Folly #48: ReForming Leaders

How often do foundation staff complete their own applications?

There are a few organizations and individuals that I follow because I like the way they think. They challenge me. They teach me.

They mostly talk common sense. This, of course, is not so common.

Project Re:Form

One story I heard years ago that has really stayed with me is from Civilla, a consulting firm that describes its work as “a nonprofit design studio reimagining public institutions.”

Working as a fundraiser in public health gave me hope that sometimes the government gets it right. The federal agency (HRSA) that funds public health clinics and services provided through Medicaid pays more when patients get healthy. If only our private medical care worked that way, instead of procedure-focused revenue that doesn’t necessarily lead to healthier people. (Like unnecessary C-sections for 1 in 4 women with low-risk pregnancies. Call the Midwife!)

So back to Civilla…

Nearly a decade ago, they were hired by the State of Michigan to reform the longest assistance application in America.

This story has really stayed with me. Mostly because of something they don’t tell you in the Project Re:Form video. (Speed it up if you can’t take 10 minutes to watch. It may challenge your beliefs and unconscious bias.)

One of their strategies to get leadership buy-in was brilliant. Civilla told the management team who’d hired them to sit in a conference room and complete the 40-page application.

None could.

And yet people in transition, poverty, and crisis were expected to.

A Model for Foundations?

Their project team sought out caseworkers and applicants to inform the new process – those with the on-the-ground knowledge and experiences to shape a better path forward. It also helped frontline staff and struggling citizens to feel heard and seen.

There could be some great parallels for grants.

How many program managers have actually completed their own grant application form? How many foundation trustees have?

Seems like we make a lot of assumptions about who’s on the receiving end.