Gaynair, Gillian (2021). 'Participatory Grantmaking Aims to Dismantle Power Imbalances between Funders and the Communities They Serve'. Urban Wire, May 12.
From the article:
“Although the practice — called participatory grantmaking – is not new, the evidence surrounding it is. We don’t know much about what motivates foundations to give community members a voice in their funding decisions — or in some cases, give them complete authority over decisions. Nor is there much evidence on how foundations choose who to involve and whether the practice contributes to more grantees who are leaders of color and more equitable access to grant decisions, particularly for smaller nonprofits.
[…]
With support from the Ford Foundation—which is exploring participatory grantmaking—Urban Institute fellow Jasmine Johnson set out to gain insight into some of these knowledge gaps through a qualitative study of 10 funders in small, midsize, and large cities across the country.”