When speaking about NCG's New Grantmakers Institute, Angie highlighted the diversity of participants... "The rooms never looked like this when I started in philanthropy 20 years ago."

"I celebrated my 10-year anniversary developing, curating, and hosting NCG's New Grantmakers Institute. This is one of the longest running programs that NCG delivers. 10 years later, we talk more now about where accountability lies in philanthropy - with boards or with community members, or some mix in between? We hear more voices speaking out for 10-year general operating support, where before we were pushing for three. Many foundations are now spend-downs, where that wasn't a common conversation 10 years ago. And we hear more critical curiosity of how philanthropy's processes can support nonprofit success rather than centering themselves and their needs."

"I acknowledge that there are right and wrong ways to engage young people in philanthropy. For these spaces to genuinely be transformative for funders and youth, it is imperative to move beyond mere inclusion of young people towards recognizing young people as key leaders and decision-makers. The Youth Power Fund model does this – it conducts design sessions every two years to engage young people and youth organizing groups on resourcing and capacity building priorities, and it leverages trust-based relationships in a way that allows young people and funders to share power through our Field Leadership Advisory Council."

"What is the good news? The philanthropic paradox is not real. Any foundation has the power to decenter itself - to ask questions about what society really needs, philanthropic preservation, or community investment. The answer is clear - society needs the resources that you steward. Society needs us to show courage, break fake rules, and move resources without concern for legacy, perpetuity, or long-term impact with us at the center. "

"In one sense, experimenting with power sharing was a risk in itself. Like all funders, we have constraints we must work within – expectations about how we'll show impact and progress. And our grantee partners, too, assumed risk by trying this new – uncertain – approach. The traditional funder and grantee relationship is structured to minimize that type of risk and ensure things go smoothly. But in another sense, the real risk would have been approaching this work as “business as usual.” Once we knew the unique nature of each community’s needs and challenges, we felt power sharing was the approach that would lead to lasting impact and therefore easy to prioritize. As it turned out, power sharing opened us and our partners up to more conflict, more course correction, and more humility than any of us were used to in traditional funding relationships."

"Understanding that the lost value in real estate and generational wealth due to displacement from eminent domain is a simpler calculation than the value of a lost life due to health inequities, unequal application of the carceral system and the disparate life expectancy on one side of the red line or another, we can certainly deploy a defendable methodology that paints the picture– and the goal is to paint the broader picture of actual harm. Educational equity, food security, accessible housing, attainable jobs – it all goes into the calculus to overcome impacted community’s stubborn obstacles to fully thrive."

"We must diversify the strategies we use, and the kinds of resources we distribute, to best position them to further build power. Leaning into (c)(4) grantmaking acknowledges that power does not operate in a silo, is not a single strategy or tactic, nor is it apolitical. Instead, investing in (c)(4) work is an advancement of power. "

"We can work with grantees to create a real path towards quality jobs in nonprofits by really listening to invest in their resilience." 

"Most sectors are defined by commonality in the type of work activity that is done or the type of product or service produced. Nonprofit jobs on the other hand vary widely, from shelter worker, research analyst, to public radio production assistant. Where does this leave us? How can we develop and test targeted approaches to improving job quality given the inherent complexity of nonprofit management, finance, and funding?"

"The impact of underinvestment has serious implications for civic participation, economic development, and the social and cultural fabrics that bring people together. The Central Valley’s ability to thrive – and, by extension, California’s – is directly tied to our willingness to engage, support and invest."The impact of underinvestment has serious implications for civic participation, economic development, and the social and cultural fabrics that bring people together. The Central Valley’s ability to thrive – and, by extension, California’s – is directly tied to our willingness to engage, support and invest."

We see these divides in California’s Central Valley, yet it remains grossly invisible to the rest of the country. Often invisible in its own golden state too, and despite 20,000 square miles in America’s breadbasket, extending across the Coastal range to the Sierras, with a multiracial makeup that is undeniably our collective future, the Central Valley persists with dreams and hopes. While historical government policies grounded in racist ideologies still marginalize people today, emerging local leaders on the ground are tirelessly repairing an economic, educational, and social infrastructure created by these policies.

"We are all inter-connected, so we need to build a just and equitable housing ecosystem for Northern California that offers everyone a safe, dignified, and affordable place to live. Philanthropic resources are well-suited to invest in new models, pilots, and the replication of pilots at different scales, with different partners across geographies. Building a deeper  tolerance for risk also comes with a tolerance for projects that are challenging, even messy, where it can take time and mistakes and learning to get it right."