EPIP DC hosts a Fearless Forum
In this special series, we’ll take a brief look at various different fearless inspirations from the past week or so. Whether it’s a fearless young changemaker who is taking risks, a new publication that expresses bold and innovative ideas, or an organization that is promoting change and that is not afraid to fail forward—we want to shine a spotlight on them and their work in the hope that it will spark a new movement to Be Fearless.
As Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation says, “The old way of doing things is simply no longer effective in this new world. It’s time for us all to take risks on new ideas, approaches, and initiatives. It’s time for us to be bold, to act with urgency, and to resist the tendency to let caution be our guide. It’s time for us to Be Fearless.” Will you join us?
EPIP DC: Fearless Forum
Recently the Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy DC (EPIP DC), a DC-based network created by and for young professionals in philanthropy who want to connect around their common interests, hosted a Fearless Forum discussion around the concept of “Be Fearless” in philanthropy.
With members from Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Charities Aid Foundation America, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Wellspring Advisors LLC, the Meyer Foundation, and several other leading philanthropic groups represented, the Case Foundation helped to facilitate a robust discussion around what it means to Be Fearless—from both an organizational standpoint as well as a personal framework as a young professional working within the greater philanthropic sector.
By the end of the discussion, we had identified several new areas for exploration around the Be Fearless concept and I’ve captured several key themes and highlights below. Due to the fact that the Fearless Forums are meant to be a place where peers can speak freely, none of the comments are attributed to any specific participants. We hope that you’ll join in and share your thoughts as well!
What is Failure in Philanthropy: This question raised many comments from individuals around the table and gave attendees a moment for pause. For many of us failure is a negative thing, a set back, and not something that is publicly discussed. This led the group to explore ideas around failure as a mistake, intentional failure, and a foundation or organization’s legacy offered new twists to our original notions around this concept of failure in philanthropy.
Power Dynamics: This was a particularly interesting theme that came up during the discussion… and was raised by a participant who asked, “what if power was defined as the capacity to carry out things rather than fund them?” In other words, what if nonprofit organizations had leverage over funders – how would that shift in power dynamics change our frame of Be Fearless? It is an interesting hypothetical and one that helped us to better identify some of the obstacles and longstanding patterns within our own organizations that could be preventing us from embracing and implementing the idea of Be Fearless.
Reach Beyond Your Bubble: This is one of the core values highlighted in the Be Fearless campaign and it resonated with the attendees in a positive way both professionally and personally. During this portion of the discussion, several people focused on identifying obstacles to partnerships and working with others in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. While most felt strongly that partnerships and working collaboratively provided positive returns to the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, there are still many significant obstacles that prevent this from happening as often as they think it should. Specifically, the time consuming nature of cultivating partnerships, having too many “silos” where groups or organizations do not work with one another, and how some groups tend to isolate themselves to the detriment of a greater goal at hand.
I hope this discussion has encouraged you to explore this concept of Be Fearless within your own organization. To help you get started, check out our free To Be Fearless report and discussion guide as well as a number of other Be Fearless resources.