In 2018 and 2019, GEO is developing a publication, workshop and conference to help grantmakers think through what it takes to do this work well. As we embarked on the development of these programs, the language around these topics proved tricky. Nonprofit partners told us that phrases like “grantee inclusion” are frustrating because they reinforce power dynamics and define nonprofits by their relationship to a funder. In addition, language that doesn’t encompass both nonprofits and community members doesn’t reflect the entirety of our goals. Other organizations working on similar issues shared their own struggles with the lexicon. So, we reached out to our contacts, including members, other grantmakers and nonprofits, to help inform the language we use moving forward. Here is a summary of the key results of that survey.
The Maddox Charitable Fund's original website bespoke a transactional as opposed to a visionary approach to grantmaking. Ten years later, it no longer represented who or what Maddox had become. Maddox developed a new website based on the guiding principles of relationships, accessibility and transparency.
If we want our sector to be more effective in addressing the problems we're trying to solve, then power dynamics -- between foundation staff and trustees, between nonprofit staff and program officers -- have to be better. Join us on June 21 to break down power imbalance and strengthen relationships in our sector.
We were so excited to welcome so many thought leaders to GEO’s 2018 National Conference — and that many took the time to share their takeaways after the conference. We’ve collected those posts here.
Complex, systemic challenges require sophisticated, long-term strategies to address them. The same is true for ending structural racism, and philanthropy is starting to get much more real about its obligation to address inequity and racism.
In this post-2018 National Conference reflection, Ellen Solowey, program officer at Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, discusses acknowledging discomfort and considers how Piper Trust will continue to build on its collaboration and capacity building efforts to achieve transformational change.
Welcome to the recap of Day 3 of GEO's 2018 National Conference! if you missed something during the day or you aren't able to join us in person in San Francisco, check out today's recap by Pia Infante, co-executive director of The Whitman Institute.
Welcome to the recap of Day 2 of GEO's 2018 National Conference! If you missed something during the day or you aren't able to join us in person in San Francisco, check out today's recap by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, co-director of the Building Movement Project.
Welcome to the recap of Day 1 of GEO's 2018 National Conference! It was a thought-provoking day as our community gathered to open the conference. If you missed something during the day or you aren't able to join us in person in San Francisco, check out today's recap by Kathy Reich, director, building institutions and networks at the Ford Foundation.
At the beginning of the year, we kicked off our first post in our 20th Anniversary series by highlighting some of the areas where we have made meaningful progress together and where we hope to continue deepening the power of our community. As we approach GEO’s 2018 National Conference, there are many opportunities for continued reflection.
