Shifting From a Culture of Exclusivity to Inclusivity
Beth Collins, Executive Director, Sisters of St. Joseph Health & Wellness Foundation
It was working with the Sisters of St. Joseph that got me interested in philanthropy because if there was ever a group that could change the way grantmaking occurs, it would be the Sisters. I hadn’t heard of trust-based philanthropy when I entered the field, but quickly learned how beautifully the charisms of the Sisters (which have been in place since the 1650s) align with trust-based practices.
One of their primary charisms is shifting from a culture of exclusivity to inclusivity by redistributing power to people who aren't normally considered powerful, and a second one is about working towards systemic change. When I think about these two charisms together, it’s clear that we have been grounded in the principles of trust-based philanthropy for a long time. But we are still very much in the process of putting more trusting practices in place.
When I came into my role, our Foundation was beginning to look at a new strategic plan. We hosted listening sessions for statewide thought leaders to help inform the next five years of funding. Throughout that process, we realized we didn’t need to change WHAT we fund (particularly during a pandemic) but HOW we fund. That topic of HOW we fund really resonated with me personally. I came from a direct service background where I had to play the “game” of grantwriting—fitting your work into a certain word count, twisting your mission and programs to meet the ramifications of a funder, and noticing the innate power struggle there was between those doing the work and those providing funding. I recognized that philanthropy has had a significant role in perpetuating a culture of power.
We started to think about what could change to bring our values into practice. COVID pushed us to make changes more swiftly than we would have otherwise. We had a burdensome application and reporting process in place at the time and decided to immediately do away with it. We were part of a statewide health funders collaborative that distributed over $5 million out very quickly to organizations. Because the shift was relatively easy, the funds were appropriately used, and clearly our partners valued this new approach, we knew we should try relieving the burden from our partners post-COVID. Right around this time that we were looking to make longer-term changes, I found the principles of trust-based philanthropy, which gave me the language I had been yearning for.
Since then, we’ve worked the core of trust-based principles into our strategic plan. While we’ve always centered meaningful relationships with our partners, we’re at the beginning of our journey with multi-year funding and eliminating applications and reports completely. We’re beginning to replace our grant agreements (which have been very one-sided, putting all the responsibility on the grantee) with MOUs that outline mutual responsibilities while holding the foundation accountable to our promises as well.
Even though we’re at the beginning of our trust-based journey, I can already feel a wide sense of possibility. For example, we’re now starting to imagine how to use our investments to set up endowments for our long term grantees that they can pull from when they need, rather than relying on competitive grants. The vision is that they would have an investment portfolio of funds that they can pull from when they need. While we know it’s going to take some time to fully realize that idea, these are the types of dreams that feel possible when we embrace a commitment to trust-based philanthropy.