We Work Best in Community With One Another

We Work Best in Community With One Another
By Reggie Shuford

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend a convening in Georgia with leaders of other foundations from around the country. Convened by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, the small gathering (or “Leaders Lab”) was an opportunity for those of us in attendance to learn from each other and share our own experiences with embracing trust-based philanthropy as a guide for how we do our work. A primary goal of the convening was to walk away with actionable ideas.

Whether or not a foundation uses the trust-based philanthropy (TBP) terminology, the practice is based on a specific set of principles. As funders, we recognize that our grantee partners are the experts in their areas of work. Our role is to be sure that our partners have the resources they need to implement their missions. We emphasize broad, multi-year support for organizations more than funding specific, short-term projects and simplify what we ask of our grantee partners by way of applying and reporting. TBP is intended to be flexible and adaptive. It should vary with each partner.

On the first full day of the convening, I had the opportunity to share our "Philadelphia Story" alongside two others from our community, outlining the ways in which Philadelphia-based foundations have begun working together to grow TBP in our region. To our surprise, it turns out our collaboration is much farther along than most. In particular, I was asked to share some of the lessons I have learned from our collaboration:

• Learning is perpetual. Trust-based philanthropy is really about relationships. As with all relationships, there is always room for improvement, and there are things we can learn to fortify those relationships. 
• This work has to be intentional. It requires patience and persistence. 
• Small, data-driven projects matter, as do small wins.
• There appears to be a gender disparity among trust-based practitioners. There is ample space for more men to embrace TBP.
• This work is better done in community. It’s more effective and more fun. 

Interestingly, the convening was held in Stone Mountain, Georgia. If you’re not familiar with Stone Mountain, it has a lot of significance, particularly for those of us growing up in the South. (I was born and raised in Wilmington, NC, a place about which I have written extensively.) Stone Mountain is the home of the largest memorial to the Confederacy, a massive carving of Confederate leaders carved into the side of a mountain. It is also the most visited tourist site in Georgia.

To be able to pivot and adapt is a feature of TBP. And while the location of our gathering was honestly a little unsettling at first, I realized that our locale brought into sharp relief the challenges we face as a nation. So much of the work of our grantee partners is to close societal gaps and minimize the impact of those challenges. And they often do that work in unfriendly environments. 

I also made peace with where we were for another reason: so that I didn’t lose my sense of belonging and the convening’s greater purpose, which was to walk away with concrete action plans to grow TBP across the country. To that end, the three Philadelphia participants agreed to work with attendees from other regions across the country to spark in their communities some of the initiatives we have started locally.

At the convening’s conclusion, the value of doing this work in community - with fellow funders, with grantee partners, with civic leaders (both government and corporate) - was reaffirmed for me. We maximize our impact when we are connected to each other. No one person has all the answers; when we build relationships and break down silos, we get closer to our goals. And it’s invigorating to work with people who are committed to the same things. I left the convening deeply inspired to double down on what we already have begun in Philadelphia.