When a disaster hits, the first images on our screens are usually of uniformed professionals—firefighters, paramedics, soldiers—charging toward the danger. But if you look past the flashing lights, you’ll see something else. A neighbour opening her door to strangers. A community...
How to Navigate Tensions Between Organizers and Funders When people come together to make something better, the spark usually starts with grassroots organizers—folks who spot a problem, knock on doors, and start building solutions with whatever they’ve got. Then a funder...
When Good Intentions Collide: Navigating the Rough Spots Between Organizers and Funders You’d think community organizers and the people who fund them would be natural allies. Both want to see real change. Both care about the same neighborhoods, the same issues,...
I’ve spent more than twenty years in the space where grassroots organizing meets institutional funding, and I can tell you this: the tension is not a sign of failure. It’s a sign that both sides care deeply. But caring deeply without...
I’ve spent the better part of two decades watching how public money gets spent—and, too often, how it gets wasted. Budgets drafted behind closed doors, debated in half-empty chambers, then rolled out to neighbourhoods that never had a real say. The...
I spent years in meeting rooms, nodding along while spreadsheets full of outputs were presented with the weight of scripture. Workshops delivered, pamphlets distributed, appointments attended—tallied up and projected onto screens as if they told a complete story. We rarely stopped...