Published in Stanford Social Innovation Review

By Chris Cardona

I wish I could say it was easy. Grantee inclusion seems, on the face of it, like such an obviously good idea: Of course the people most affected by grantmaking should be central to deciding what to do with grants they receive—after all, they know better than anyone what is happening on the ground. So why doesn’t it happen more often?

There are many reasons, which Lori Bartczak explained in her introductory post and which my fellow authors will discuss over the course of this series. Crucially, the quality of relationships funders have with nonprofits and communities is central to the impact they’re able to achieve.