Catchafire’s Post

Philanthropy can do more to support power shifting, racial equity, and community voice, and partnering with intermediaries is a key way to achieve these goals. A new report explores how intermediaries can transform from transactional agents to agents of transformation that advance power-building and racial equity. The report offers valuable insights for program staff looking to make important decisions about when and how to work with intermediaries. Let's work together to create a more equitable and just world. #RacialEquity #Funders #Learning

“What we are doing may have worked in the past, but it may be irrelevant or even harmful to do the same things now.” – Vu Le As our sector grapples with a historic crisis of effectiveness, the concept of capacity building is undergoing a necessary and radical transformation. In this piece, Trish Abalo and Tamela Spicer highlight the need for a shift in funding practices and cultural norms to create more inclusive, sustainable nonprofits, emphasizing the need to prioritize the well-being of individuals within these organizations, particularly in the context of racial equity. FULL ARTICLE → https://lnkd.in/gFnARCnw

For today's Wednesday Wisdom post, we recommend this Candid article by Cathleen Clerkin, Ph.D.  The article discusses the rise of co-leadership models in nonprofits, particularly as a response to challenges like the pandemic and burnout, highlighting their potential to foster diversity, equity, and sustainability. To read the full article, visit https://lnkd.in/gxJdAv7B) #NonprofitLeadership #CoLeadership #Diversity #Equity #Sustainability#WednesdayWisdom #CookSilvermanSearch

The Empowerment Paradigm isn’t just a vision – it’s an achievable reality. As nonprofits and their leaders navigate societal challenges, they should ask themselves these questions to guide their journey: 1️⃣ Are we focusing on people's strengths or deficiencies?  2️⃣ Is our approach centered on tackling a collective problem or helping an individual person? 3️⃣ How can we gather feedback from those we aim to empower? Let's enter the new year with a renewed commitment to bringing more opportunities for every person to showcase their talents: https://lnkd.in/gBHKjySi. 

History has shown us that the fight against #equity will continue as long as progress for #disenfranchisedcommunities is made. But with long-term, #sustainedcommitment, including strong #civicinfrastructure and the dedicated work of place-based partnerships to #advanceequity, we can withstand these challenges and continue to make strides toward a more #equitable and #justsociety. Read about the power of place-based partnerships in the #fightforequity on Inside Philanthropy: https://ow.ly/bFc550SzRsg

‘If funders want “less talk and more walk” in the field of systems change, it’s time they started funding small, locally led organizations.’ Why? - Bigger pipeline. - More action. - More funding. - Stronger ecosystem - via inclusion. Using scale as a precondition for support, disproportionately affects homegrown orgs in the Global South. Great Stanford Social Innovation Review piece by Lior Ipp: https://lnkd.in/g2XxBhx2. To this, I would explicitly add increased social innovation as well. #philanthropy #systemschange #socialinnovation #globalsouth

This article is so deeply spot on and the summary points you offer are super valuable, thanks for sharing Samira Khan

Focusing #funding with the intention of #SystemsChange on giant organisations is the preferred practice. But is it true that large organisations who can act on scale are in a better position to change systems? This approach is based on an erroneous understanding of system change. We are convinced that system change takes place when those concerned are developing and carrying the change themselves. And small #NGOs are and are closer to those concerned. Many more interesting thoughts and findings on this topic in this article:

Lot's of great points in this article. I've worked with hundreds of community-based organizations in my career and am confident that it will absolutely be community-based organizations that pull the levers of systems change. My thoughts: Systems change starts at home. If funders truly want to engender systems change and rethink their grant/partnership strategy to encompass smaller organizations, they should: 1) Reconsider reporting requirements to reduce the burden on small organizations. 2) Provide capacity building resources in addition to financial resources to build the ability of small organizations to meet administrative burdens. 3) Embrace missteps - if your grantee is worried about losing your funding because of a mistake or a missed KPI you will not get an honest picture of the program and you will miss opportunities for improvement. Thanks to Samira Khan for sharing. #socialimpact #partnership #systemschange #impact

Great share Samira Khan - and thanks to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors for the important underlying evaluation report the SSIR article references. Posting it here and highly encourage reading for all concerned about how to make and sustain change across issue areas: https://lnkd.in/eHfRWPgE Some key takeaways from that report to add to Samira’s post: 💡pg 15: "The risk of a foundation adopting systems change terminology and framing without a corresponding shift in practice is threefold. First, grant applicants and recipients bear the unnecessary burden of re-tooling their own language to fit funders’ new frameworks with no real benefit to themselves. Second, obscuring old practices with new language reduces funder accountability for their effects on the field. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, according to interviewees, the organizations, communities, and people at the forefront of more transformative system change are struggling to raise funds for their work. In a sector that is known for being risk-averse, this calls for a rethinking of where the actual risks lie, and for whom (see Annex I)" 💡pg 24: "Evaluation data suggest that momentum for systems change is at an inflection point, with a high risk of resistance and rejection despite growing attention in the literature and among philanthropy-influencing initiatives. Without serious and open reflection on the ways systems change proponents have intentionally or unintentionally reinforced existing patterns of exclusion and co-optation. Without explicit strategies to remedy this tendency, the approach is likely to become another come-and-gone fad in the history of philanthropy. A reckoning with these issues would require a much more explicit stance on transformation, a shift in how and by whom systems change “knowledge” is produced, and a new set of partnerships anchored in the leadership of those at the forefront of transformational work." 💡pg 52: "Systems change work requires changing mental models, norms, and power relations. It requires fostering the inner and relational transformation (of both people and institutions) and putting the need to challenge power relations at the center of systems change work." #philanthropy #systemschange