The people closest to the issue best know the solutions. For health funders, sharing power with community could mean giving residents a voice in shaping your grantmaking priorities or where grant dollars are spent. Many funders understand that solutions are more likely to be successful when the people who are most affected have a voice in shaping them. But when it comes to including that voice, the work often stalls before it starts, underscoring the importance of examining challenges facing health funders in shifting power.

There’s a reason why sharing power with community is not yet standard practice for grantmakers—working this way is complex and requires significant time, resources, and trust. What can grantmakers do to better align their action with their intent and address the numerous challenges facing health funders?

We explored this with about 90 colleagues at Grantmakers in Health’s 2025 annual conference. Because we know the people closest to the challenges know best the solutions, we wanted to hear from the grantmakers in the room ideas for overcoming four common areas of challenges facing health funders when it comes to authentically engaging community in the work. Here are the solutions they identified.

Challenge Facing Health Funders #1: Loss of Control

What if the community wants something we can’t do?

Steps to take to work on solutions for challenges facing health funders:

  • Start with internal reflection and assessment. Is your organization truly ready to do this work? Where might internal alignment be needed? What aspects of your culture might need to change in order to partner well with community?
  • Engage community members in visioning with boundaries. The onus is on the funder to set clear expectations about what is possible and what might be off the table. Narrowing the group’s focus in this way can help generate stronger ideas.
  • Interrogate why you can’t do what the community is asking for. Is it because of legal constraints or self-imposed constraints? Consider whether there might be room for flexibility to meet community needs.
  • Counter a “no” with other resources. Consider ways to leverage your connections to help mobilize resources and support from other funders and decision-makers. Engage community members in identifying other alternatives.
  • Bring community members into leadership positions in grantmaking organizations to address challenges facing health funders. Consider inviting community members to serve on the board or forming an advisory committee of community members. This will help bridge gaps between your organization’s experience and perspective and the community’s experience and perspective, and community members with a deeper understanding of the organization’s priorities and ways of working will be better positioned to offer viable solutions.

Read the full article about challenges facing health funders by Lori Bartczak and Regan Gruber Moffitt at Grantmakers in Health.