Participatory Grantmaking in Practice: Moving from Consultation to Community Control

When we first created Participatory Grantmaking in Practice: Moving from Consultation to Community Control, our hope was simple: To offer language, clarity, and honesty around what it really means to engage the community in grantmaking. We wanted to move past performative participation and into shared power, naming where power sits, where it moves, and what it takes to shift it.

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Today, I am excited to share that we are relaunching the guide in a refreshed format. The design has been reimagined to make it more intuitive and visual, but the core remains the same. It is the same framework you may already know, now with a layout that invites interaction, reflection, and practice.

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As part of my work, I see where these ideas meet real people, real timelines, and real tradeoffs. I see where the framework holds up and where it stretches. If you’ve seen the guide before, I invite you to return to it—as I have—with a new perspective, to test it again, and to see what new questions emerge.

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If you haven’t yet seen it, I invite you to explore it now.  See what resonates. See what challenges you. See what power looks like from where you sit.

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The goal isn't perfection. It's progress. And it's being honest about where you currently stand so you—and the communities you care about—can thoughtfully move forward.

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Download the Participatory Grantmaking in Practice guide