June

This May, GSF’s Executive Director Dimple Abichandani was invited to speak at an event hosted by Justice Funders called “A Just Transition for Philanthropy: Regenerative Relationships Between Grantees and Funders.” The event format featured a series of paired conversations between funders and social justice leaders, exploring how we can overcome power dynamics to build trusting and authentic relationships. Dialogues included Janis Rosheuvel of Solidaire Network in conversation with Deirdre Smith of BlackOUT Collective/ Black Land and Liberation Initiative and John Esterle of Whitman Institute in conversation with David Inocencio of The Beat Within.

In conversation with Eveline Shen, Executive Director of GSF’s longtime grant partner Forward Together, Dimple shares about GSF’s shift away from issue-based funding in favor of funding multi-issue power building work. She also discusses GSF’s process of bringing its values into the operational side of the foundation’s work. Dimple identifies the central question our team at GSF asked: “What does is it look like if we center the grantees’ experience?” and how our answers to that question resulted in operational changes including eliminating our requirement of written grant reports.

You can view the full livestream of the event here. Dimple and Eveline’s conversation begins around minute 32 of the recording (and the other conversations are well worth watching as well!) You may also review the event via its Twitter recap.

Our kudos go out to Justice Funders for organizing this important event, and to all the presenters who invited us into their rich conversations. It was great to be part of it!