Resources

This guide gives an overview of the impact made possible when shifting to a trust-based approach, including impact on nonprofits, funders, communities, and the social sector. Trust-based funders are consistently seeing various opportunities for reflection, assessment, and positive outcomes–painting a bigger-picture of the positive impact on organizations and the social sector ecosphere.

This guide outlines five common myths and misperceptions that come up in discussions about trust-based principles, and offers clear counterpoints in response.

New to trust-based philanthropy? Check out this short animation that walks you through the core of what the trust-based philanthropy approach is.

This guide is intended for grantmaking practitioners who are ready to live into their values to cultivate trust-based philanthropy holistically, across the four dimensions of this work: culture, structures, leadership, and grantmaking practices.

This guide outlines five common myths and misperceptions that come up in discussions about trust-based principles, and offers clear counterpoints in response.

This guide gives an overview of the impact made possible when shifting to a trust-based approach, including impact on nonprofits, funders, communities, and the social sector. Trust-based funders are consistently seeing various opportunities for reflection, assessment, and positive outcomes–painting a bigger-picture of the positive impact on organizations and the social sector ecosphere.

This guide outlines five common myths and misperceptions that come up in discussions about trust-based principles, and offers clear counterpoints in response.

This one-pager provides a simple venn diagram of the similarities and differences between trust-based philanthropy and racial equity.

This guide provides a comprehensive breakdown of trust-based philanthropy as it applies specifically to giving circles. Included in the guide, you can find a list of frequently asked questions, outlines of concrete steps you can take, and a list of additional resources

This resource from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation provides guidance and practical steps for how to navigate the ending of a grantmaking relationship in a way that maintains your grantee partner’s needs in mind.

This resource from the Equitable Evaluation Framework™ (EEF) provides guidance on how to align your purpose, practices, processes, and policies with your foundation’s stated values and intentions.

These resources from UK-based IVAR provide case examples from funders who have implemented unrestricted funding practices in their organizations. Each case example provides an exploration of the impact shifting to unrestricted funding has made in their organizations, input from their grantee partners, and advice to other funders.

This guide provides specific suggestions for a key element of trust-based structures: The grants management system. It is designed to provide a set of concrete features, integrations, and accessibility standards that you can use to advance your trust-based operations.

This article from the March/April 2021 issue of Taxation of Exempts disentangles many of the long-held connections between restrictive funding practices and legal obligations, from due diligence to unrestricted funding and grant reporting.

This report charts the Winston-Salem Foundation's journey with both emergent learning and trust-based, where developing trusting relationships with grantees through dialogue facilitated mutual learning.

The Firelight Foundation developed this tool for funders who may ask, “What does a justice and solidarity approach look like in interacting with and supporting people and communities to address the issue(s) at hand?”

Research from IVAR demonstrates that no matter your organization’s perceived limitations or hesitations—whether about compliance, efficiency, impact or risk—we can all go further in offering the resource nonprofits need most: unrestricted funding.

The Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity created this guide to help foundation leaders understand what it means to move from racial equity to racial justice funding strategies.