By Catherine Gelband, Chair

I had the pleasure of leading the Collective Grants Committee this year. Our three grant priority areas were Expanding Access to Arts in Schools, Mental Health and Housing and Re-Entry Support. We had forty members participating in Collective Grants, which included many of our newer WaWF (Washington Women’s Foundation) members.  Their enthusiasm and desire to learn throughout the process, as well as their added expertise, opinions and perspectives enhanced the experience for us all.  

This was the third year of collective grants under what we have been referring to as “the new criteria.”  I believe that this year showed us we are no longer in the “new” period. The grant committees worked with the criteria with open minds —NOT complacency– but with an attitude of exploration, continued learning and a willingness to grapple with difficult and sometimes thorny issues.  

Layers of Conversation

This year’s priority areas meant that many of the organizations that submitted LOIs worked with a broad client base by virtue of being associated with public schools or having substantial government funding. As a result, the examination of whether the services they provided were focused on communities impacted by gender or racial bias, could not simply be determined by a percentage. The committees had to carefully consider other indications of accountability and engagement with impacted communities. These were layered and sometimes difficult conversations, but every work group learned deeply from them. Our awardees certainly demonstrate that it was a job well done.  

While this year was a success, there are continued learnings that challenge us to change how we work so that we can honor and encourage engagement, curiosity, and connection.  Despite narrowing the grant categories, we continue to have a large number of LOIs to review in Phase one.  These numbers threaten to overwhelm the committees and undermine our ability to really chew on the issue area and consider how each organization is working in that space. The large numbers limit discussion time, which limits learning, and the time for connecting with one another. We have ideas to help pare down the numbers that I hope we will implement next year so that we can begin the grant process in a way that gives greater time for learning and engagement. 

Importance of Cohesion

We struggled this year to find the right balance between flexibility and cohesion. While the ability to participate in any one or all of the grant phases allowed more members to participate, there is a concern that a cohesive understanding of the issue areas, and the learnings that come with each meeting and discussion, can be undermined by that flexibility.  We have ideas about shortening the grant cycle calendar and creating better communication loops for including prior learnings we are considering.  Some of these ideas might also allow greater access and opportunity to participate in the Conversations Phase. Conversations are a remarkable opportunity for connection with and learning from a group of remarkable organizations and I would love to explore ideas to increase work group member participation in this phase. These possible adjustments provide us with an excellent opportunity to take our best practices and simply adopt them as our norms. 

I am excited that as an organization, we can celebrate our successes and continue to change while embracing opportunities to increase connections and encourage bold curiosity and learning.  I believe that is what we are seeking as members of this amazing collective. 

Recognition

I want to recognize my co-leaders on the grant leadership team, past-chair Alisa So and incoming chair, Bobbie Conti. I also want to acknowledge the work group leaders and thank them for their hard work and dedication—Ingrid Nelson, Jean Carter, Joyce Shulte, Gwen Colwell, Stacy Clawson, and Sharon Hamel. And, of course, I want to thank Aviva for her gracious and unwavering support of the Collective Grant process. She is a remarkable asset. 

I hope that more members will consider joining us in Collective Grants next year. It is rewarding work that leads to engaging and challenging conversations from which we all can benefit.