Our Approach

Since its inception, the Better Food Policy Fund has set its strategic direction in a participatory fashion. We are intentionally building capacity for engagement to ensure the Fund aligns with the needs of food policy council stakeholders.

Thus far, the Fund has engaged 300+ food policy council stakeholders to help co-develop the Fund. We are immensely grateful for the individuals who helped shape the initial direction of this fund. We view this growing stakeholder audience as the people to whom the Fund’s governing body, the Independent Advisory Committee, is ultimately accountable.

Things We’ve Learned

We’ve learned A LOT thus far. Not only about food policy councils, but about how this fund might operate best to serve these groups and what it takes to fully engage in participatory grantmaking. We’ve been keeping a log of those “a-ha” moments that surprise us along the way; here are a few that stand out.

Allow Space for Complexity

Complexity combined with insufficient resources can make it difficult to maintain forward motion
Don’t get stuck – find things that are good enough for now and safe enough to try
Resist the urge to pick between equally-strong positions – try to find ways to bridge both

Expect to Engage Differently

Conventional patterns of philanthropy are deeply ingrained in our thinking
Groundwork to build trust is essential when navigating power dynamics
Readiness to seek out and engage difference – in many dimensions – requires deep personal work and introspection

Start by Assuming Worthiness

Selecting semi-finalists by random chance makes it easier psychologically
Energy levels increase when looking to confirm (rather than justify) finalists
It took less than a third of the time to select a highly satisfactory slate of councils to feature in case studies