Place-based Philanthropy: How Funders Are Accelerating Equitable Impact

Earlier this year, a diverse group of 12 place-based funders came together to dig into a challenge: how can funders lean into more effective and equitable ways of giving? With a shared commitment to learn together, they dug into five key questions:

1. How do we continue to interrogate our personal and institutional mindsets and practices?
2. How do we authentically engage communities—especially those of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), who have been structurally held back from progress—so they can shape our thinking and strategies?
3. How do we help build more power in BIPOC communities?
4. How do we more effectively collaborate with, and influence, other key stakeholders in our region, including our own donors, to advance community priorities?
5. How do we partner with public leaders and also push them further to address the root causes—not just the symptoms—of seemingly intractable social challenges?

During this free webinar, you’ll hear from five of the funders who took part in the peer learning group and discover the promising approaches they found to creating more equitable giving practices.

This webinar is presented by the Bridgespan team who initiated and facilitated these discussions (and co-authored the recent field report, “Race and Place-based Philanthropy: Learnings from Funders Focused on Equitable Impact”), Debby Bielak, Marion Micheka, and Darren Isom.

Panelists include:

• Andrea Sáenz, Chief Operating Officer, The Chicago Community Trust
• Kris Hermanns, Chief Impact Officer, Seattle Foundation
• Manuel Santamaria, Vice President-Community Action, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
• Nina Revoyr, Executive Director-Los Angeles, Ballmer Group
• Takema Robinson, Founder and Principal, Converge for Change