August 18, 2025 Blog
Grounded in Community: From Transactional to Transformational
We’re excited to introduce Grounded in Community, the next phase of our blog. What began in 2020 as Shoulder to Shoulder has now evolved into a deeper reflection of our existing values and growth, with a new name that signals this transition. While we live our equity journey every day within CFWM, this blog is our way of sharing that journey transparently. By continuing to work on ourselves as an organization, we strive to serve as one of many examples of how equity work can take shape. We hope our openness inspires other organizations to create more equity and opportunity for all people.
In this first blog post as Grounded in Community, Denise Hurst looks back at how CFWM has shifted its grantmaking from a transactional approach to a transformational one, and how CFWM remains grounded in the work ahead.
Over the past five years, we at the Community Foundation have been reshaping our approach as a funder, asking ourselves: what does it truly mean to be in partnership? Transactions have long defined philanthropy, with philanthropy’s practices centered around applications and approvals, grant awards, and reporting requirements. The Community Foundation once operated within this mold, well-intentioned, but exercising the power imbalance funders have often relied upon. We’ve since shifted from a transactional model to one rooted in trust, collaboration, and shared purpose. While this work is far from finished, we’ve seen how changes—big and small—can open the door to something much more powerful.
One change has been how we fund. We are prioritizing unrestricted, trust-based grantmaking to reduce the administrative burdens nonprofits face. Rather than tying dollars to tightly prescribed program requirements, we are trusting in an organization’s ability to respond and lead from within. This approach not only honors the expertise of our nonprofit sector’s leaders but also gives them the room to make the moves they know are most necessary for their organization to thrive. We’ve learned that achieving this requires that we as funders listen more, require less, and put more trust where it belongs: in the people doing the work.
Our Flexible Funding opportunity is one way this commitment comes to life. We streamlined its application, and in some cases, have offered multi-year, general operating support. Considering current funding challenges experienced by nonprofits this year, we are also streamlining the grant renewal process to select 2024 grantees. By confirming the same funding levels for next year, we believe we will help a number of community partners to plan more effectively. This approach strengthens their capacity to carry out community-based work without the stress of navigating uncertainty. These examples are not just process tweaks in our grantmaking practices. They are a reflection of our belief that our nonprofit community knows best what it needs, and that our role is to remove the burdens and tensions created by traditional grantmaking practices. We’ve learned that when we ease restrictions, community vision grows faster, stronger, healthier.
Our Racial Equity Social Justice Fund (RESJ) is another expression of our shift. Across western Massachusetts, many communities continue to face deep and persistent racial, economic, and social inequities. These challenges stem from a long legacy of exclusion, underinvestment, and systemic barriers that have kept Black, Brown, Indigenous, immigrant, and low-income communities from accessing the resources and decision-making power they deserve. Designed to support grassroots and community-led efforts advancing equity in our region, RESJ focuses on cultivating and developing lasting equity by shifting power and resourcing leadership from within affected communities, with the goal of contributing to systemic change.
Beyond direct grantmaking activities, we stay rooted in the realities our nonprofit partners face and in the vision they carry by holding community partner gatherings each year across the counties we serve to introduce Flexible Funding while also creating space for meaningful peer connection. These gatherings allow us to surface shared challenges and successes, which inform how we shape our programs and capacity-building workshops moving forward.
Convenings have become a key part of our work. Late last year, financial aid directors from partnering institutions joined us to share insights that informed the relaunch of our Interest-Free Educational Loans program for post-secondary students. Following that, our Education and Economic Mobility team hosted Western Mass Completes convenings to present the latest results to the presidents and staff of 10 participating higher education institutions, creating space to share ongoing results and gather feedback to guide next steps for the initiative. Building on similar efforts this spring, we gathered with our racial equity and financial resiliency partners at the Power of Truths Arts and Education Festival at BOMBYX Center for the Arts in Northampton, where, in partnership with Self-Evident Education, we facilitated conversations to explore and celebrate the arts and education as tools for empowerment and racial justice.
Aside from convenings, we’ve hosted regular open office hours—in-person and virtual—to give organizations a low-pressure chance to ask questions, share challenges, and refine their applications and have offered capacity-building workshops. By staying present in this way, we’re not just awarding grants. Our Community Impact Team is listening, collaborating, and walking alongside our partners toward a shared vision of impact.
As CFWM continues to evolve, I would like to invite our supporters and fund holders to reflect alongside us. What does it mean to invest in equity, in trust, and change? How might our collective efforts in giving and funding adapt to meet not only immediate needs, but also the root causes of inequity? Whether through grantmaking or simply by asking deeper questions, I encourage you to consider how your philanthropy can be part of a collective effort. Together, we have the opportunity to not just respond but to transform.
Authors and Contributors:
Denise Hurst
Vice President for Community Impact and Partnerships
