Looking for new ideas to strengthen foundation governance? The Community on Board toolkit, developed by philanthropy consultant Katy Love and Gita Gulati-Partee of OpenSource Leadership Strategies, provides practical strategies for helping foundation boards better engage with and respond to the communities they serve.

Impacted communities have the right and the capacity to determine their own lives — full stop. Philanthropy is at its best when it works in service of that self-determination. A foundation’s boardroom provides a unique opportunity to practice democracy and bring funders into closer relationship with community. Foundation boards are where strategy gets set, resources get allocated, and the terms of debate get defined. Bringing impacted community members into that space, not as advisors or consultants, but as governing equals, goes to the heart of a funder’s decision-making power and sense of stewardship. This tool offers provocations, practical tips, and tools to transform foundation governance as a vehicle for listening in ways that can shift power to impacted communities — ultimately enabling greater equity, accountability, and results that communities define for themselves.