Our historyWhere it all started...
2015 - 2018
In 2015, Vancouver Foundation introduced systems change granting, signaling a shift upstream towards funding solutions that addressed the root causes of complex social challenges. Three years later, an evaluation of this new granting stream indicated there was growing demand for and supply of systems change work, but that access was uneven, especially amongst rural, Indigenous, and historically marginalized communities.
2019
Vancouver Foundation formed a partnership with social design organization InWithForward to research, co-develop, and prototype alternative grantmaking practices that might shift power and control towards communities that had not benefited from systems change grants. Conversations with unsuccessful applicants and community leaders helped our partnership recognize that equity isn’t only about leveling the playing field. It’s about reckoning with whose field is being played on. We needed to dig deeper to excavate the root causes of power imbalances in grantmaking.
“What do we mean by systems change, and how do we go about it? Whose worldview are we using to define systems, and what should it look like moving forward?”
- Joe Gallagher, Vancouver Foundation Board Member, 2019-2022
2020
In the Spring of 2020, as Covid-19 altered our reality, we observed systems change grantmaking practices: shadowing staff as they read and assessed applications, attending committee meetings where applications were discussed and decided, and interviewing key stakeholders. By summer, we compiled our insights into a publicly released report, identifying six barriers and six opportunity areas for change. We noted that the existential core of a community foundation is, perhaps obviously, community. Less obvious is what defines community and whose values drive decision-making. We asked: How might Vancouver Foundation surface the values and logics underpinning its flow of resources?
Read our first research report.
2021
Learning through experimentation is at the heart of a designerly approach to systems change. Rather than stay in the abstract, we prototyped a tool to surface dominant and alternative values and logics in the grant adjudication process. These ‘Flipp’in the logic’ cards were one way to make visible assumptions. And yet, we recognized the grant adjudication process was just one facet of philanthropy -- and a very downstream one at that. The values and logics driving wealth accumulation, donor decision-making, tax credits, and investments remained out of sight. So we rescoped our partnership, zooming out from grantmaking to explore the whole system of philanthropy.
Download our Flipp'in the logic cards.
2022
As we widened our viewfinder, we found we also needed to widen our approach. Values and logics are most often revealed through the stories we share. These stories may be repeated so frequently that they present as fact. Getting underneath entrenched stories and generating alternative storylines isn’t something we can do at the side of our desks; it requires time and space to be vulnerable, encounter different perspectives, engage in dialogue, and envision other realities.To enable Vancouver Foundation to carve out time and space, we formed learning cohorts. To introduce fresh perspectives, we developed a podcast series, a set of concept books, and reflective prompts. Over nine months, more than 35 staff, leaders, and board members joined six collaborative inquiry groups to engage with big questions and big ideas. This culminated in a two-day, cross-cohort retreat to reflect across departments & imagine future purposes.
Read more about our design of collaborative inquiry groups.
2023 - 2024
Systems change work isn’t easy. It takes a lot of energy to sustain momentum. To keep what is long-term work going, we turned the baton over to a next iteration team within Vancouver Foundation, who continue to hold the space for deep purpose work. At the same time, we’ve been packaging all of our learning materials for use both within Vancouver Foundation and beyond. Our hope is that PurposePhil can be a rich resource for you (and perhaps your organization’s) own learning journey. Bon Voyage!
