The Myths of Philanthropy: Exploring Narratives that Define What is Possible
Mandy Van Deven, Zaineb Mohammed, and Erin Williams
What assumptions have we inherited that limit the transformative potential of philanthropy? And how can funders release ourselves from the constraints of these limiting beliefs? In this episode, GIA is joined by Mandy Van Deven (Elemental), Zaineb Mohammed (Kataly Foundation), and Erin Williams (Constellations Culture Change Fund and Initiative) to explore some of the narratives that underpin common practices in philanthropy and provide examples of funders that have adopted ways of thinking and being that accelerate progress toward a more just and joyful world.
Building from The Myths of Philanthropy series that was published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, the Association of Charitable Foundations, and VITA, this conversation challenges cultural funders to imagine what becomes possible when we shift the narrative: from scarcity to abundance, from rigid structure to iterative practice, and from donor darlings to a flourishing ecosystem. Listeners will walk away with bold insights on how narrative strategy isn’t about magic words, messaging, and single stories, and a better understanding of the role funders can play through the application of resource redistribution and other acts of solidarity that enable our collective liberation.
To listen to the full episode, click here.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Mandy van Deven, is the co-lead of Elemental, a funder learning and grantmaking initiative that cultivates conditions to resource narrative power. She is also is the founder of Both/And Solutions, a global consulting collective that draws on professional expertise and lived experience to provide strategic advice to individual wealth holders and philanthropic institutions, enable organizational and field learning, and design and implement funding initiatives that advance gender, racial, economic, and climate justice. She serves on the boards of Puentes, a network that builds the narrative infrastructure of social justice movements across Latin America, and Thousand Currents, which mobilizes resources to frontline communities and grassroots movements in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Zaineb Mohammed is the Communications Director at the Kataly Foundation where she leads the foundation’s efforts to share its learnings about wealth redistribution and racial justice grantmaking and investment practices with the field of philanthropy. As a social change communicator now working within the field of philanthropy, Zaineb is committed to interrogating power and centering the experiences of those most harmed by injustice. Prior to entering philanthropy, Zaineb served as the Communications Director at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights where she led the organization’s work to change the narrative around punishment and public safety. Zaineb also serves on the Leadership Team of the Radical Communicators Network (RadComms), a community of practice for social movement communicators. A former journalist, fact-checker, college admissions officer, and paralegal, she took a long, meandering journey before finding her path in the world of communications and narrative strategy.
For the past 10 years, Erin Lynn Williams (she/her/elle) has held leadership roles in intermediary philanthropic institutions that resource activists and movements advancing sexual and reproductive justice and narrative and cultural strategy. As an advisor, facilitator, and coach, Erin has also led journeys for philanthropists who want to deepen their value alignment and giving practices in service of social justice, repair, and liberation. Erin is a Black mixed-race radical listener, trust-based grantmaker, and change catalyst and has lived and worked in Canada, Belgium, Botswana, Jamaica and the U.S. as an advocate, counselor, and sexuality educator. Erin holds a Master of Social Work from Carleton University and a graduate certificate in Principles and Practices of Organizational Development from Columbia University. She weaves her love of singing, dancing, theatre, somatic, and mindfulness practices into her life and work. She is currently an Artist in Residence with Our Collective Practice and is learning to DJ. Erin speaks English and French, is motivated by cultivating deep relationships and trust, and tries her best to live up to Kay Ryan's words: “Intention doesn’t sweeten. It should be picked young and eaten.”
