Name
Panel and Discussion: Participatory Grantmaking
Date & Time
Monday, April 26, 2021, 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Hannah Paterson Bonnie Chiu Melanie Kawano-Chiu
Description

Session Description: Participatory grantmaking (PGM) is a tangible and transformative way for philanthropy to address systemic inequities within its own systems and society as a whole. PGM shifts decision-making power to affected communities, putting them in charge of funding the solutions they want to see. Adopting a participatory approach is an important and necessary shift from philanthropy's problematic top-down structure, which assumes foundation leaders know better than the people with lived experience they want to help. It also models the structural changes we need to see beyond philanthropy that put communities, especially traditionally marginalized ones, at the rightful center. Already in practice around the world, the time has come to bring participatory grantmaking and its ethos to scale. This session will introduce the principles of participatory grantmaking and explore how new participatory funds are designed, as well as how longtime funders have transitioned to using the model.

Session Type
Funder Pre-Conference Session