Funders Discuss Ways to Advance Trust-based Capacity Building

Last month, Resilia in partnership with PEAK Grantmaking convened a roundtable discussion, ‘Collaborative Learning for Collective Action: Advancing Trust-Based Capacity Building’ led by Anthony Simmons, Senior Director of Institutional Partnerships, Equity. 

Simmons was joined by panelists from the Philanthropic sector for a conversation that explored how funders are deploying Trust-based capacity-building strategies with Resilia’s customized support that responds to the mission-facing and back-office needs of BIPOC-led nonprofits by meeting them where they are. 

The discussion featured Leigh Handschuh, Senior Manager, Programs Learning + Engagement at The Boston Foundation, Lutonya Russell-Humes, Senior Director, Fund for Women and Girls at Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, and Jason Williams, Principal Impact Strategist - Power at Health Forward Foundation.

After the discussion, Simmons invited attendees to reimagine a new dynamic of capacity building that drives equitable outcomes in which BIPOC-led/serving change-makers build agency in their communities.

The panelists are members of ELEVATE, a first-of-its-kind Learning & Action Funder Network that brings together 28 funders across the U.S. with the goal of strengthening historically marginalized communities through Trust-based capacity building and equity-centric data sharing. ELEVATE leverages the power of the collective to amplify the capacity and voices of BIPOC-led/serving grassroots organizations.

Here are the key takeaways from the discussion:

1. The Biggest Capacity Building Challenge of BIPOC-led Nonprofits continues to be Fundraising

While BIPOC-led/serving and grassroots organizations face a multitude of capacity-building challenges, fundraising, and their ability to access wealth, remains the primary challenge. Additionally, with restrained resources, they often lack the capacity for strategic planning including back office support and the ability to build out dedicated teams like finance, fundraising, and operations, while growing.

2. Funders Need to continue to Lighten Grantmaking & Reporting Processes

With nonprofits seeing an uptick in several needs due to the influx of grants that have emerged in the pandemic, one of the ways funders can respond to these changing needs is by adjusting the grantmaking process by reducing the amount of reporting needed, redundancy in applications, reduced check-ins, and being intentional about how funders onboard new organizations so they can take advantage of larger funding pools.

3. Ask. Listen. Act.

Based on their collaborative work with ELEVATE, and how it’s impacted their work to strengthen BIPOC-led/serving and grassroots organizations, panelists offered three critical pieces of advice for funders, and we’ve distilled them into three bullet points:

• Ask, listen, and act.

• Lean into being a partner, not just a funder.

• The work starts internally. Funders must recognize that first, the work begins internally at the foundation, and it sets the stage to help the organizations they serve soar.

4. Reimagine Capacity Building Support by Looking Beyond Western Leadership Styles

Lastly, rounding out the discussion, Simmons asked how funders can begin to reimagine capacity building, and how their work with ELEVATE has helped them do so. In the past, much of the capacity building and technical assistance for nonprofits has been developed through a Western/white-centric leadership style with an emphasis on a hierarchy where nonprofits had to assimilate into those systems and structures. 

Resilia begins to dismantle that by acknowledging the inherent power in leadership at these organizations and creating an environment with coaches in which staff can connect on their own time and terms. 

Resilia further helps funders understand broader themes of what nonprofits are grappling with, without needing to survey them. Through automated data collection and insight conversion, funders are able to get a deep understanding of nonprofit pain points without the need to create any reporting requirements for them.

Watch the Peak Grantmaking Webinar Replay and learn about ELEVATE. 

Learn more about the Resilia Trust-based Capacity Building Program