Get Out!

I don’t know about you, but after Seattle’s Snowmaggedon closed schools and offices for days, I was itching to JUST GET OUT. The Thursday of Snowpocalypse week I made the trek via the shoe leather express to my local grocer to get some fresh air, refresh our food supply and interact with beings other than my husband and cat. (No offense, honey.)

On my way I ran into LOTS of folks outside. We live on the top of a big hill in Fremont, so there were kids, parents and neighbors sliding down on sleds, skiis, snowboards, and their own behinds (I even spotted three people in a kayak!?).

The local park was also filled with people – more sledding, visiting, dogs + dog owners frolicking in the snow. Were these folks always here or was it just because I was out and about at a different time of day and walking to the store instead of zipping over in the car?

While I’ve walked to the store before (typically on a more weather-friendly day) doing so in the middle of a Thursday afternoon was a simple reminder that a small change in routine can change your perspective on your surroundings.

Over the past couple of months SVP staff and board have spent time reading and discussing a publication by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations called Widespread Empathy – 5 Steps to Achieving Greater Impact in Philanthropy.

While I first read it in the fall, it’s continued to stay with me and I’ve re-read it numerous times now. The piece highlights 5 things funders can do to help cultivate and spread empathy in their work…

• Make it about others, not about you.
• Get out of the office.
• Bring the outside in.
• Invest in what it takes.
• Lead from the top.

…making the case that “widespread empathy allows grantmakers to base their decisions and actions on an authentic, firsthand understanding of the perspectives of grantees, community members and other partners. In turn, grantmakers become more effective as their work is based on a more thorough, ground-level understanding of organizational and community priorities and needs.”

While all 5 practices have unique value, I keep reflecting on “Get out of the office.” In this particular step, the authors contend that “nothing beats a face-to-face visit to the very places where a grantmaker’s stakeholders live their lives and do their work. This allows grantmakers to develop and deepen relationships and to see the world through the eyes of the people who are the focus of their work.”

They push funders to focus on what’s important by creating opportunities for more interaction and spending less time on transactional meetings (formal site visits, reporting).  Allowing for more understanding of an organization’s day-to-day challenges and needs, helps us to better understand how we can offer support, challenge our thinking about what type of support is needed and when the organization really needs it.

Where and how I decide to spend my time during the day influences what I see, the questions I ask and how I respond.

I know every time I meet with an executive director or a volunteer outside of a ‘transactional’ meeting, I gain a new understanding about that individual or organization that gives me valuable insight into how I can better respond to their needs.

And I need to do it more. I’ve also witnessed our strongest lead partners, Portfolio Grant Committee members and volunteers taking the extra time to listen, create opportunities for connection and deeper interaction – allowing for increased understanding not just of that organization or individual, but the community as a whole.

Let’s not underestimate the power of a “snow day.” Perhaps we should be more intentional about building more days like this into our regular schedules – days where we are out of the office, out of our comfort zones – creating more opportunities to genuinely interact and engage with the neighbors, the leaders and the community that are always around us.

Bill Somerville of Philanthropic Ventures Foundation said it well: “Almost everything you need to know as a grantmaker is taking place beyond your office doors… devote as much time as possible to exploring unfamiliar corners of your community to learn what’s happening on the ground.”

Read the full Widespread Empathy article, and some thoughts from GEO President and CEO Kathleen Enright.

What about You?

If you’re a grantee, in what ways would you like to see funders “getting out of their office?” And if you’re a funder, what are some ways that you have gotten out of your office, and what did you discover?