Funder Listening

A Shared Mission of Collective Listening 

We are working with a growing number of partners to establish the principles and practices of funder listening as integral to the grantmaking process and the social sector as a whole. By developing, disseminating, and championing tools, guides, and other supports, we are aiming to build the capacity of funders to meaningfully connect and listen, leading to a more community-driven philanthropy, where foundations and nonprofits learn from and partner with the people and communities most harmed by the systems and structures we are seeking to change.

Read about how the work of the Moses Taylor Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is transforming through their experiences with community-driven philanthropy. And see the funder menu below for other ideas about how you can get started on your own journey.

Funder Listening Community of Practice

Our Funder Listening Community of Practice is working to support foundations as they build feedback and listening practices that reflect and advance equity. The group — made up of representatives from 12 philanthropy support organizations around the country, along with staff members from Shared Insight, Feedback Labs, and our evaluation partner, ORS Impact — meets regularly for learning and collaboration. Organizations chosen to participate have the capacity to create high-impact resources and/or to disseminate them through strong funder networks. All have a deep commitment to equity.

Learning Groups

Our learning groups offer new ways for additional staff members from our core and sidecar funders to come together to explore special topics at the intersection of the work they do and the collaborative’s priority areas and interests.

Listening, Learning, and Evaluation Group

In an effort to continue building the feedback field and support foundations in walking the walk, Shared Insight invites evaluation and learning officers from our partnering foundations to come together to explore how listening to feedback can inform and be integrated into grantmakers’ evaluation efforts. The Listening, Learning, and Evaluation Group meets virtually once a month and includes evaluation and learning colleagues from Barr, Blue Meridian Partners, Ford, Hewlett, Hilton, Irvine, MacArthur, Moore, Omidyar, Packard, and Target foundations. Please contact Penny Huang at penny@fundforsharedinsight.org for more information.

Grantee Feedback Learning and Action Group

The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Grantee Perception Report (GPR) is one of the most robust grantee feedback tools available. Many of Shared Insight’s partnering funders use the GPR. In this group, we invite them to come together and support one another in the full feedback loop, which includes making sense of their results, responding to the feedback in meaningful ways, and closing the loop with grantees. The group meets virtually several times a year and includes representatives from Ford, Hewlett, JPB, MacArthur, Margaret A. Cargill, Omidyar, Packard, Sobrato, Target, and W.K. Kellogg foundations who are responsible for their foundation’s GPR feedback loop process. Please contact Lindsay Louie at lindsay@fundforsharedinsight.org for more information.