This Community Catalyst Field Note is a little different from the others because it focuses its attention on funders’ role in the reimagination. I know from my own experience that holding power well as a funder can feel like an intimidatingly impossible task. I also know from my time in Reimagine that we can’t afford for funders to step back from that discomfort. The note explores the work funders can do to become true allies and, as allies, the opportunity and call for them to partner with pioneers and changemakers to help birth new systems centered on solidarity, justice and liberation.
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The Community Catalyst supports the Community to deepen funder relationships and access new sources of funding—when this aligns with and supports their vision. This fourth and final field note is part of a series ‘Fieldnotes from a Community Catalyst’. These notes are all personal reflections made ‘in the midst of living’ within the Community - to help us and others keep on discussing, exploring and reimagining.
I worked in private philanthropy for 8 years before co-founding Reimagine - constantly grappling with the questions like: how can funders can use their power responsibly? How they work uplift changemakers working in the margins? How can they support broader systems transformation? When we launched Reimagine, I was pulled by the need to create new spaces to foster the imagination, drawn by the chance to work proximately with some of the most inspiring change makers I’d met. This note tries to bring together these two experiences and worlds and reflect on the kinds of partnership for reimagination we need.
When I left philanthropy, I was tired and frustrated - by how money entangled relationships, and by how difficult it was to escape the complexity of power. In shifting roles, I’ve learnt that you can’t escape those complexities. You have to work through them - and to do so together - if we are to truly create power-full spaces. Whether you’re in the room or out of the room, funder power—and the voice of the dominant system—gets projected into spaces regardless. Having my voice—and my experience as a funder—within the Community helped us stay connected to permission to do business differently and keep dreaming big. But this also needed regular reiteration from those backing the Community. Reimagining our systems needs as many voices of compassion, solidarity and permission as possible.
From the outside, I see a huge opportunity for those in the funding space to commit to doing the hard work to become the allies we need for systems transformation.
Unpack your own power and privilege so you can own it - and use it well. Invest time in understanding both the realities of navigating the current system and the complexity of imagining alternatives. The reality is, it’s very hard to do this from inside a foundation bubble. Funders must find as many ways as possible to build bridges across these realities. Where possible (and appropriate), get proximate to the work you’re support. When not, find other spaces to keep learning and unlearning.
Funders being explicit and persistent in articulating their assumptions can play a critical role in supporting partners to embrace their potential (and not fall back into business as usual). The more someone differs from your standard partner profile and further away from the dominant system, the more this is true—and the harder it is for your message to be heard. Keep actively sharing your desire to challenge the system, to experiment, and create space to explore with partners how your presence supports—or doesn’t support—that.
Don’t stand back—lean in appropriately. Be humble and curious. Assume there will be tough times. Double down on support during those moments. Actively show you don’t expect processes and outcomes to look the same. Ask great questions - —questions that acknowledge overwhelm, confusion, burnout. Proactively problem-solve together.
When I think about what it would take for funders to be a true ally, I think about this video from Oslo Pride.
It shows allyship not as words, but as visible, regular acts that signal commitment— wristbands, lanyards, or stickers. Funders: what are your visible and regular acts of allyship? How do you show you are on the journey too?
I wish someone had given me that encouragement while I was a funder - and/or I’d been able to hear it from those that tried. And hope it encourages those with the funding system to keep working on getting into right relationship with power. And to use the resources, legitimacy, and connections philanthropy holds to bring new life to efforts to accelerate change—without co-opting them.
Right now, more than ever, we can’t afford for philanthropy not to use its power well. It’s being asked to step up to a big challenge - to act as a sponsor and champion to those seeking to reimagine our systems. We need forward-thinking, proactive, curious funders who have done—and continue to do—the work. And then, from the position of ally, focus their investments in supporting an ecosystem for Reimagination, including:
We’ve been incredibly fortunate in having funder partners that have been hungry and humble, and generous in their desire to allow us to fumble forward in reimagining. I hope this can encourage them as they keep travelling on this path, and inspire others’ to join them on the journey.
Mycellium
What inspired and inspires me (and might inspire you):
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