“When philanthropy partners, communities prosper.” This was the guiding mantra that tied together this year’s Exponent Philanthropy conference in Baltimore, MD that we attended earlier this fall. Every year, Exponent gathers funders from across the country to learn, share, evaluate, and discover their potential to improve their philanthropy. This year was no different. From the start, we were energized by philanthropic and nonprofit leaders alike echoing the importance of centering community voice for greater philanthropic impact.

The opening keynote, Advancing Catalytic Leadership, included a panel that firmly planted the seed of centering community voice for the audience. Diana Angela Bucco from the Buhl Foundation shared her foundation’s approach of interviewing community members to understand the issues affecting them. Over the course of her first year at the foundation, she conducted more than 400 interviews to understand issues of concern to the community that could then influence investments in local projects. She left the audience with the message that “the real magic of change is people.” Diana demonstrated that, while it may sound like a daunting task, centering the voices of those most impacted by the issues philanthropy seeks to address is something we all can incorporate into philanthropic practices.

Whether through community learning calls, grantee reporting calls, site visits, or other forms of engagement, funders and their partners should be mindful of centering community voice when making grantmaking decisions; after all, these are the people whose lives we seek to impact.

Read the full article about philanthropy partnerships by Elaines Peña and Jordana Pereira at The Philanthropic Initiative.