How can you build philanthropic momentum with community leaders?

I’ve had the great opportunity to work on different aspects of philanthropy, including working in a corporate philanthropy role, volunteering in my community, and leading other volunteers in various charitable projects. I have learned a lot from these experiences and discovered different ways of getting more community leaders interested in philanthropy. This effort has involved finding out what they care about, using my existing connections and networks to engage more people, talking to key leaders at events, and sharing how my projects can make a real difference in the community. I have seen how these methods can lead to powerful partnerships that have a lasting positive impact.

I agree, and the same approach should be adopted by donors (not just nonprofits). The division between the providers & recipients of philanthropic funds keeps the conversation focused on money instead of systemic changes that can remove the need for philanthropy. Since they tend to drive any conversation they enter in this space, this change needs to be led by philanthropists. They can model more effective collaboration and systems-level thinking by creating formal donor collaboratives (e.g. pooling funds); reducing administrative burden on themselves & grantees; integrating participatory philanthropy to elevate the voices of those most affected by funding decisions (e.g. beneficiaries of the nonprofits they fund); etc.

For me the first thing I do is listen to my Team Members who are on the ground and know the needs of the community. If you have employees they are a great place to start. Then once you have identified a need, you most likely have a proposed solution. Don't promise anything to anyone until you have done some deep listening. In order of listening, I like to start with: -Team members -City council -Local non profits/associations -Small business owners -Educators -Other influencers

I don't think a webinar cuts it. If you want to move the needle, set up a phone call, meet them in person, invite them for lunch. To really understand you need to show up and listen deeply.

In my experience, nonprofits can be collegial but non-collaborative out of fear of losing money/recognition. Beyond simply sharing your impact, you need to identify shared goals and rally support around those goals (which can be a way to unite donors and nonprofits together in a shared mission instead of making it all about money). In other words, do not simply collaborate for the sake of collaboration, but do so in order to adopt a more systemic approach that looks at the challenge from 30,000 feet … not from the trenches. Identify all of the stakeholders involved in the effort and create a broader initiative to engage all of them — particularly those most affected by the issue (e.g. the “beneficiaries”).

Just to add to what is mentioned above; In Philanthropy it is very much essential to have a people connect. And what i learnt from my own experiences is that we can have different connect with different individual. Every individual has different perspective and idologies, an ideal Philanthropist must have capabilities to connect differently with different individuals according to their sentiments and should have ability to connect with our own goals and mission with uniformity. The same approach applies even to have allies with different organisation's too. To conclude, I can say that allies shouldn't be only for work and network expansion but should also add value to compassion and ethics in a social community.

It is critical that the programs that you are offering are aligned to community need and drive real change in the public sector. A great deal of charitable work simply perpetuates the problems it seeks to address additionally many programs offered by nonprofit organizations are legacy programs and are difficult to let go even when they are no longer relevant.

One of the most meaningful things you can do is report back on how their particular insight changed your thinking, was useful, was implemented or caused an action. You can also invite them to an event, a kick off, to meet your team members. Consider this an opportunity to feature them and their ideas. The more you can lift up your allies and co-design, the stronger your strategy.

Another aspect of building good rapport and trust is listening to them patiently, trying to understand their background, their working style and see how can they best fit in your NGO ideologies. Collaborating with them and engaging them in Philanthropic projects would help to build trust afterwards. Lastly, expressing gratitude is more important in some shape & form. This brings strong headed relationships which works selfless .

Impact as a word gets thrown around a lot in community spaces. To be clear, if you have a philanthropic strategy that you co-design with the community and you take input - this should be a SHARED project and nothing about the impact will be owned by you. You may want to gather data and use that as an opportunity to celebrate the work that others have done and you supported, but I would much rather see it positioned this way. If you are trying to bring other funders to the table, showcasing collaboration is a brilliant way to do it.

The best endorsement of Social Impact project comes when work gets spread by word of mouth in local community. This builds trust among others and gives dimensional vocal impact to stories or testimonials we prepare. Any project's impacts should not be owned only by an organisation but need to be a collaborative effort with people working on ghe ground, organisation's with whom we tied up for a cause, and with beneficiaries too.

By bringing your allies with you along the way, you are mobilizing at every step...so when it is time to turn a campaign on - you will be ahead of the curve and the concept is not just to mobilize one network but multiple networks at once. This is much more fun (although slightly more complicated).

While it is worth celebrating certain successes, my experience is that public recognition of nonprofits’ impact can create a misperception that the problems they face have been solved. For example, securing a prominent media spotlight for a single success story can give the appearance that the problem that client overcame has been solved … or that they are a typical example of the organization’s impact. More perniciously, significant PR for an organization can create a perception that the systemic issues affecting their clients do not need to be addressed. Community leaders should highlight these successes as evidence for how solutions should be scaled via policy change — not simply funding their organizations.

I agree with what Jeremy Gregg has contributed, but would argue there is a solution to the misperception that the problem has been solved. Celebrate the successes and acknowledge the key players, but end with a call the action. "While this problem has been solved we still need your help solving X,Y, and Z" or "As you know X problem is very complex and we are taking a multi pronged approach. While we are celebrating this victory it only solves one aspect of the overarching problem. Help us continue our work...". This also allows the community leaders a platform to talk about their successes and the work they have done, but the misperception that the problem is solved is rectified.