Many foundations are seeking more effective ways to support systemic change—strategies that are grounded in relationship, responsive to complexity, and aligned with long-term community well-being. As funding partners, we’re being invited to move beyond transactional models and toward systems that not only deliver outcomes, but also listen, and respond over time.
This requires us to revisit how we understand both equity and governance.
In many institutions, equity is still treated like a compliance measure—a checkbox on the way to doing “the real work.” But what if equity is the lifeblood of systems that are truly alive and capable of transformation?
And governance is more than oversight and strategy. At its core, “systems that sense” is a simple but radical idea: in complex human systems, governance is about sensing what’s alive in the system. Every community, organization, and network is a living system—not a machine to be managed, but a body to be nourished. And like all living systems, they thrive through their ability to sense and adapt to their environment.
When Systems Can’t Feel, They Can’t Respond
Consider the human body: when the circulatory system is impaired, oxygen and nutrients can’t reach where they’re needed. Harmful bacteria spread unchecked. Limbs go numb. Organs fail. In extreme cases, the body decays from within.
In much the same way, when equity is missing from our institutions, systems lose their ability to feel. Without equity—without information and feedback flowing from those most affected—governance structures go numb. Disconnection spreads. Harm is repeated. The system becomes rigid, reactive, and ultimately unresponsive.
The Cost of Mechanistic Thinking
In our well-intentioned push to design scalable solutions, we often rely on logic models, dashboards, and outcome frameworks—tools that treat human systems as if they were linear and mechanical. But this framing often suppresses complexity, flattens relationships, and overlooks the subtle signals that matter most.
Consider a foundation in the Southeast that once funded a youth mentorship program in a community facing high rates of school dropouts and pushouts. The reports within the organization showed strong metrics– high enrollment and attendance with strong evaluations. But when a board member came for a site visit, a local parent quietly shared that many mentors weren’t prepared to work with you dealing with trauma, and some of the youth stopped attending. The system had been built to report its success, but not to sense or adapt to other things that were happening. It was efficient–but not necessarily responsive.
When systems no longer recognize imbalance, respond to harm, or nourish what’s needed, they begin to fail the people they’re meant to serve. Institutions become disconnected: capable of enforcement, but not empathy. Capable of metrics, but missing meaning.
Governance for Living Systems
Whether we’re talking about neighborhoods, municipalities, schools, healthcare systems, or the environment—these are not programs. And the people within them are not problems to be solved. These are living systems. And the work of governance must reflect that reality.
Whether we realize it or not, people are always sensing their way forward. Communities know—deeply and intuitively—when trust is present and when it isn’t. When equity and mutuality are practiced and when they are not.
What’s alive in a system cannot be sensed without equity among all members of that system.
Equity and Consent: Foundations for Regenerative Governance
Regenerative systems arise from regenerative governance. And regenerative governance depends on the circulation equity provides—distributing power, surfacing feedback, and sustaining collective well-being.
To build resilient, interconnected, thriving systems, we must restore their ability to sense—in real time. We must restore their ability to:
- Build systems that listen deeply at the margins
- Welcome discomfort as data, not threat
- Treat dissent not as disruption, but as insight
- And center equity—not as an add-on, but as the circulatory system of governance that can adapt and evolve
For governance to become more than a mechanism of control—for it to truly sense and support the conditions for transformation—it must be rooted in relationships of trust, mutual awareness, and shared power.
The Alchemy of Consent & Equity
This brings us to the next essential layer of regenerative systems: consent-based decision-making.
Living systems grow through feedback, not command. Consent-based governance creates space for real-time sensing, honest disagreement, and shared ownership. It reestablishes the feedback loops that most dominant systems have suppressed—and makes it possible for those most impacted by harm or exclusion to be meaningfully included in shaping direction and decisions.
Equity and consent are not separate principles—they’re interdependent.
Equity ensures that all voices can enter the conversation. Consent ensures that decisions move forward at the pace of trust. Together, they make systems more resilient, more intelligent, and more human.
Join the Conversation
These ideas are not just aspirational—they are being practiced in real time by racial equity practitioners. Borealis Philanthropy, through its Racial Equity to Accelerate Change Fund, is supporting transformative governance work that lives at the intersections of racial equity, systems change, and community-rooted leadership. On Monday, September 29 at 3:00 pm ET, join Borealis and GEO for a conversation on The Alchemy of Consent and the Fractal Nature of Change: Lessons from Racial Equity to Accelerate Change.
In this interactive session, Borealis grantee partners Circle Forward and OpenSource Leadership Strategies will share how regenerative governance shows up in practice. You’ll hear examples of:
- How discomfort is welcomed as data to guide course correction
- How objection and dissent are structured into group decision-making
- How equity principles are operationalized in governance bodies to build trust and shared ownership
Funders will be prompted to surface barriers and opportunities for the mind- and practice-shifts needed in their institutions, as well as the philanthropic sector overall. Join us here.
Dee Washington is Co-Director of Circle Forward and Project Lead for the Grounded Governance Initiative. She is a facilitator, trainer, storyteller, and coach with over 20 years of experience advancing liberatory governance through asset-based community development, cooperative development, and consent-based decision-making. Her work supports collaborative leadership across food systems, community research, cooperatives, and philanthropy. Dee’s practice centers shared power, participatory learning, and values-aligned systems change.
Circle Forward co-founder, regenerative governance guide, trainer & facilitator, Michelle calls herself a Societal Transformationist working to create a world that works for all.
Tracy Kunkler, MSW, is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Circle Forward, and a self-described governance guide. She provides accompaniment, thought partnership, and field-level resources to support conveners of impact networks.
