Arm in Arm: Engaged Grantmaking in Local Communities
Wednesday, October 15, 9:30 am – 11:00 am
Redwood, M1/Street Level
Organized by Susan Jenkins, Cherokee Preservation Foundation and Tommer Peterson, Grantmakers in the Arts. Presented by Susan Jenkins; Tommer Peterson; Lori Pourier, president, First Peoples Fund; and Ken Gordon, executive director, Potlatch Fund
This session will focus on challenges and strategies for grantmakers whose mission requires them to make grants over many years in communities that have a limited number of nonprofit organizations appropriate for grant support and a limited number of individuals with the experience and skill required to lead those organizations. This session is based on the report of the same name, that interviews with approximately 30 individuals working in a range of settings, including grantmaking to First Nations, Native American and Aboriginal Peoples; grantmaking in rural areas; and grantmaking in developing countries. These communities in which these grantmakers work often have the following similarities:
- Limited choice of potential grantees.
- Limited number of potential leaders for community organizations.
- Few philanthropic resources.
- Long-term relationship between grantmaking institution and community.
- A sense that the community is entitled to the grantmaking resources.
- A culture that differs significantly from the mainstream.
What are the implications of these characteristics for grantmaking practice? First, it means that the grantmaker’s legitimacy comes from serving the needs of the community. To gain and maintain legitimacy, the grantmaker must be a steward for the community’s endowment. This is not the case in many other settings, where the grantmaker’s legitimacy derives from adherence to the will of the benefactor.
Download a pdf of the report Arm in Arm: Engaged Grantmaking in Local Communities
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