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Participatory Grantmaking: I’m in! Now what?

sgEngage

You’ve read about participatory grantmaking—and maybe even heard about other organizations using this model to distribute control of their funding strategy and grants decisions to the communities they serve. Not sure if participatory grantmaking is for you or maybe you need a refresher on what it is? Is this you?

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An Evolution of Evaluation in Grantmaking With a Participatory Lens

sgEngage

On its face, evaluation seems like a neutral activity, designed to help us understand what’s happened, and to change course where needed. A Shared and Flexible Understanding of Impact As practitioners of and advocates for participatory philanthropy, we believe there’s a better way. It promotes mutuality instead of extraction.

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Facilitation: The Secret Ingredient for Successful Participatory Decision-Making in Philanthropy

sgEngage

In our years of talking to staff, boards, and communities about participatory philanthropy, people often talk about their worst participatory decision-making experiences. New to Participatory Grantmaking? In participatory processes, our preferred way of decision making is consensus.

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The power of small grants and deep listening to fund the ‘unfundable’ 

Candid

The power of deep listening At BWF, we’ve learned the importance of listening actively to what our grantees need and maintaining the flexibility necessary to develop cutting-edge practices that are more difficult for larger grantmakers to navigate. dedicated to ending partner abuse in LGBTQ+, polyamorous, and kink communities.

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Trends in Grantmaking: Bring Your Community into Your Decision-Making Through Participatory Grantmaking

sgEngage

That’s where participatory grantmaking comes in. By giving your community an active role in your grantmaking process, you get a better understanding of their needs, build stronger relationships, and have a more direct impact. What is Participatory Grantmaking? And several ways not to do it.

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Grantmaking: What’s Participation Got to Do with It?

sgEngage

Lots of grantmakers are intrigued by participatory grantmaking. Participatory grantmaking invites to decision-making tables people who have historically been excluded. Why Would a Grantmaker Choose a Participatory Grantmaking Approach? So, what does participatory grantmaking look like in practice? Those at the top decide.

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Four Models for Active User Engagement, by Nina Simon

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

Nina has written a fantastic book engagement called The Participatory Museum. A third argues that the project won’t be truly participatory unless users get to define what content is sought in the first place. I’ve been using these participatory categories to talk about how we’d like users to participate in different projects.

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