Grants don’t build trust—relationships do.

The philanthropic sector is at a crossroads. Communities are calling for more than funding—they want transparency and shared power. In the Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab, funders, philanthropic leaders, and program managers will further step out of their offices and into co-creation with the people they fund and serve. Together, participants will develop trust-centered interventions and models that transform how decisions are made, how impact is defined, and how philanthropy is expressed in solidarity, not saviorism.

Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Philanthropy:

Grantees report that foundation staff are disconnected from on-the-ground realities and routinely overlook grassroots leaders.

Small, BIPOC-led organizations are overwhelmed by burdensome grant applications and reporting requirements that drain capacity.

Short-term, restricted grants prevent nonprofits from planning or growing—leading to burnout and instability.

Foundations demand rigid outcomes that ignore context, extract stories, and reinforce white dominant metrics of success.

Grantees and applicants often lack visibility into how decisions are made, which can lead to confusion and mistrust.

Foundations solicit feedback after funding cycles, but grantees rarely see their input reflected in policy or practice.

Boards and executive teams lack representation from the communities they fund, reinforcing elitism and exclusion.

Across four powerful days, reimagine philanthropy from diverse perspectives, particularly those of the people most directly impacted by the field. Build funding practices, relationships, and governance models that confront power, redistribute resources, and rebuild trust from the ground up. In the Re/Designing Trust Action Lab, we’ll redesign how philanthropy contributes to sustaining transformation.

The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Philanthropy will culminate in co-created trust-based interventions that will be publicly disseminated to drive industry-wide systems change.

This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning.
Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.

Rebuilding Trust in Philanthropy Starts Here.

By the end of the Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Philanthropy experience, participants will be able to:

• Identify historical and systemic injustices—such as racialized giving patterns, extractive evaluation practices, and exclusionary funding processes—that have contributed to deep-rooted mistrust between philanthropic institutions and excluded and underinvested communities.
• Examine their roles, decision-making authority, and institutional power within philanthropic systems, and how their identities and positions impact trust and access for grantees and grassroots leaders.
• Co-create trust-centered philanthropic interventions that directly respond to historical and contemporary harms experienced by underfunded and overburdened organizations and movements.
• Develop actionable strategies for long-term grantee engagement that move beyond transactional grant cycles or performative statements to authentic, community-led relationships grounded in transparency and reciprocity.
• Strengthen their capacity to embed dignity and trust into philanthropic systems by reimagining how funding decisions, investments, communications, and governance structures can repair harm, restore relationships, and build sustained trust with communities.

By the end of the Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Philanthropy experience, graduates will receive:

• Invitation to the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice online network, including a private online community of practice for the Re/Designing Trust Lab alumni

• Alumni-only virtual gatherings

• Access to Lab Report Newsletter

• Certificate of Completion

• Name acknowledgment in sector-specific Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab Trust Report

• Bonus: Redesigners for Justice™ Participation Pin and Sticker

• Bonus: Equity-Centered Community Design™ 1.0 field guide (by Creative Reaction Lab)

• Bonus: Nature of Trust Bio 360 Report (by Biomimicry 3.8 & Biomimicry for Social Innovation)

$2,444 per person
$444 or $0 for Living Impact Expert

Buy One, Sponsor One: Each full-price registration covers your tuition and also sponsors a complimentary ticket for a living impact expert—an individual directly impacted by the industry of focus who does not work within it.

During registration, you may nominate a qualified living impact expert or designate someone to receive your sponsored ticket. Student participants can receive volunteer hours for participation in the program.

If you’re a living impact expert, learn more about and/or apply for a Gertrude Jackson Scholarship (full scholarship) and Jack Burke Scholarship (partial scholarship) below.

Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Philanthropy

$2,444.00

Register Here