Ecosystem Grantmaking: A Systemic Approach to Supporting Movement Building
In order to fulfill our mission to support the development of powerful social change movements that will eliminate structural racism and create a racially just society, at Akonadi Foundation we focus our funding on what we call “ecosystem” grantmaking.
This document explains how and why we fund the way we do, and we hope it also opens a dialog—especially among funders—about how we can best support the movement building work of racial justice organizations. Our experiences and priorities as a justice funder tell us that “ecosystem grantmaking” provides the most effective, comprehensive and values-driven way to support the work of successful movements for racial justice and social change. In this document, we illustrate what we mean by ecosystem grantmaking and highlight the vital work of people of color-led organizations that are leading the way in implementing smart, innovative, and effective challenges to structural racism. Through the stories of several of our grantees, we are proud to showthe results of this approach.
We welcome feedback, as we know we have much to learn from others, and we hope that such dialog will lead to increased resources and collaboration. We believe that this commitment to relationship building and collaboration will support the creation of ever-more-powerful social change movements and, ultimately, a society able and willing to provide “justice for all.”