Sharing Power To Advance Impact: The Promise of Trust-Based Philanthropy

As the challenges of the past year have illuminated, effective philanthropy relies on partnership, dialogue, and transparency with nonprofits and communities. It also requires grantmakers to reexamine traditional practices in service of a healthier and more equitable nonprofit sector. As a result, more and more funders are taking steps to embrace trust-based philanthropy, a values-based approach that intentionally addresses the inherent power imbalances in our work by advocating for multi-year unrestricted funding, streamlined paperwork, and grantee partnerships rooted in mutual learning.

But what is the process of building trust and mutual accountability with nonprofit partners? What does it actually look like to operationalize grantmaking practices that are power-aware and equity-focused? And what, ultimately, does the sector gain if more and more funders intentionally embrace a trust-based approach?

Join us for a discussion with two foundation leaders who have embedded trust-based values and practices into their work, as they share what they're doing, what they are learning, and what is possible when funders commit to giving up some control in service of healthier and stronger nonprofits and communities. The discussion will be moderated by Shaady Saledi, Executive Director of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project. 

---

Speakers

Shaady Salehi, Director, Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

Shaady Salehi is a strategist, facilitator, and network builder who has dedicated nearly two decades to the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as the director of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, a learning and advocacy initiative to make trust-based practices the norm in the philanthropic sector. She is also Principal and Founder of Skyview Strategies, a social impact consultancy for nonprofits, foundations, and changemakers. Her work in the nonprofit sector has spanned many roles -- from department head, to executive director, to board member -- and her main body of work has centered on using film, media, and strategic communications to advance social change. 

Previously, Shaady was Managing Director of Distribution and Impact at ITVS, where she led a team to advance the reach and impact of documentaries on public television. Prior to ITVS, she was Executive Director of Active Voice, a pioneering organization that uses storytelling to catalyze social change. Shaady is a 2014 Aspen Institute Fellow and sits on the board of Let It Ripple, a nonprofit that experiments with collaborative filmmaking for the common good. She holds an M.S. in Strategic Communications from Columbia University, and an M.A. in Anthropology from UC Davis. 


Carrie Avery, President, Durfee Foundation

Carrie Avery is President of the Durfee Foundation in Los Angeles, California, a family foundation that focuses on leadership by providing fellowships, grants to new organizations and sabbaticals to long-time nonprofit leaders.

Prior to working for the Durfee Foundation, Carrie practiced law, first with the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C., and later with a private firm in San Francisco.

Carrie received her B.A. from Stanford University, her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and was a Georgetown University Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow. She serves on the boards and executive committees of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, where she is governance chair, and the Berkeley Repertory Theater, where she is vice chair. She has also served as board chair of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, and Northern California Grantmakers, where she founded and for several years chaired the Family Philanthropy Exchange, co-chair of St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, California, and co-chair of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
 

John Brothers, President, T. Rowe Price Foundation

John Brothers currently serves as the President of the T. Rowe Price Foundation and President of the Program for Charitable Giving. Dr. Brothers comes to T. Rowe Price from Quidoo Consulting, an international consulting firm he started and led for over a decade. At Quidoo, Dr. Brothers was responsible for growing the firm and working with over 400 clients in twelve countries throughout the globe.

Dr. Brothers has a Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University, an MPA in Nonprofit Management from New York University and an MBA in Public Policy from American Public University from which he started at Columbia. He has taken additional studies at Georgetown University and the London School of Economics. He served as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University and New York University and recently served as a Visiting Scholar at the Hauser Center at Harvard University. He is currently serving as an International Advisor to CO3, an intermediary organization serving Northern Ireland.