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GO
Forget about the tools for a minute
and look at the core principles behind
social media: collaboration, openness,
transparency, timeliness, sharing work in
progress, embracing and learning from
failure. Then think about how we traditionally
operate as foundations.
We could clearly benefit from adopting
some of the practices of the Wikipedia
world, where input is invited from
a much broader and diverse audience
and the knowledge is being gathered
in an open and participatory manner.
Why? Because if we have the courage
to embrace social media principles to
break open and speed up our traditionally
closed and limited grantmaking
model, we can produce stronger, more
grounded, innovative, and effective solutions.
Isn’t that what we want more than
anything — to make a difference on the
issues that we care about so deeply?
They seemed like a good group of
people at this workshop, except for the
guy in the back with yellow eyes and
a raven on his shoulder. I took a deep
breath, hitched up my pants, and offered
them three reasons to welcome social
media on board.
Better Listeners
A program officer mentioned to me
recently that he didn’t think he could
be effective at his job if he didn’t follow
the blogs, Twitter buzz, and other online
conversation in his area of interest. He
didn’t see that as extra work. He saw it as
a better way to stay informed. If we can
get past the idea that social media is just
one more thing to do, one more thing to
learn, we will see that these tools can help
us do what we are already doing — only
more effectively. At the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation we use many of
these tools to “listen” to what is being said
about us, our senior staff, and our grantees.
We also try to monitor what is being
said on the issues we are working on.
Why? Because we are vainer and more
self-centered than a Hollywood celebrity?
No. Because we want to understand how
our work is being received and because
we want to join the conversation. Both
will help us have more impact.
Better Partners
In the traditional world of foundations,
communication tends to be one-way.
We tell the world what we plan to fund.
We tell the world who has received our
funding. We share what we are learning in
the form of briefings and publications. All
good things, but all focused on broadcasting
our message to the universe. In the
world of social media, you put down the
megaphone and hold a conversation. I
heard a senior executive involved in social
media at Starbucks say recently that what
works best are things the company can do
together with its customers. I think that
principle can work well for foundations
also. Building partnerships is something
we’ve always done. Using these tools to
broaden those partnerships and harness the
power created by the resulting networks
can only make us better at what we do.
Better Agents of Change
Last May, the Maine Health Access
Foundation posted letters of inquiry on
Facebook. It wanted applicants to its
Fund for the Future to get broad input
from the field before they submitted
their proposals. Program officer Len
Bartel knew that input from the community
would make the final proposals
stronger. The for-profit and academic
worlds boast many examples of tapping
into the wisdom of the crowd to make
their products and their research better.
The foundation world has a
growing number of examples
as well. The Packard Foundation has
used wikis to get broader input into
its work on nitrogen and reproductive
health. RWJF and other foundations
have been working with Changemakers
and Idea Crossing to experiment
with new ways of generating ideas.
The Rockefeller Foundation is helping
nonprofits tap into InnoCentive’s global
network of problem solvers. And the
Case Foundation is involving everyday
…In the world of social media,
you put down the megaphone and
hold a conversation…
citizens in the process. Those are just a
few examples.
If we want to make a difference, it
is time to tear down the walls that have
traditionally existed between us and our
grantees. Between us and “the field.” It is
time to begin to open our closed grantmaking
process to the world. Time to
let a broader audience provide input at
a much earlier point in the process and
all the way through the evaluation phase.
Social media can help us do that. Social
media can help us have more impact.
How did I do with the group in
the workshop? No one came at me
with a sharp object. We all drank too
much wine together afterward, even the
guy with the raven (the bird liked the
merlot), and talked about the challenges
ahead. Did I convince them? Maybe a
little. Did I convince you? You tell me.
We’re in this together.
At the time of this writing, Larry Blumenthal was
director of social media strategy for the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation. He now heads Open
Road Advisors and blogs and tweets regularly
about philanthropy and social media.
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