As our nation struggles with how to commemorate the Thanksgiving holiday amid a pandemic, it’s important to remember that we humans have a natural propensity to share with one another even when our resources are limited.

Despite the cynicism and judgments of the modern age, many of our ancestors understood that their wellbeing was dependent on the wellbeing of the collective group.

In fact, it could be argued that the existence of the institutional philanthropy and charity that we recognize today is a modern representation of our inherent drive  to help one another.

Yet, while the spirit of philanthropy may lean towards a community of support, philanthropic practice is often more guilty of hoarding the sector’s resources and maintaining a power structure that primarily benefits itself while excluding those whom it should empower.

That’s why it’s so important, especially in this season, to lift up examples of those who push against this debilitating norm.

When we hear examples of funders who understand this issue and take meaningful steps to address this unfair power imbalance, it’s a step towards creating a better world for all of us who share this planet.

We created Power Moves, our self-assessment toolkit to help funders evaluate how well they are building, sharing and wielding power, to address this very issue.

Today that funder is the Stupski Foundation. They recently teamed up with PEAK Grantmaking to relay how they have redesigned their grantmaking process as part of their broad effort to meaningfully share power with their grantees and the communities they serve.

Read the full article about sharing power by Eleni Refu at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.