Insights for Change

Shifting Power in Family Philanthropy: The Kolibri Foundation Story

Insights for Change Podcast features conversations with people in philanthropy about funder listening to shift power. In this episode, Molly Schultz Hafid, principal consultant at MSH Consultants, talks with Eileen Farbman, co-founder and board co-chair of the Kolibri Foundation, about what it takes to truly share power in family philanthropy. Farbman shares her journey from decades of work on women's issues, gender racial justice, and with youth impacted by the criminal justice system to inheriting control of a traditional family foundation and transforming it into a movement-led organization. Together with Schultz Hafid, who helped guide the transition, she reflects on lessons learned about participatory grantmaking, governance changes, and the emotional realities of "letting go" of control. They discuss how Farbman and her family joined with movement leaders to develop collective decision-making practices — including bylaws that require family members represent a minority of the board — and structure grantmaking that supports building power through organizing and movement-building. Farbman also offers candid advice to other families exploring how to move money and power closer to communities.

Philanthropy and Community Empowerment: A Talk with Hanh Le

Insights for Change Podcast features conversations with people in philanthropy about funder listening to shift power. In this episode, Melinda Tuan, Fund for Shared Insight's managing director, sits down with Hanh Le, co-CEO of iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility, to explore what it means for philanthropy to truly listen and shift power to community. Hanh shares her deeply personal journey — from her family's experience as Vietnamese refugees to her evolving role in philanthropy — and how that history shapes her commitment to equity and justice. She and Melinda discuss how iF transformed from a conventional health-conversion grantmaker into a community-centered racial justice foundation, grounded in truth-telling, healing, and repair. Together, they unpack how foundations can move beyond performative listening to genuine partnership, co-creating with communities, redistributing wealth, and transforming systems from within.

Short Take on Trust: Alleviate Concerns About Centering Community Voice, Advice for Funders

In part four of this series, Walter Howell continues the conversation about common concerns funders may have as they prepare efforts to share decision making with the people and communities they intend to serve. This episode offers useful advice about how to build or repair trust with the people and communities your foundation seeks to serve: "Think about how you build trust with your closest friends," he says, and see that it's the same "human-to-human" interactions — listening to each other, offering support, experiencing joy together — that can make a difference.

Short Take on Expertise: Alleviate Concerns About Centering Community Voice, Advice for Funders

In part three of this series, Walter Howell continues the conversation about common concerns funders may have as they prepare efforts to share decision making with the people and communities they intend to serve. This episode offers advice on how to marry the expertise of people and communities experiencing an issue and developing their own solutions with the academic and professional expertise of hired foundation staff. "Think about the rooms you are not a part of," he says, such as where block captains, teachers, and churchgoers are, and "go there and say, 'This is who I want to center and learn from.'"

Short Take on Resources: Alleviate Concerns About Centering Community Voice, Advice for Funders

In part two of this series, Walter Howell continues the conversation about common concerns funders may have as they prepare efforts to share decision making with the people and communities they intend to serve. This episode offers useful advice about facing the challenge of balancing limited resources with the need to honor and compensate community members' work. It starts, he says, with "having that an abundance mindset … towards the people you are bringing to the table."