Volunteer Series, Part Three: How Participatory Grantmaking Democratizes Decision-Making

We’ve talked about the power of learning from on-the-ground experts before: Organizations sharing unique resources to expand nature-learning opportunities to more young people. Groups combining their specific areas of expertise to bring people with disabilities on sailing adventures. Environmental advocates listening to Indigenous communities about the need to protect a lake that’s special and sacred to members of the Wabanaki Nations.

These partnerships underscore a unique characteristic of Maine’s culture:

working together, sharing resources, and learning from one another are not only valued, but actively encouraged in many spaces.

For the third installment in our Volunteer Series, we’re exploring a different kind of collaboration, one that fosters community decision-making: participatory grantmaking, which engages people closer to the impact of grant funding in the decision-making process.

Bringing Grantmaking Closer to the People

In Participatory Grantmaking in Philanthropy, the authors define participatory grantmaking as “a process that cedes decision-making power about funding to the communities a foundation or donor aims to serve.”

Rather than making top-down decisions about which nonprofits receive funding or technical assistance, the authors note, foundations collaborate with community members, nonprofit participants, and organizational leaders to create funding criteria and evaluate proposals.

This model of grantmaking is still evolving. One study found that, while 83% of foundations that engaged in participatory grantmaking solicited feedback from volunteers, only 10% allowed volunteers to make funding decisions. Of the organizations that engaged community members, 88% did so to drive more effective grantmaking and 78% did so to shift grantmaking power to communities.

Participatory grantmaking offers significant benefits to organizations and participants alike. The model:

• Democratizes and broadens decision-making

• Creates a peer review process in which nonprofits get feedback directly from leaders in their respective field

• Enables more careful ground truthing, or ensuring local reviewers who understand the nuances of an applicant’s work help make decisions

Making Participatory Grantmaking Work

There’s no one-size-fits-all participatory grantmaking model. In fact, there are several processes available to funding organizations, each with different arrangements of community participation.

Yet, for any of these arrangements to work well, foundations need to establish a process and a central ethos to support the model. Funders must build grantmaking procedures around community participation, bringing members into the fold without disrupting their grantmaking timelines. At the same time, they must create a culture that values and provides sufficient time for meaningful community input — the unique insights that those closest to the work have to offer — and ensure that program officers and other staff have the right skill sets to support the model.

For PEAK Grantmaking, the model comes down to uniting core practices and trust-building efforts: “Foundations need to develop processes that foster collaboration and build trust with the community, ensuring that their inclusion in the process feels authentic and not extractive.”

Three Community-Oriented Grantmaking Organizations

We’re proud to support a number of nonprofit intermediary organizations that use participatory grantmaking to connect with communities and bring decision-making closer to the people. Here’s a look at three standout nonprofits.

1. Maine Initiatives

Located in Portland, Maine Initiatives is a justice-oriented organization committed to driving racial equity and equitable outdoor access throughout the state. It prioritizes three core things: building community around justice initiatives, awarding grants to advocates, and supporting organizers dedicated to building a more just Maine.

Participatory grantmaking is part and parcel of Maine Initiatives’ work. It’s central to the organization’s mission and values, and it’s a key tool for raising the voices of the community members the organization serves. The program offers:

• Grant-reading opportunities: Community members may apply to review and evaluate grant proposals, helping the organization support justice work throughout the state

• The Grantmaking Advisory Committee: Readers can take their volunteer work to a new level by working with the committee to select final grantee cohorts

As the “engine of [Maine Initiatives’] broader community organizing and engagement strategy,” participatory grantmaking serves as a vehicle for making community-based grant decisions and nurturing a deeper vision of where Maine’s nonprofit ecosystem can and should go.

2. Grassroots Fund

You don’t need to be an environmental professional to support the Grassroots Fund’s grantmaking. Anyone interested in the intersection of environmental work and social justice can apply to become a grant reader.

Founded in 1996, the organization is designed to collaboratively support nonprofits and individuals working to make Maine healthier, safer, and more environmentally sustainable. Volunteer grant readers are vital to that work, as the Grassroots Fund believes in “supporting those closest to the environmental and social problems to determine their own solutions.”

Indeed, staff from grassroots organizations actively participate in decision-making, scoring up to 15 applications via a digital rubric. After assessing each application, they share their scores and written notes with the organization’s Grantmaking Committee, which makes final decisions. The Grassroots Fund takes participatory grantmaking even further by allowing grant readers to submit feedback on grantmaking practices, ensuring decisions are made with equity and justice at the forefront.

3. Momentum Conservation

Momentum Conservation offers technical assistance, resources, funding, and networking opportunities to organizations that are stewarding the land for both the people and the wildlife that call it home. Like Maine Initiatives and the Grassroot Fund, the organization understands the interconnectedness of environmentalism, justice, and inclusion — and it works to support each of those areas to advance the conservation movement.

Community members may apply to help Momentum allocate resources from the Land Trust Grant Fund, which offers general operating support for land trusts that center justice in their conservation efforts.

Up to 22 people form the community grant review committee, helping the organization not only make grant decisions but also identify unconscious biases that affect its work. As such, Momentum values the perspectives of people who have historically been kept at the margins of Maine’s outdoor sector, such as Indigenous populations, communities of color, and people with disabilities. Together, reviewers from these groups help advance justice-oriented conservation initiatives — while providing on-the-ground insight to strengthen Momentum Conservation’s grantmaking processes.

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