This is the third in a series of posts contributed by the Feedback Incentives Learning Group, a group of funders convened by Feedback Labs that are dedicated to encouraging peer funders to listen to the people most harmed by the systems and structures they seek to change. In this blog series, learning group members share advice for how grantmaking staff can listen and respond to the people who are most impacted by their work.

I love Abbott Elementary. The ABC mockumentary is an unapologetic look at the U.S. public education system. While it’s hyper-focused on one underfunded elementary school in Philadelphia, the parallels of working in a bureaucratic organization run far outside the school walls. The teachers want to deliver curriculum and care for students but spend time overcoming administrative barriers just to meet basic needs. Sound familiar?

Program officers enter philanthropy to connect community needs to solutions, but reports and presentations overshadow the ability to do this with intention. They consistently give feedback about not having the time, resources, or agency to integrate the effective listening practices outlined in the first blog in this series.

To alleviate the tensions and challenges of grant management, we need to change the boundaries of the program officer role. We need to recalibrate what’s prioritized and possible when working with grantees. We’ll examine what this means — and what it could look like — in this blog, and, in our next post in this series, Sarah Moody will explore how we can reimagine our boundaries to strengthen feedback loops.

Here, we will focus on how we can innovate within our current boundaries. Teachers find ways to respond to their students’ needs even when the system stacks against them. Similarly, program officers can access the time, resources, and agency to open opportunities for listening and responding between their organization and grantees.

  1. Acknowledge Your Time is Limited
  2. Be Transparent About Resources
  3. Use Your Agency

Read the full article about innovating in the program officer role by Mary Coleman at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.