Fund the Learning

Many of you know that I spent a good portion of my career at the Canadian Women's Foundation. One thing that shaped my understanding of equity in philanthropy early on was their approach to funding. They didn't just fund programs. They funded capacity, both leadership capacity and organizational capacity. Once organizations received multi-year grants, they could also apply for additional funding to support staff learning, operational efficiency, or service enhancements.

That was over 20 years ago, and a recent article in The Philanthropist makes the case today: strategic planning, operational development, and staff learning are not overhead. They are equity issues. And right now, many smaller, equity-focused nonprofits are being asked to do transformational work without the resources to plan, learn, or build toward it.

Funders continue to invest in what is visible and measurable, like programs, outputs, and deliverables. The less visible work, governance development, strategic planning, equity action plans, GBA+ training, gets overlooked and treated as something organizations should figure out on their own time, with their own resources.

But that is not neutral. It is structural. When funders are asking questions about planning, governance, and policy development, and expecting the same level of capacity from grassroots organizations as they do from larger, well-established ones, that is a power imbalance.

I see it in my own work, smaller organizations, often led by and serving equity-deserving communities, don't have the funds to conduct comprehensive strategic plans, offer governance training, or complete a policy review. Consequently, they miss opportunities and fall further behind while larger organizations continue to grow.

At the Canadian Women's Foundation, the goal was to build the capacity of the sector as a whole. The more strong leaders, teams, and services, the better the outcomes for women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Funding the plan is funding the mission. Funding the learning is funding the impact.

To funders: consider what you are making possible and what you are making harder.

To nonprofit leaders: ask for what you actually need to do this work well.

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Good work cultures don't happen by accident. Chanel Grenaway & Associates Inc. works with leaders, staff teams, and boards to design cultures of belonging, equity, and contribution.