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PEAK Grantmaking

Learn, Share, Evolve

About this issue

With an action planner and a comprehensive suite of articles supporting PEAK’s Learn, Share, Evolve Principle, this supersized edition of the Journal is designed to support you in answering this three-part call to action and transform grantmaking in the process.

The complete edition of our latest Journal is exclusively available to PEAK members as a PDF or online. Select articles are open to the community.

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What's Inside

Letter from the Editors

Transform philanthropy.

That’s the collective vision of the PEAK Grantmaking community. It inspires us to be change agents for our organizations and the sector, guided by the Principles as a values-driven, equity-centered road map. And it sparks us to be emergent learners, creating cultures of collaboration and curiosity.
This edition of the Journal is dedicated to PEAK Grantmaking’s Learn, Share, Evolve Principle—and, throughout this supersized issue, we illuminate how this three-part call to action can yield results in transforming grantmaking practice. Inside, you’ll find an action planner, reflections on promising trends and practices, how-to guides, and stories from the field about how our member community is putting this Principle into practice.
We offer deep appreciation to guest editors Janet Camarena, Traci Johnson, and Anthony Simmons, and to board liaison Eusebio Díaz, who partnered with the PEAK team to cocreate this suite of insights and resources; and to the 18 contributors who have generously shared stories of their journeys to learn, share, and evolve. We hope you will be inspired anew by the possibilities to advance your own progress toward transformation.
Lita Ugarte Pardi and Betsy Reid
FROM OUR CEO

Three Words and a Call to Action

Satonya Fair reflects on PEAK’s journey and how our Learn, Share, Evolve Principle can serve as an engine for transformation and inspire your journey to help reimagine grantmaking practices.

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The Evolution of Grantmaking Practice Since 2020

Will the changes needed to confront the crises of 2020 result in lasting change? The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Elisha Smith Arrillaga and Kevin Bolduc say that early signs point to yes—but continuously building driving change will depend on supporting five imperatives.

 

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ROUNDTABLE

Leveraging Learning to Reimagine the Future of Philanthropy

PEAK’s Satonya Fair and Dolores Estrada facilitate a conversation with four grants management leaders—Amber Lopez, Chris Percopo, Kelli Rojas, and Anthony Simmons—about how they have seen the sector evolve over the years and what they hope to see in the years ahead.

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Action Planner

PEAK’s Learn, Share, Evolve Principle invites grantmaking organizations to actively contribute to building sector-wide knowledge in pursuit of change and impact by sharing big ideas while also being open to the wisdom of others. Use this action planner to get a primer on the Principle and learn three actions you can take to put it into practice.

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The Journey From Transactional to Transformational Relationships

Traci Johnson shares how, through trust-based practices, the Pittsburgh Foundation has been able to successfully center people despite being in a sector that historically prioritizes measurable results.

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Evolving Requires Avoiding the Traps of Ignoring, Hoarding, and Stagnating

Break away from entrenched organizational behaviors that stand in the way of learning, sharing, and evolving. Here, Candid’s Janet Camarena details the key indicators and how you can establish principled approaches to continuously sparking change.

 

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Going Above and Beyond the Status Quo in Grantmaking

Making and sustaining change is no small feat, but as PEAK’s Lita Ugarte Pardi reveals, these members are successfully doing it by taking many different approaches, from rightsizing processes to investing in capacity building.

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Participatory Grantmaking: A guide to authentic community engagement

PEAK’s Vanessa Elkan details five strategies you can use to build trust and authentically engage with grantees as true partners and set them up for success.

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COMMUNITY VOICES
Among the many highlights of PEAK2023 was a collection of illustrations featuring members of our community reflecting on what it means to learn, share, and evolve. We’ve selected a few to feature in this edition.

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The Community-Centered Evolution of United Way Worldwide

PEAK’s Satonya Fair and United Way Worldwide’s Angela Williams explore the ways in which an equity- and community-focused approach to giving is necessary to move the field of philanthropy forward.

 

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The Path to Radical Wellness: How PEAK’s focus on team well-being is driving our evolution

PEAK’s journey to create a work culture centered on trust and care has been transformational and shows what success looks like when you shed commonplace habits of toxic productivity. Dolores Estrada tells the inside story.

 

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STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Seven Stories About Reenvisioning Funder-Grantee Relationships

PEAK Grantmaking is a sharing community. Through our convenings, meetings, and online forums, we create spaces for members to share their experiences in the pursuit of reenvisioning grantmaking practices. In that spirit, we extended an open invitation to our community to share the new and innovative approaches they’ve taken to engaging with their grantee partners.
In the following stories, seven funders share about new ways they are intentionally collaborating with nonprofit and community partners, streamlining processes, prioritizing self-care, and how, in focusing on reciprocal learning experiences, they have strengthened relationships with nonprofits and better supported their respective missions. We hope that each of these behind-the-scenes glimpses will offer you inspiration while helping to demystify the change process, helping you to reenvision and reengineer your own grantmaking practices.
We posed three questions as inspiration: How does your organization demonstrate its commitment to learning with and from nonprofit partners and sharing that learning internally and externally? How is your organization investing in nonprofit staff and the nonprofit workforce? How does your organization turn insights from grantee reports into action?
A group of children and teachers sit around a circle in a pale yellow room in Chisinau, Moldova.

