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PEAK Grantmaking

Looking Down the Road Ahead

We have filled this edition of the Journal with perspectives that illuminate the shared experiences of grantmaking professionals as they have grown their strategic influence in the field. As you continue on your own career journey, know that you occupy a unique position from which to transform philanthropy. Unlocking that power and seeing yourself as a leader is easier and less lonely when you can find support within the larger community of grantmaking professionals.

In closing, let’s reflect on some of the key themes with insights from our larger community, starting with these words from EPIP’s Storme Gray:

“Liberated leadership looks like me. It looks like you. It looks like all of us. Imperfect, but striving for progress. It looks like the people we would be if we didn’t have to worry about being judged or deemed unworthy. It looks like self-awareness, mutual accountability, vulnerability, humility, and trust.”
“Leadership Re/Imagined,” Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy

Expect a challenging start

“Young nonprofit… workers feel the pain of low-paying, entry-level jobs more than professionals from preceding generations did when they started their careers. Across different age groups, younger respondents are more likely to report financial barriers to entry than older respondents. Millennials are pinched financially in ways that previous generations were not, and may be more likely to perceive low-paying, entry-level jobs as a particularly high hurdle to scale to do mission-driven work.”
Investing in Equity in the Nonprofit Workforce, Fund the People

“When beginning nonprofit careers, for example, people of color were more likely to lack: the connections with people in hiring roles; recruitment events within their communities; skills or experience needed to enter (or advance through) the field; [and] degree requirements for advertised positions.”
Investing in Equity in the Nonprofit Workforce, Fund the People

Build connections to break down barriers and enrich your growth

“In today’s fast-changing, technologically enabled global workplaces, the notion of mentoring as a formal relationship, with one more senior person in the organization who can provide the guidance, exposure and opportunities needed, is an outdated paradigm. Instead, [help] employees understand how to build and cultivate a developmental network which they describe as a more informal, small group of people who serve as an employee’s ‘personal board of directors.’ This small network is better positioned to provide the person with the necessary guidance and support needed to foster development.”
How Millennials Navigate Their Careers, Boston College Center for Work and Family 

“Social change cannot happen at an individual level when we work in silos. It happens when we are connected to others. Our bodies, nature, and organizations all [create] ecosystems. As Grace Lee Boggs reminds us: ‘We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of ‘critical mass.’ It’s always about critical connections.’”
“The Social Ecosystem Map,” Building Movement Project 

Lead with a focus on the future

“Stop loving the problem. Avoid making whatever problem or social issue that you’re trying to solve the sole focus of your work. Your discussions (both internally and with grantees) should be about what is being built in addition to what is being overcome.

“Look for the future in the present. Make time to look at trends, best practices, and places where the changes you want to implement are already happening. You can always learn from the work of others.

“Share trends within your organization. This can be done through digital tools like Chatter in Salesforce, Slack, and Evernote, or through discussion at staff meetings. Try to build an institutional habit of looking for and noting changes in the world around you.

“The time to look forward is now. Try out new ideas quickly within your programs or grant-making and learn from both the successes and the failures. Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from creating change.”
“Four Things We Learned From Emerging Post-Pandemic: Being a Future-Focused Leader Now,” Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy

How PEAK’s “Mighty Midwest” chapter fosters peer learning communities 

One of the ways that PEAK Midwest shares opportunities for connection is through PAYS, an acronym for peers at your service. It can be thought of as a unique benefit of being a member of one of the largest PEAK regions in the country, with more than 750 members. PAYS encourages us all to connect with fellow Midwest regional members to share resources, learn, engage, and network.

Quinn Hanzel, grants manager for the MacArthur Foundation, shared an example of PAYS in action. In July 2019, their grants management team hosted counterparts from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies for an intensive, half-day peer exchange. As Quinn reports, “while the teams may have differed in terms of collective years of experience, both groups benefited enormously from the exchange, sharing technical system knowledge, tips, and tricks, as continued communication with new friends and colleagues.”
—TeQuion Brookins