"Power Dynamics and Partnership in International Grantmaking"
Workshop report

The purpose of the session was to explore strategies for minimizing and balancing the inherent power imbalances between donors and grantees so that grantees can be really honest and not say what they think donors want to hear. These power imbalances derive from differences of language and culture and massive wealth from the US, among other factors.

Enrique Salmon of the Christensen Fund: They focus on supporting the stewards of biocultural diversity. This means keep indigenous communities on their landscape, because it is good for the people and good for the land. In order to mitigate power imbalances, they made a critical decision to hire program officers who are indigenous to the regions where they work. These program officers have a personal stake in their work, and therefore grantees and community members are comfortable talking to them. A second method to reducing power imbalances is to be willing to make mistakes. "If they feel we are willing to take a risk, and that if we fail, it's okay, they will be more honest about their own shortcomings." A key to their success is that Christensen is willing to spend a lot of time in the field, and they support the associated costs.

Caitlin Stanton of the Global Fund for Women: GFW consciously attempted to deal with power from the beginning in what they do (supporting women in 162 countries, 50 million USD to over 3,000 organizations) and how (by only giving unrestricted grants, by trusting organizations to both identify what their challenges are and to propose their own solutions, and bring democracy in small ways like through a body of advisors, and a board is 60% based outside US). Applicants can write to GFW in any language, using any format. They try to embody their values of trust and respect in how they interact.

Pete Stanga of IDEX: Power dynamics have been important since the beginning of IDEX's 20-year history. They support community-based economic initiatives in Asia, Africa and Africa. They decided to evaluate their partnership model from all perspectives asking, "Are we successful in trying to deal with power imbalances that exist between north and south, transparency and mutual accountability?" One thing they look for in grantees is whether they have gender balance on their boards, are they accountable to the communities they serve, etc. They realized it was only fair to hold themselves to the same standards. So they asked their grantees and other grantmakers, and they produced a report that outlines 9 practices of democratic grantmaking.

Annu of Manavi (India) through an interpreter: Manavi works with women and children engaged in child labor. They learned through their early work that awareness raising and advocacy would not be successful if they could not give women economic power. Manavi wanted to work on violence against women and economic issues, but the funders wanted them to work on HIV/AIDS. The persistent question is how much choice do funders give to small organizations? Manavi's partnership with IDEX started in 2000. "There were many failures before there were successes, but IDEX gave long-term support and didn't judge by our failures." Because we are located where communication is difficult, we both had to have a lot of trust. Sharing of information is really important to building a good partnership. Good to have the confidence that the funder is willing to look at your failures and stick with you. Many donors tell us to be transparent, but the donor isn't transparent. In this case, both sides are transparent. Annu said that as a result of being on the IDEX board and taking part in fundraising, she is much more personally involved, and that makes her more responsible.

The group then divided into to small groups, and each group discussed a scenario. Fascinating issues were raised, demonstrating that there are no easy answers. Speakers closed emphasizing the continuous nature of the struggle for power sharing.

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