Empowering Refugees to Respond to Crisis and Restore Hope

Jennifer Healy shares how the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s grant partners are employing Ukranian psychologists, teachers, translators and medical personnel to provide support and solace to refugee populations.

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Four people huddle around a table in front of a brick building during a Bainum Family Foundation retreat.

Moving From Formal Reporting to Genuine Conversation

Bainum Family Foundation’s Ines Burbulis, Breanna Byecroft, and Virginia Gentilcore write on how, by listening to the voices of the people closest to the work, “we’ve opened our eyes and ears as grantmakers in ways that numerical data or words on a page never could.”

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Teenagers paint on blank canvasses while an instructor looks on. A gold balloon sign reads "Congrats" in the background.

Prioritizing Learning Over Reporting

McGregor Fund’s Vanessa Samuelson offers insight into how facilitating free-form conversations has accelerated and deepened their learning.

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Participants of the Supporting Exemplary Leaders & Freedom Fighters gather for a group picture.

Providing Women of Color Leaders an Opportunity to Heal

Elizabeth Weber tells how The Chicago Community Trust’s SELFF Care Sabbatical is working to normalize wellness practices for nonprofit leaders of color.

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A young woman dressed in a gray jacket and colorful scarf addresses a crowd during a rally. Behind her stand a group of people holding "Girls for Gender Equity" signs.

Creating Learning Communities by Connecting Grant Partners

Catalina Calle-Duran shares how The New York Women’s Foundation uses a strategic learning hub to connect grantees and to be more responsive to grant partners’ funding needs.

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Building Collective Power with Latinx Oregonians

Meyer Memorial Trust’s Nancy Ramirez Arriaga and Taryn Sauer write on how, by leaning into the richness of community, philanthropy can “move beyond dismantling an unjust system and build momentum for cultural transformation.”

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A group of people talk and paint over a table full of painting supplies.

Learning as a Lever for Change

Health Forward Foundation’s Eusebio Díaz reflects on how his organization is redfining the role that learning plays in being more inclusive of community perspectives and in setting strategic priorities.

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Finding Your People: How PEAK’s peer groups create spaces of belonging

PEAK’s Rafael Torres reflects on how, through our caucuses and affinity groups, members are building transformational relationships to advance their careers and drive change in philanthropy.

 

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Dreaming Big: How philanthropy could harness data automation to drive equity

“Our sector needs to evolve to meet the demands of our time,” PEAK’s C. Davis Fischer writes. “And data is a critical component in mapping the activity of over 1.8 million organizations.”

 

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Using Oral Reporting to Cultivate Trust, Care, and Possibility

When the Kataly Foundation reenvisioned reporting to uplift and unburden grantees, they discovered that their relationships within and outside of the organization were deeply enriched as a result. Danielle Royston-Lopez tells their story.

 

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How a Community Foundation and a United Way Adopted Principled Grantmaking

PEAK’s Lita Ugarte Pardi reports on how United Way of Greater Atlanta and Pinellas Community Foundation are embracing new ways of collaborating and approaching their work—and serving community needs better as a result.

 

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The Future of Knowledge Work Depends on Centering Equity

By making three key shifts in how you understand and approach knowledge work, you can create a tool kit that includes and honors all grant partners. Angela K. Frusciante shows you how.

 

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PEAK Community

We have been on a journey to learn, share, and evolve together both internally and externally at PEAK Grantmaking over the past few years. Take a look at our journey to transform philanthropy through sharing what we learn and evolving our practices—and get a peek at what’s to come.

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Team News

Get an inside look at how our board and team are working to support PEAK’s mission, vision, and values.

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Community News

This roundup of highlights from across our membership network features volunteer learning initiatives, community news and welcomes, peer network gatherings, new learning opportunities and resources.

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PEAK's staff and board of directors stand on stage facing the crowd and clap. Behind them is a red screen that reads "2023 Annual Membership Meeting: Reuniting to Transform Philanthropy."

Looking Back at PEAK2023

Revisit highlights of our first in-person convening since 2019 that showcase how the PEAK community is leading the way to transform philanthropy.

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Make Your Plans for PEAK2024

Join us in Seattle (or online) from March 18–20 to reunite with your peers and reimagine the possibilities as we lead the way as change agents in transforming philanthropy.

Join us