Honoring Community Voices to Enhance Health Grantmaking

In philanthropic circles we spend a lot of time discussing the importance of how foundations can meet the needs of and strengthen communities. We expect our grants and program support will prompt change and improve lives, but how often do we end up doing things “to” a community as opposed to working “with” a community to achieve common goals? All too often our work is guided by a relatively small group of individuals: board members, formal advisory groups, and foundation staff. Fostering broader community engagement is one strategy foundations can use to identify community needs, set priorities, inform program development, and build trust and openness. Yet we need to constantly ask ourselves: Who represents “the community”? How do we ensure that our work is informed by diverse voices with different experiences and ideas?