Funders for Family Leadership

Creating more equitable partnerships and outcomes in communities requires relationship building, honest communication and commitment to authentic partnership.  Philanthropy is embracing this need, but some are still struggling with what authentic engagement looks like with those we seek to support.

In 2020, Funders for Family Leadership (FFL), in partnership with VIVA Social Impact Partners (VIVA) which provides backbone support for the FFL, partnered with the United Parent Leadership Action Network (UPLAN) to conduct interviews with parent leaders and funders to understand the ways in which foundations have both effectively and not effectively partnered with parent leaders. 

The Philanthropic Self-Reflection Tool for Equitable Parent Partnership is a result of that partnership, and includes many of the stories, quotes, and lessons learned as told to UPLAN by funders and parents themselves. The tool is not a formal assessment, rather it is intended to serve as a catalyst for reflection about shifting philanthropic mindsets and practices to enable equitable partnerships in the service of stronger outcomes.  

On April 13th from 3:00pm – 4:00pm ET, Funders are invited to join ECFC and FFL for discussion with philanthropy and parent co-creators of the tool to explore how the tool can be applied to your work and support authentic relationships with parent leaders and community-based grantees. 

We will hear from: 

• Mike White, Program Associate with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), to share about their experience using the tool as inspiration for the Family Advisory Committee at RWJF 
• Muna Hussein, Parent Leader with UPLAN, who also collaborated with RWJF on the Family Advisory Committee 
• Margarita Alvarez, Program Officer with the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, to share about their experience using the tool for internal theory of change discussions 
• Sara Morrison, Parent Leader with UPLAN, who will also share about their experience partnering with the Heising-Simons Foundation on the Families Lead California project
• Rosazlia Grillier, Parent Leader with UPLAN to share about the development of the tool

For the last 30 minutes (4:00pm – 4:30pm ET), ECFC members attending the May 2023 Member Meeting in Detroit are invited to stick around for a discussion of how the tool can help us think about the deep parent engagement they’ll see in Detroit site visits and discussions.