Strategies for Equitable and Inclusive Grantmaking

Like many diversity efforts, including women’s voices in grantmaking decisions—particularly women from historically marginalized groups—doesn’t often happen organically. Typically, it takes someone seeing a situation that needs to change and doing the work to change it. 

As a follow-up to the Women in Philanthropy Institute’s 2023 Symposium, hosted by the Indiana University Lilly Foundation School of Philanthropy, we gathered four dynamic grantmakers to discuss how they are doing the work to amplify female voices, especially women, girls, and femmes of color, in philanthropy.

Jacqueline Ackerman from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute moderated the panel, which featured Dr. Monique Couvson, President and CEO for Grantmakers for Girls of Color, Natanja Craig-Oquendo, Executive Director of the Boston Women’s Fund, and Marsha Morgan, Board Advisory Member of the Community Investment Network and Black Women Give Back honoree.

Based on the conversation with these grantmakers, here are four ways grantmakers can make sure all stages of their funding programs include the voices and perspectives of women.

_{Artwork by Toya Beacham}

See Women and Girls. Intentionally.

“Those who are the topic of inquiry should be at the center of inquiry,” said Dr. Couvson. “We can’t really engage them as partners or engage them as allies or engage them as friends if we don’t see them, if we don’t recognize that they exist.”

The first step to creating more inclusive grantmaking is understanding whose voice is being lost. Recognize who is missing from your grantmaking decisions, see the value their perspective brings to your organization, and welcome them by removing barriers to their participation. 

Participatory grantmaking has been a big part of the Boston’s Women’s Fund since its founding. But when Natanja first joined, she saw the barriers that kept many of the voices that they wanted at the table from participating. The organization was recruiting women who had spare time—which left out many of the younger, more diverse voices who had children, school, and multiple priorities.

Once Natanja saw who wasn’t there, she could work with her team to fix it. This meant recognizing and removing the barriers that kept these women from participating, such as transportation, childcare, and when meetings were held.

As part of their introspection, the Boston Women’s Fund also found that they weren’t hearing as much from younger women, and those who did participate felt that they were drowned out by the experiences of the older women. So, the organization created a space specifically for the younger people in their community to nominate causes and have agency over some of the grantmaking decisions.

Grantmakers for Girls of Color made a similar effort to amplify young people as thought leaders with their Black Girl Freedom Fund. With this fund, girls, femmes, and gender expansive youth of color make the final decisions.

“It requires a lot of work to prepare young people to have the skillsets to make these decisions,” Dr. Couvson said. “It requires us to love and trust young people to make these decisions. It requires us to cede power and say, ‘You know this community. You know what you need.’”

Once you include these voices and understand the value their perspectives bring to your decision-making process, you can approach the women, girls, and femmes of color in your community as partners, and see them worthy of investment.

Build Trust Through Relationships

“There have to be conversations about who philanthropy, as a sector, trusts and who we don’t trust,” said Natanja. “What happens when we move past allyship and into friendship?”

Seeing women, girls, and femmes as an essential part of your community is the first step. Now comes the hard work of building meaningful and authentic relationships. Through those transformational conversations with your community, you can ask how your organization can show up better and what support they actually need.

Trust doesn’t come easily with communities that are often marginalized. Show that your organization is willing to do the work—and that your DEI statement is not just words on a website—by finding opportunities to share power with community leaders.

According to Marsha, grantmaking organizations should look for ways to grow their Board and review committees to include community leaders. Be flexible in what work needs to be done and how that work should look. “If you are not listening to your community partners—or don’t know who those leaders are who are actually on the ground doing the work—that is a missed opportunity. You will never be able to move the needle systemically and make the changes you want to see in your community if you are not talking to the experts doing the work,” Marsha said.

For grantmaking organizations that are new to a community, don’t be afraid to explore in partnership with other organizations that have already built trust with the group you are trying to reach.

The Grantmakers for Girls of Color noticed that they weren’t reaching Indigenous girls with their programs. They didn’t have the relationships, and they weren’t seeing indigenous girls applying. “It’s not about whether we trusted them,” Dr. Couvson said. “It was about whether they trusted us.”

So, G4CG set out to identify organizations that the group did trust and move money out to those organizations. In building these relationships, they learned that they needed to change the way they spoke to these communities and to take a more multigenerational approach because the girls’ families are a core part of their lives.

It was like trying to visit someone’s house when you’ve never met them. “You don’t just show up. You try to get to know them and then they will invite you to their home,” Dr. Couvson said.