Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Brooklyn Community Foundation and the Power of Participatory Grantmaking
While the BCF's board retains ultimate authority over grants, the foundation practices participatory grantmaking — the practice of giving more power over philanthropic spending to the people that it is supposed to help.
For example, soon after joining the Brooklyn Community Foundation as president and CEO in 2013, Cecilia Clarke launched Brooklyn Insights, an effort that engaged more than 1,000 Brooklynites in conversations about the borough’s future and the foundation’s role. She then oversaw a community-led grantmaking effort in Crown Heights, a rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood of Hasidic Jews, West Indians and African-Americans...