Participatory grantmaking

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Participatory grantmaking encompasses a range of models, methods, challenges, and insights. At its core, this approach to funding cedes decision-making power about grants to the very communities impacted by funding decisions. This special collection gathers the experience and insights of funders who have shifted power and builds on the wisdom explored in the GrantCraft guide "Deciding Together: Shifting Power and Resources through Participatory Grantmaking".

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Community Fund: A Participatory Grantmaking Case Study

January 26, 2023

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) Community team is committed to creating a more equitable, inclusive, and just California full of opportunity, where everyone and every community has the power to shape their future. Key to advancing this mission is CZI's Community Fund, which supports nonprofit organizations across San Mateo County, providing essential programming and acting as catalysts for social change in their communities.Since its inception in 2017, the Community Fund has supported 175 organizations with close to $26 million in grants. These grants empower local changemakers to tackle structural inequities in their communities, from the housing crisis to educational barriers. We hope that the fund — and its impact — will continue to grow, bettering the quality of life for people across San Mateo County and the Bay Area for generations to come.This report maps out the history and growth of the Community Fund, as well as the creation of the Fund's participatory grantmaking practice in the 2021 and 2022 grantmaking cycles, which propelled grants totaling $13 million to 139 organizations across San Mateo County. This collaborative funding approach engages directly impacted community members as part of the grant funding decision-making process in an effort to build trust and prioritize community voice.

Social Justice Funders SPOTLIGHT: The Hyams Foundation

October 1, 2019

Social Justice Funders Spotlights present stories of innovative, effective social justice philanthropy in action. Each spotlight focuses upon a grantmaker and a grantee.Hyams FoundationThis spotlight is part of Sillerman's Participatory Grantmaking project.

Shared Gifting: A Toolkit to Empower You to Democratize Giving

April 20, 2018

The purpose of the RSF Shared Gifting Program is to activate ownership, distribution, and allocation authority for grant funding among the participants of the Shared Gifting Circles. RSF began experimenting with this model of funding in 2011. This document shares our current best practices around creating and facilitating a successful Shared Gifting Circle.

Collaborating With The Crowd: Insights From The 2014 My LA2050 Grants Challenge

July 13, 2015

In 2013, LA2050 asked the Los Angeles community to dream up the most imaginative ideas on how to improve the future of Los Angeles. What we found was so much more than ten fabulous winning proposals -- we found that Los Angeles is bursting with creative ideas to improve communities. We released the report Unleashing the Potential of Los Angeles to interpret the trends, tools, and ideas that emerged in 2013. We ran the My LA2050 Grants Challenge again in 2014, and Los Angeles did not disappoint. This paper, Collaborating with the Crowd, shares data, emerging trends, and evaluative metrics which surfaced in the 2014 My LA2050 Grants Challenge.