As philanthropy evolves, so must we.
Over the past five years, Magic Cabinet has been on a mission to build a new type of philanthropic partnership that embraces a trust-based approach and puts decision-making power into the hands of our nonprofit grantees. Through our participatory model, we’ve cultivated more open, transparent relationships with nonprofits and evolved our grantmaking to be more responsive to the needs of the communities they serve.
With this in mind, we’ve expanded our commitment to fund community-driven initiatives and grassroots organizations, including intermediaries proximate to communities’ work. We’re engaging directly with nonprofits and community leaders to gain insight into how they want to be involved in the funding process and the type of impact they want to make.
As we continue to adapt our model to be more inclusive and responsive, we also recognize the need to incorporate Indigenous values into our grantmaking. Over the past year, we’ve been working side-by-side with leaders of Native-led organizations to listen, learn, and co-build a model that respects Indigenous values and better serves Native communities.
“Throughout our research around funding in Native communities, it was disheartening to learn that a meager .25% of philanthropic dollars go towards Native-led nonprofits,” said Myeshia Grice Robinson, Co-Program Director at Magic Cabinet. “We’re working to balance the urgency for moving funds to this historically underfunded community, while building our institutional knowledge and understanding around the Native philanthropy landscape and issues facing Native communities, and building relationships and trust as a non-Native funder.”
Moving at the Speed of Trust
In 2023, we deepened our efforts to learn about the historical and cultural funding landscapes within Native communities. We held a Listening Forum with Native nonprofit leaders on the unceded territory of the Ohlone People (San Francisco Bay Area) to hear their thoughts on some key questions:
- What are your thoughts about Native-serving organizations participating in participatory grantmaking?
- What are your thoughts about Native-serving organizations participating in a multi-year funding model?
- What do you need to successfully engage with a funder?
- How do you want to be in relationship with a funder? With other grantees?
The feedback from the forum showed us that while we were on the right track, we still had more to learn. We realized we needed to explore alternative grantmaking approaches that allowed for flexibility, consistency, and trust-building. With these insights, we prioritized five key focus areas for our Native Partnerships work, taking an important first step toward building genuine relationships with Native communities.
| We Heard a Call For: | How We're Responding: |
|---|---|
| Respect — Funders should take the time to learn about the community’s history and context. | We joined Native Americans in Philanthropy as a member and attended the 2024 NAP Conference in Minneapolis. Our staff and Board participated in two trainings to learn more about Native communities. Staff participated in a six-month-long Native Voices Rising Funder Education Fellowship. |
| Flexibility — Implementing a trust-based grantmaking process with minimal reporting. | We're continuing to explore trust-based and Native-led funding models and mechanisms, including funding Native intermediaries and re-examining our practices to ensure we are not burdening our grantees with unnecessary paperwork and processes. |
| Responsive funding — Getting clear on where we can change aspects of our approach to serve Native communities better. | We're working to better define aspects of our process where we can flex, eliminate, or double down on being more responsive to the needs of Native communities. This includes revisiting our definition of capacity-building and exploring unrestricted funding with Native-led nonprofits. |
| Fair Compensation — Native communities should be fairly compensated for the time they spend with funders. | We've adopted a new plan that compensates community representatives for their input and thought partnership on our grantmaking in Native communities. |
| Clear and Consistent Communication — Provide transparent and clear communications about the grant process. | We acknowledge that our timelines and communication have been inconsistent and commit to sharing regular updates on our Native Partnerships work moving forward. |
Native Partnerships at Magic Cabinet
As we continue our work to understand the funding ecosystem in Native communities, we’re excited to expand our partnerships with Native-led intermediaries. This is an essential step in honoring and aligning with the priorities of Native communities and nonprofits.
Stay tuned—In the months ahead, we look forward to sharing more about our evolving grantmaking efforts with Native-led funders, organizations, and communities.
