Population Health in Challenging Times: Insights from Key Domains Proceedings of a Workshop (2023) / Chapter Skim
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6 Transforming Philanthropy
6 Transforming Philanthropy
Pages 37-44
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From page 37... ...
This is a time of social reckoning, she continued, with racial injustice and a history that "demands transformation in philanthropic practice, policy, and investment." There is also economic uncertainty, concerns about American democracy, and a range of other challenges. She introduced the panel: Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, chief executive officer of the Latino Community Foundation; William Buster, vice president of Saint David's Foundation; Marion Standish, vice president for enterprise programs at The California Endowment; Rose Green, senior program officer at the Colorado Health Foundation; and Michelle Larkin, associate executive vice president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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From page 38... ...
Marion Standish reflected on the historical context for the current time and emphasized that the truth is finally "being seen and heard on issues and challenges that Black communities, communities of color, and Indigenous communities have been living with for all these years." Rose Green agreed with previous remarks and shared Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s quote about the long arc of the moral universe bending toward justice.
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From page 39... ...
Martinez Garcel stated that her community foundation's focus is on unleashing the civic power of Latinos in California, and during the pandemic, it has been paying much greater attention to supporting "power builders and movement builders" and finding ways to address needs for "food, transportation, things that were happening with wildfires, people losing jobs impacted by COVID-19," and other challenges being faced by nonprofit leaders that the foundation supports. Larkin shared that the foundation spent $50 million in humanitarian aid to help families and communities most affected by the "long-term policy failures that we put into place as a nation," leading to needs for "food, housing, and things like rent support," particularly among "communities that have suffered the greatest inequities -- communities of color, lower-income workers, and Indigenous communities." Larkin underscored the earlier remarks about speed and her organization's focus on lessening the burden of reporting and removing burdens in awarding grants to nonprofits that are providing on-the-ground emergency services.
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From page 40... ...
. Philanthropic organizations "need to think about how to institutionalize the changes so people can feel supported and move up and have influence rather than just being frontline staff." Meadows asked panelists how they can ensure that the field can be welcoming of diverse newcomers.
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From page 41... ...
Larkin said that her foundation benefited from the work that other philanthropic organizations have done to get at the true cost for grantees, and it has increased indirect support to 20 percent this year and does not intend to reverse that direction, but will continue to reassess whether that is the correct amount to avoid "unintentionally starving nonprofit organizations." Standish shared that her foundation has not formally changed its indirect policy, but it is interested in analyses of the true costs for their partners and in understanding how to support them in strengthening the sustainability of the work. Reflecting on earlier mentions of "power building," Meadows commented that the phrase can unintentionally connote that the foundation is giving something -- power -- to the grantee, and that narrative can be problematic.
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From page 42... ...
Larkin added the element of evidence and evaluation to the conversation, but noted that evaluation needs to be equitable and designed together with grantees. A paradigm shift is needed to inform how philanthropy supports grantees in conducting good data collection, analysis, and evaluation to help unleash community power and support civic engagement and positive changes in communities.
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From page 43... ...
Standish shared The California Endowment's President's Youth Council as one strategy that the foundation uses to listen to the community. This group of young people also has a formal relationship with the board, which facilitates mutual understanding and better listening "to the voices of people who are most proximate to the experiences we are trying to address." Buster added that he observed that the Youth Council truly challenges the foundation's leadership, and he shared his view that more leaders would benefit from being open to working with the community in that way.
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From page 44... ...
How can foundations shift their thinking toward the longer term to facilitate sustainability, despite the many challenges of longer grants? Larkin stated that one of the strategies in use is general operating support, which may include longer duration grants, but impact investing, supervised guarantees, or low-market loans are other ways that the philanthropy sector can be more supportive in terms of long-term health and sustainability.
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