2022-2023 Funder Node Collective Wisdom
The Funder Node was a 6-part series of participatory dialogues from November 2022 through May 2023.
Twenty representatives from funding institutions and collaboratives from the US, Canada, and the UK built relationships and grappled collectively with funding practices that most effectively support systems change. The talented Somatic Scribe, Kate Morales, coalesced insights from our virtual conversations into a stunning triptych that offers wisdom and provocation for any human who finds themselves distributing money to affect change.
This Miro Board tells the fullest story of the Node’s experience together as a platform for the collective wisdom of the group.
Click in to explore! Scroll down for a closer look at each image with their unique audio tours . You can take a video tour with Kate, listen to audio tour reflections, and sit with images and questions as another way of learning. It is rich with insight that circles the central question: how can we, as stewards of stolen and extracted resources, transform money into love? How can we become a community of care practitioners?
Participants suggested that as funders, we need to become “architects of abundance”, first honestly grappling with our money story - including the harm that was created in the accumulation of wealth that we now steward (credit to the Right Relations Collaborative’s Funder Engagement Framework). Then wayfinding new forms of giving that move away from rigid channels of “charity", with rules and oversight set by benefactors, where the maximum benefit accrues back to those with wealth sitting behind the dam. We need to innovate reciprocal forms of giving, where communities from whom wealth has been extracted, receive long-term support for repair, joy, wellness, and flourishing. We can look to the nature metaphors abundant in this triptych - the hydrologic cycle, the mycelium composting destruction into new life, our ability to plant seeds that can grow into different systems. We can look to the bridges and tunnels that help us shift from one paradigm to another.
These themes and threads - along with many more - are woven into this miro board. The sensemaking here is visual and auditory, not written. This is a different learning approach that lends itself to revisiting and reflecting. As one Node Participant shared “Every time I look at [the Miro Board] something else comes to mind. It’s the first time I’ve experienced this way of telling a story of shared learning.”
Click the image to watch the video tour!
As this narrative unfolded, the group asked - do we need a name for this kind of thinking in philanthropy? We quickly populated a list of frameworks and groups who are are already thinking this way:
We are pleased to offer the Illuminate Funder Node’s learning as another seed in an ecosystem of changemakers in philanthropy, of architects of abundance who are working from their own circles of influence to bring money back into right relationship with love.
For more information about the shape, scope, and design of the Funder Node Series: https://www.illuminatesystems.org/2022-2023-funder-node.
For additional Systems Change Offerings for Funders: Systems Change Offerings for Funders
