work. They also describe these practices as important for pursuing racial equity and advancing durable change.

The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, for example, made clear the connection in their work between listening and working for systems change. They shared that, “In early 2020, we launched a series of online engagements called the Road to Transformation to connect and hold space with communities to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 and related, underlying issues on women, girls, and families.”

In addition to sharing out their learnings from the listening series, the Foundation described how it has “informed our new strategic plan that strengthens our identity and practice of being an anti-racist community foundation boldly driving systems change for gender and racial justice.”

The Foundation also shared that they have doubled down on their pursuit of systems change, writing that:

As a systems-change philanthropy, we are deepening our investment in civic engagement and policy efforts… We know policy is central to transforming our inequitable systems, and so in addition to grantmaking and funding research, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota is at the State Capitol every year driving a policy agenda that centers women and girls, including Black, Indigenous, and women of color, LGBTQ+ people, and women and girls with disabilities in the fight for safety, economic justice, health, and leadership for whole community well-being.

Read the full article about listening, collaboration, and systems change by Chloe Heskett and Naomi Orensten at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.