Alchemy In Action: The Dance of Knowledge Building, Grant Strategy, and Equity

Alchemy, once used to refer to magic and precious metals, denotes the power to change what is around us into something even more valuable. When we understand our knowledge practice as shared meaning making, we can do just that as grants professionals.

Knowledge work, as an emerging field within philanthropy, is all about alchemy. If foundation strategy isn’t feeling equity centered, knowledge work can deepen the equity focus. If a grantmaking approach seems stagnant, knowledge work can encourage exploration and creativity. If philanthropic strategy is shifting quickly to the next “new” thing, knowledge work can hold steady while embodying change.

In this webinar, we will briefly explore the context for today’s knowledge work in grantmaking. Then we will dive into some principles and practices that can help integrate knowledge work within grant strategy for the shared purpose of equity (broadly defined). Finally, we will identify how knowledge work and grant strategy are connected and yet also quite distinct in how we define success.