Reevaluating Practice: Reimagining Philanthropy
In 2019, the Edward W. Hazen Foundation’s board of directors decided to sunset the foundation. We were determined to move the full corpus into communities by 2025—a century after the Foundation’s establishment. We made a commitment to center the communities and organizations that the Foundation serves by asking the field to help us design our plan for grantmaking and other sunsetting activities. This initiated a five-year spend-down strategy that included multi-year general operating support, along with various other forms of assistance such as consulting, training, peer learning, and more, in response to the requests of grantees. As we approached our final months, we asked our grantees to share their experience with philanthropy as the basis of our final message to the sector. We hope you will find their insights and aspirations for the field informative. Our partners describe how the power imbalance between funders and grantees weakens the resilience and impact of social justice organizations, affecting the progressive movement’s overall health and efficacy. Their insights also reveal how funders’ charitable mindset—contrary to a justice-oriented approach—can prioritize ameliorating the symptoms of systemic issues over supporting the individuals tackling these challenges, often replicating these very symptoms within their institutions. Our grantees also share examples of effective and equitable practices from some of our peer institutions, which we are eager to recognize.
