Skip to content
PEAK Grantmaking

Through the five Principles of Peak Grantmaking, PEAK Grantmaking calls on funders to move from conversation to action in advancing the big ideas that will move the practice of philanthropy to the practice of principled grantmaking.

These thought pieces from our partners and friends will help you think more broadly about the nature of power in our sector, and how you can Narrow the Power Gap through grantmaking practices and policies that value equally the resources that grantmakers and grantseekers each bring to the partnership.

GrantAdvisor
GrantAdvisor gives nonprofits a chance to honestly and anonymously provide feedback to grantmakers across the country on their accessibility, transparency, effectiveness and the ease of their application process.

Movement Investment Project, National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy
NCRP provides concrete recommendations and actionable ideas on how grantmakers can invest in social movements at the center of current national debates.

Grantmaking Should be Grounded in Real Costs, Stanford Social Innovation Review
A grantmaker-grantee collaboration in California is bringing together nonprofit leaders and program officers to address long-standing power imbalances and start honest conversations about what it really takes to achieve lasting social change together.

Capacity Building Series, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
GEO provides multiple articles and toolkits around the importance, and how-to, of funding nonprofit capacity. Many of the tools and articles are open while others require a GEO membership to access.

Powerhouse Convening: New Doorways to Funder and Community Engagement, The Giving Practice
Experienced facilitator Ted Lord shares insight on how grantmakers can successfully convene diverse community groups to level the playing field, establish trust, address uncomfortable truths and contribute to moving the needle on common goals.

FUND FOR SHARED INSIGHT
Fund for Shared Insight is a national funder collaborative working to improve philanthropy by elevating the voices of those least heard. Their signature initiative, Listen4Good, promotes feedback as a complement to monitoring and evaluation with the goal of helping nonprofits and foundations be more responsive to the needs, preferences, and opinions of the people and communities they seek to benefit.

Relationships Matter: Program Officers, Grantees, and the Keys to Success, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
An in-depth report on how particular program officers can overcome power imbalances with their grantees to build stronger relationships and achieve better outcomes for all.

Great Funder-Nonprofit Relationships Toolkit, Exponent Philanthropy
Based on a year-long series of regional forums in collaboration with the National Council of Nonprofits, Exponent Philanthropy released this toolkit sharing the five hallmarks of strong funder-grantee relationships, a self-diagnostic for grantmakers and concrete tactics for improving relationships in the five key areas

Ending the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle, The Bridgespan Group
The Bridgespan Group reports on the efforts of five foundations leaders to understand the causes of chronic underfunding of nonprofit organizations that lead to a lag in impact, and to identify a variety of ways to address the problem.

Building Movement Project
A nonprofit-focused database of tools and resources for any organization interested in more deeply engaging constituents and community members in the work of achieving impact.

Trust-Based Philanthropy Project
The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project reimagines traditional funder-grantee relationships. They work with foundations to create a philanthropic ecosystem that is trust-based. They build and curate the tools and resources to engage grantmakers around ways to embody this approach, and why it matters. And they invite others to join them by connecting new and experienced practitioners to learn from each other and help grow their trust-based muscles.