Ceding Power to Community: Utilizing Participatory Grantmaking to Decentralize Decision-Making

Employing anti-racist, equity-driven practices when managing and supporting community-based initiatives require comprehensive and intentional design in all attempts to engage community. Participatory grantmaking (PGM), a style of grantmaking that emphasizes decentralized decision-making where grantees have a level of influence in funding decisions, is one way of shifting power to those closest to community work. In this presentation, we document our team’s experience developing and facilitating a style of participatory grantmaking called network voting, within the context of an existing cohort of community-based project partners. In obtaining feedback from participants, we document lessons learned to amend our process and inform the most recent PGM iteration in its second form, as we continue to center those invited to apply.

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