Weekly Reads – February 14, 2020

A roundup of timely insight from the grantmaking community and beyond.

“My eyes were opened in a new way when I became a grantseeker. I’m committed to fully leveraging that experience as we examine our application process. […] We want our grantees to spend more time serving their communities and less time on applications and reporting.”  [more]
—Jennifer Rainin, CEO, Kenneth Rainin Foundation

“A human rights approach to giving encompasses not just the ‘what’, but also the ‘how’ of funding. It’s not only about outcomes, but also about principles like participation, accountability and non-discrimination. It can help to push a company to assess and refine its internal selection process to ensure that there is a diversity of voices on a funding committee, to engage in an intersectional approach to funding and to build a social purpose within the company, which can all lead to more sustainable and effective funding.”  [more]
—Amy Coulterman

“What does it mean to be a grants manager for a participatory grantmaking program? What is different or the same as grants management in traditional philanthropy? To get some answers, we interviewed two grants managers.”  [more]
—Grantbook blog