Funders, are You Frustrated by a Lack of Progress? It’s Why We Embraced a Different Approach.
In America today, inequities and disparities are growing, not diminishing. A lack of trust has turned into mistrust. Too many voices in our communities are not being heard or valued. True collaboration is elusive. To make matters worse, national politics is increasingly seeping into local communities, inflaming culture wars and stoking divides.
Many of our communities are simply stuck, or not making the progress we need. We hear repeatedly among our philanthropic colleagues: What’s the path forward?
We’ve discovered that the path forward requires a different approach to working with communities. It is not just about grantmaking and programs and metrics. We must prioritize what it takes for communities to transform themselves and how we can actively support those efforts in ways that go beyond financial capital. This is a big shift in how philanthropy does its work.
Fortunately, each of us found our way to The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. Since its founding in 1988, the Institute has innovated a transformational approach for how communities can move forward. Today, we are all members of the Institute’s CIRCLE of Catalytic Funders. We believe an alternate approach is required to get our communities and this nation on a better path.
What makes the Harwood approach different is that it starts with a fundamental mindset shift: we must turn outward toward our communities. We must take time to deeply know the community’s shared aspirations. Furthermore, the approach recognizes that the challenges our communities face cannot be effectively addressed unless we intentionally build the underlying conditions of the community’s civic culture—relationships, norms, networks, leaders, and a sense of shared purpose. It teaches us that creating authentic can-do narratives, which so many communities desperately need today, takes “making the invisible visible” by helping those who are leading change recognize the progress they’re generating and then build on it. It also puts ongoing learning at the core of everything we do; moving a community forward demands near-constant recalibration based on what’s working—and what’s not.
This approach is fundamentally about starting where the community is, not where we wish it were. It calls on us to let go of comprehensive plans and theories of change and instead focus on unleashing a chain reaction of actions and ripples that emerge, grow, and spread over time, often in unexpected ways. It’s like planting a field of bamboo. You may not see shoots pop up for some time, and yet all the while the new roots grow and deepen and create an intertwined system of support, which ultimately enables real and sustainable growth.
We’ve each experienced in our own way the power of this approach. It is transforming our communities and our work.
Clark County, KY is a rural community that had become stuck in the past and suffered from numerous social, economic, religious, and geographic divides. The downtown was seen as a symbol of this reality. By adopting the Harwood approach, investment downtown went from $700,000 to $7 million and we now enjoy a revived downtown. Meanwhile, we took important steps to address the opioid crisis, our history with slavery and racism, and youth feeling abandoned. Because this effort shifted the norms of the community, during Covid over 60 organizations came together twice a month and took on long-standing systemic issues like homelessness and housing, education, and mental health. None of this would have happened had we not actively focused on people’s shared aspirations while strengthening our civic culture. What began in 2015 is still going strong. Everything the Greater Clark Foundation now does builds directly on this work.
In 2011, Reading, PA was declared the poorest community in the U.S. Once predominantly White, it is now 65% Latino. Like many communities, we've seen initiatives come and go without leaving much of a lasting mark. But this approach proved to be different. By focusing on people’s shared aspirations, Reading created a community-led educational equity agenda at the very height of the nation’s culture wars over education. Now, different organizations, groups, leaders, and residents have come together to produce concrete progress in three key areas: English as a second language; early childhood education; and after- and out-of-school activities. Those involved in this work tell us that what has changed is not just that there are new initiatives, but that there are new levels of trust, hard conversations, genuine collaboration, and a sense of shared purpose. And the approach is spreading throughout the community to other areas, including youth violence prevention efforts and neighborhood economic development.
In Alamance County, NC we had undertaken any number of initiatives. Some had worked relatively well; others, like collective impact, never reached their stated goals. We’ve come to understand that our tattered civic culture has been holding us back. Through the Harwood approach we are catalyzing new actions through the arts, faith, youth wellness, and bridging work. We have an entire team focused on helping to generate a new can-do narrative. What’s exciting is that not only are we making progress in each area, but the approach is now being adopted by scores of individuals and organizations and is spreading throughout various networks. It’s like the bamboo we planted just a year ago has taken root and is sprouting and rapidly spreading. At Impact Alamance, this approach is now changing everything from the formation of our internal teams and culture to how we think about and measure change.
DeSoto County, FL has been beset by persistent poverty and a lack of hope. But The Patterson Foundation has been engaging people with this approach for a number of years. One outcome is that the community pooled its resources to renovate an old, abandoned building and turn it into a much-needed Boys & Girls Club. After Hurricane Ian in 2022, people came together to support one another—and their efforts continue to this day. Just last October, over 300 people attended the foundation’s Solutions to Actions event, which built on the community’s efforts in taking shared action around what really matters to people. Now, the Harwood approach is being expanded to develop change-agents from throughout the county and to help accelerate and deepen existing efforts. Much of the good work in DeSoto has been invisible, and we are now making it visible and building directly upon it. This in turn is creating a new sense of possibility and hope.
The beauty of this approach is that funders need not set aside or neglect programs, initiatives, and strategies. They are necessary. But they are not sufficient. And their purpose and design often need to be refocused. It’s time for more funders to dramatically shift the focus of our efforts to people’s shared aspirations and act more intently to strengthen the underlying conditions of our communities. By using the Harwood approach, in each of our communities, those underlying conditions are beginning to shift. Long-standing organizations and groups are finding new ways to work together. New networks have formed to better marshal the community’s collective resources. More positive norms are being established. The work is at times slow, but it is building a new trajectory of hope as people experience tangible progress on things that directly impact their lives.
From our time in the CIRCLE, we’ve heard the Institute’s President and Founder Rich Harwood say time and again: “How we do the work is as important as what we do.” Living out the Harwood approach is a constant illustration of this admonition.
Each of us has experienced firsthand the power of both showing up differently and acting differently. New and exciting opportunities for each of our funding organizations have come from implementing this approach.
The work is far from complete in our communities. Communities are organic systems. Shifting them is a long-term journey. Yet without a doubt, each of our communities is on a fundamentally different path forward as a result of embracing this approach.
Our communities and the nation are calling out for a new path forward. We hope you’ll join us by attending one of our upcoming virtual convenings on June 13 and 14 to learn about how you can adopt and adapt this approach for your community.
Karen Rightmire is the President of the Wyomissing Foundation, based in Reading, PA.
Jen Algire is the President & CEO of The Greater Clark Foundation, based in Winchester, KY.
Tracey Grayzer is the President of Impact Alamance, based in Burlington, NC.
Deborah Jacobs is the President and CEO of The Patterson Foundation, based in Sarasota, FL.
