“We’re realizing the power and potential of leading with our values when we think about attracting board and staff who are going to help us evolve the organization.” -Pamela Jons and Mauri Ingram

“So much of my role is acting as a translator between community and those controlling resources (myself included).” -Patricia Mejia

“I want to tell my peers who resist trust-based shifts: the field is evolving, we need to stop talking about risk and start listening to what our nonprofit partners want and need. There’s sector change happening, and it’s both past-due and important work.” -Suzanne Geary

“We can use our privilege to maintain the status quo, or create on-ramps to thriving communities and collective power.” -Julio Marcial

“We need to change how we think about those who control the wealth and resources and those leading the work to achieve systemic change and racial justice.” -Isabel Sousa Rodriguez

“Once you publicly say you’re doing trust-based philanthropy, it puts you on the hook for really doing it.” -Stacey Faella

“Walking with our partners towards their self-determined goals means moving with mutual accountability.” -Solomé Lemma

“It’s the quality and depth of our relationships with partners that makes it okay to sit with conflict.” -Anonymous Storyteller

“If we genuinely listen to communities, there are no boundaries to what can be achieved.” -Alexandra Hertell

“How do we center the importance of trust without centering ourselves in the power dynamic that comes with being the funder?” -Mailee Walker & Andrea Bretting

“We need to be conscious about where our trust (and distrust) are coming from, or we will distribute the benefits of this work inequitably.” -Liz Dozier

“There are pitfalls on this journey. The most important thing is to keep learning, document, and incorporate the lesson for the next time.” -Raymael Blackwell

“Achieving our goal is not possible without the organizations on the ground, so we believe supporting their capacity is part of building the movement.” -Farrah Parkes

“Our best grantmaking has happened not because of a strategy developed internally, but because we operate as a site of shifted power to begin with.” -Jenn Ching

“We started out by thinking about how everything we did should focus on building relationships rooted in trust.” -Ashley Clark

“Philanthropy’s imperative for transformation requires us to repair the harm we have caused as a sector.” -Gabriela Alcalde

“When we move in a different way that honors their time, experience and capacities, our grantee partners see new possibilities in our work together.” -Heather Peeler

“I want funders to start investing in efforts that aren’t just about systems change, but about quality of life.” -Pamela Ross

“Our affinity with our grantee partners, with different histories but similar experiences of injustice, has made building trust more possible.” -A. Sparks

“Ecosystems of trust form a strong network that allow us to move nimbly and make impact happen when it’s needed.” -Philip Li