By Pamela Shifman, Democracy Alliance President
Our friends at the Kataly Foundation recently launched the “F Word”, an honest and illuminating series about failure in philanthropy. I was honored to be invited to participate and am excited to share my own brief contribution to this project. Here’s to more radical candor and vulnerability in our sector!
“Follow the lead of movement leaders.” It was a mantra I held close to my heart when I entered the often confounding sector of philanthropy more than fifteen years ago.
It wasn’t something I picked up in a training or a textbook, but from all of my earlier work on the ground. From learning alongside the visionary members of the ANC Parliamentary Women’s Caucus in South Africa, to confronting gender-based violence in conflict zones across the world, I saw that women and girls who bear the brunt of injustice have the experience, innovation, and perspective to transform the roots of that injustice.
One of the most important things funders and donors can do is move unrestricted resources, minimize burdensome reporting and made-up rules, and then: get out of the way.
I still believe this deeply. But it was missing something fundamental: my own role – and the power and responsibilities that come along with it.
A response that sharpened how I work
Years ago when leading a private foundation, my colleagues and I began the process to launch a new grantmaking entity to address gender based violence. I remember sharing with a group of movement leaders how eager we would be to incorporate their perspectives and recommendations at every step of the decision-making process.
They welcomed that approach as essential, and it is. But they wanted even more: from me.
One helpfully candid response stuck with me: “So what I hear is that you want us to do our job–and your job too? We prefer to do our job and we trust you to do yours.”
The old adage that “grantees know best” is wise, but it doesn’t mean that funders simply take a back seat and ask others to lead. A grantmaker has power and perspective that must be put to use: beginning with a birds-eye view across a movement of organizations that no single organization holds on its own. I could see gaps that needed filling, collaboration and coordination that could be leveraged, and accompaniment and training opportunities that some might benefit from, even if they didn’t know the opportunity was there.
Leaning into my role—and power
My job was not to passively listen, but to roll up my own sleeves and suggest and strategize and challenge where necessary. That includes frank and difficult conversations about shared strategy. It means being honest about power imbalances and still being willing to disagree and grapple with a common path forward.
There were also some very specific times when a grantmaker’s power must be wielded firmly and directly, including when there is harm within a grantee organization. I learned how important it was to get to know staff and board beyond the executive director to gain a more complete and honest understanding of the culture and health of an organization. When power imbalances inside a grantee organization facilitate harm, sometimes funders bring exactly the kind of outside power needed to enforce accountability. It’s on us to use it.
What I carry forward
By not fully seeing and owning some of these lessons earlier, I lost opportunities to advance work that I deeply believe in. Failure can look like that too – not one big dramatic mistake, but the slow cost of not yet fully realizing everything you are called to do.
Funders are not on the sidelines of social change, but key actors in it – with our own perspective, knowledge, and power. Stepping into that role doesn’t mean diminishing others’ power, it means being accountable for our own.