RWJF Reflects on Participatory Philanthropy

• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the latest major foundation to experiment with PGM – and last month they released a detailed case study of their pilot phase.
• I spoke with Susan Mende, a senior program officer at RWJF, about what they’ve learned. She told me that the foundation was “influenced by work done before us” by longtime participatory grantmakers around the world – and that the process has led them to consider ways to modify processes beyond grantmaking.
• “We need to earn the trust of the people we work with,” Mende said. “It’s not just about grant decisions – it’s also about our review process, or what we request in terms of assessments. Are we asking for information that we really don’t need to make a decision?”
• For more, check out Inside Philanthropy’s story on the report here.

- BW