What does it mean to share – and cede – funders’ inherent power in philanthropy? How can grantmakers take stock of how well they’re nurturing transparent, trusting relationships with grant partners?
Join NCRP and Funders for LGBTQ Issues for the third webinar in our series on the exciting new resource, Power Moves: Your essential philanthropy assessment guide for equity and justice.
Our past two webinars provided an overview of the toolkit and a deeper dive into the first section on Building Power. This time around, we’ll delve into the Sharing Power dimension, including best practices for supporting sustained community-driven systems change, entry points for self-assessment and expert insights from a panel of seasoned sector leaders.
Moderated by Alfonso Wenker, co-founder and principal of Team Dynamics LLC and member of the Power Moves advisory and peer learning groups forconsultants, the presentation will feature:
- Michelle McMurray, senior program officer for health and human Services at The Pittsburgh Foundation;
- Jane Leu, founder and CEO of Smarter Good and co-author of Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits & Foundations Can Build Epic Partnerships;
- Bill Gallegos, former executive director of Communities for a Better Environment and co-chair of the Funder Engagement Work Group of the Building Equity and Alignment (BEA) Initiative; and
- Lindsie Bear, program director for the Native Cultures Fund at the Humboldt Area Foundation.
Speaker Bios:
Alfonso Wenker
Alfonso Wenker is co-founder and principal of Team Dynamics LLC. He is a dynamic, engaging, practical and highly sought after trainer and facilitator whose work focuses on strategy development, racial and gender justice, team building, leadership development and self-awareness. His recent clients include Open Arms of Minnesota, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, Minnesota Public Radio, The McKnight Foundation, AiA Minnesota and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Alfonso’s organizational homes have included: Bush Foundation, Minnesotans United for All Families and PFund Foundation.
Alfonso just completed his tenure as the vice president at the Minnesota Council on Foundations. In that capacity he served as lead trainer for the Council’s professional development programs, consults with leaders and organizations interested in advancing equity and inclusion and leads internal organizational development. Additionally, Alfonso currently serves as the board chair of Pollen and serves on the leadership teams for Solidarity MN and the Better OUTcomes Initiatives, two funder collaboratives focused on advancing equity in the state of Minnesota. He is a participant in the Power Movesadvisory and peer-learning group for consultants to grantmakers.
Michelle McMurray
Michelle McMurray is the senior program officer for health and human services at The Pittsburgh Foundation. At the foundation, her grantmaking focuses on reducing barriers to physical and mental health care, meeting basic needs and improving economic self-sufficiency for children, youth and families. Michelle also provides leadership for the foundation’s racial equity work, spearheading several initiatives designed to increase access to philanthropic support for groups historically underrepresented in the foundation’s portfolio, including small, community-based nonprofits, black-led organizations and social justice workers.
Michelle has more than 15 years of service in diverse roles across Pittsburgh’s nonprofit sector including as an academic researcher, clinician, policy advocate and organizational leader. She is the co-author of several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters examining the relationship between race, age, socio-economic status and access to mental health treatment. Throughout her career, Michelle has been committed to community engagement to increase awareness and understanding of mental health in black communities and promote dignity and support for individuals and families affected by mental illness. Michelle received her Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Social Work degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
Jane Leu
Jane Leu is founder and CEO of Smarter Good, a global social enterprise based in San Francisco and the Philippines with a mission to help nonprofit organizations start, sustain and scale their impact by providing organizational support services such as fundraising, finance and accounting and communications/marketing.
Jane is an internationally recognized serial social entrepreneur and Ashoka Fellow with more than 20 years of experience with starting up and leading ventures, including Smarter Good, Upwardly Global, Ashoka U, craigslist’s nonprofit venture forum, RefugeeWorks and Harvard’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. Passionate about socio-economic, ethnic and geographic diversity in the social sector, Jane teaches social venturing to MBAs at Stanford and mentors changemakers in the U.S. and globally. She is co-author of the popular new book, Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits & Foundations Can Build Epic Partnerships.
Jane holds an MA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA cum laude from Tufts University. When not working across every global time zone, she enjoys hiking in the hills of California with her husband, Ted Levinson, a social finance professional, and their dog, Tully.
Bill Gallegos
Bill Gallegos is the past executive director (2006-2014) of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), one of the leading environmental justice organizations in the United States. Bill first became active in the 1960s with the Crusade for Justice, an outstanding Chicano civil rights organization. Bill has also been a labor, campus, and community organizer. As a Chicano and environmental justice leader, Bill worked to ensure that equity and social justice is a central element of all efforts to confront the climate crisis.
He is the author of “The Struggle for Chicano Liberation,” “The Sunbelt Strategy and Chicano Liberation,” “Reflections on the Green Economy” and “Ethnic Cleansing and the War on Immigrants: A Program of Resistance.” Bill is the co-chair of the Funder Engagement Work Group of the Building Equity and Alignment (BEA) Initiative and a member of its Weaver Team (steering committee).
Lindsie Bear
Lindsie Bear is the program director for the Native Cultures Fund at the Humboldt Area Foundation, which has been doing grassroots grantmaking in Native communities throughout Central, Eastern and Northern California for nineteen years. The fund was established by Northern California Indian cultural leaders and artists in 1999 and has been grown by Indigenous staff and board with deep ties to the tribal communities they serve.
Lindsie is the former California Indian Publishing Director at Heyday, editor of news at Native California magazine and senior editor at the University of California Press. She co-founded the Indian Art Market at the Oakland Museum of California and the LitQuake Native writers series. She has served on the boards of the California Historical Society and Open Roads Media, and is an alumna of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lindsie currently lives with her husband, John, and baby daughter, Maya, in the Wiyot Territory of Eureka, California.