Philanthropy and Community Sharing Power: What It Looks Like from the Field’s Perspective
- Fund for Housing and Opportunity
- Jul 15
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 6
By FHO Community Advisors: Bebhinn Francis, Erika Gaines, Andreina Kniss Tafoya, Jenay Manley, Randall Taylor, and Libby Viera-Bland
Nonprofit Quarterly published a powerful piece authored by FHO's six Community Advisors about what real power-sharing looks like – from their own perspective.
A little over a year ago, FHO launched our first-ever Community Advisors Program to more deeply ground our own decision-making and outcomes as a funder collaborative in the perspectives of people most affected by the work. While sharpening our own strategies, this work also offered a leadership pathway for emerging leaders in housing justice, particularly Black, Indigenous, and people of color and advocates who have experienced housing instability.
This article offers candid reflections from advisors who've been on the front lines of tenant organizing, homelessness response, and affordable housing development in communities from Albany to Los Angeles. See an excerpt of the article below and click here to read the full article.
"Today, with American democracy wavering, federal funding for programs evaporating, and power imbalances surging across the United States, it is more vital than ever for those of us who are most affected by social issues to influence decisions that affect our lives. This is especially true in housing where top-down initiatives often fail to reflect or adequately address the challenges that we see every day on the ground.
A growing number of Americans are priced out of a safe place to call home, yet drastic cuts in public funding for affordable housing have decimated many of the very institutions and organizations trying to fix the problem, large and small alike. Yet, an increasing number of private funders have pulled away from initiatives that seek to level the playing field or change the narrative, fearful of putting their own funding streams at risk. Their hesitation comes at the very moment when communities most need supporters to step up quickly. Those of us on the front lines are having to rebuild our capacities and regain momentum, while trying to move forward. In the worst cases, some community organizations have stopped working on housing entirely. The bottom line is that the housing justice field is at a pivotal point.
More robust solutions to housing affordability and homelessness require a more intentional, respectful, and non-extractive process that aligns our communities’ priorities with those of philanthropic partners that remain committed to addressing these pressing challenges of our time.
As housing organizers, advocates, and practitioners, we each have been invited at different points in our work to speak about our experiences. These invitations can come with real curiosity and even urgency. We’re asked to share our stories and help funders understand what’s happening. What the invitations don’t always come with is a say in what happens next. It’s not that philanthropy lacks interest in community voices. It’s just that, too often, that is where the exchange stops.
Over the past year, six of us who work on the front lines of housing justice in communities across the country have been in closer conversation with philanthropy, through a Community Advisors Program at the Fund for Housing and Opportunity (FHO), a grantmaking collaborative working to protect renters and solve homelessness. Through this program, we learned how philanthropic staff make decisions, set priorities, and structure their relationships with communities. We also looked at what encourages power sharing, what gets in the way, and what begins to change when funders try to do things differently. As part of this initiative, we were invited to share community perspectives with FHO and other funders.
Drawing from our learnings with FHO’s program and our lived experience, here, we share a summary of what we want philanthropic funders to know so we can all move closer to shared power and meeting our missions.
Funders Can Respectfully Interact with Community in Mutually Beneficial and Non-extractive Ways
Advancing opportunity for all—particularly communities disproportionately impacted by systemic challenges—requires translating shared values into practice by engaging communities in more intentional, respectful, and non-extractive ways. The following recommendations offer practical steps funders can take, starting now."
