A bond based on trust

More than the approach, it is the mindset that matters in a relationship.

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What’s the foundation upon which rock-solid relationships between donors, staff, board members and other key stakeholders are built? What’s the glue that bonds all good relationships? Two questions, one answer: trust. Period. Without it, you have nothing.

The Scottish author and poet George MacDonald is credited with the proclamation, “To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” We’re going to talk about relationships and trust, and look at a number of funders that are at the vanguard of nothing less than a sea change in the nonprofit sector.

Nancy Jamison, the long-serving former CEO of San Diego Grantmakers, is impressed by the work of The Whitman Institute, which built a framework for a set of practices called “trust-based philanthropy.” It’s a monumental departure from the Golden Rule that has traditionally governed most grantor/ grantee relationships, from a “those who have the gold, rule” to a “we’re in this together” approach. Whatever choose to give it, trust-based philanthropy is a reset of the power dynamics that have defined the nonprofit sector since time immemorial.