Trust-based giving. Participatory grantmaking. Unrestricted grants. Whatever words are used to describe it, the ideas are the same: The philanthropy sector is looking to upend relationships where philanthropists have all the decision-making power while the nonprofits they fund have none.
Among philanthropic organizations and individual donors, there has been widespread adoption of so-called power-sharing strategies that aim to include nonprofits in decisions about how to steer grant funding. A slight spike in unrestricted donations that grantees can spend any way they choose — largely thanks to billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott — is also allowing more nonprofits to decide how to spend the grants without interference from funders.
Most of these changes are bundled under the banner of trust-based philanthropy, an approach that “reimagines the relationships between donors, nonprofits and communities to rebalance power and decision making,” according to the National Philanthropic Trust, or NPT, a U.S.-based grantmaking institution.
About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
