Participatory grantmaking is an emerging practice in global philanthropy. This way of working devolves aspects of decision-making to grantees, with the aim of delivering better outcomes. It also is thought to address the power imbalance that frequently exists between foundation leadership making funding decisions and the communities they seek to serve through those decisions.

CEI was asked by Paul Ramsay Foundation to investigate the benefits and challenges of participatory grantmaking and to offer recommendations on how to advance practice and understanding in this emerging field. The inspiration was the Foundation’s own foray into participatory grantmaking, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) program – a multi-step model for collaborative decision-making on grant allocation.

This report highlights the positives that a participatory approach can enable:

• stronger relationships with communities and grantees
• Greater networking and collaboration opportunities
• Improved knowledge about grantmaking for non-grantmakers
• Greater flexibility and innovation in grantmaking
• Improved transparency, when implemented with this in mind