Tools for funders
These tools — which now have a home at Listen to Community — can kickstart or enhance your efforts to put the people and communities you seek to serve at the center of your work.
Start by taking an assessment of where your foundation is on its listening journey, or jump right into a menu of power–shifting listening practices already happening in the field. You can also take a deeper dive into how to run community listening sessions, develop participatory grantmaking processes, or bring impacted community members onto your governing board.
Whatever your path, also consider our Equity Principles to spark discussion about how your listening and participation practices might build toward broader goals related to accountability, justice, and equity.
Find examples, resources, and reflections about listening to shift power.
Learn how to integrate participatory practices that share decision making, build trust, and shift power.
Learn how to host listening sessions that encourage meaningful community engagement and empower those most affected — yet often least consulted — to influence your foundation’s work.
Take a look at how your foundation listens to, learns with, and shares power with the people and communities most impacted by your work.
Are you a funder ready to sponsor grantees on their listening journeys?
Listen4Good, an independent capacity-building program launched by Fund for Shared Insight, offers expert tools, coaching, and resources for nonprofits looking to listen more effectively.
Are you working with other funders?
See our three-step toolkit specially designed to help funder collaboratives advance listening, inclusivity, and equity. Worksheets walk you through identifying groups that are underrepresented in decision making and help you create a plan to start making change.
