A Practical Roadmap to Funder Listening in This Moment

No matter how you look at it, the last year-plus has been a challenging one for foundations, nonprofits, and the people and communities they aim to support.

Our sector faced a perfect storm: rising demand for services, federal funding freezes and cuts, political attacks on nonprofits and philanthropy, a government shutdown, and philanthropic budgets that — even with many foundations increasing payouts — couldn’t stretch to meet growing needs. The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s recent report, “A Sector in Crisis,” confirms the scale of these pressures, with nonprofit leaders reporting increased community needs and serious concern about their ability to sustain essential services.

Yet it was also a year in which many funders stepped up, listening and responding with intention and care to what communities said they needed most.

When we wrote “Turn On Your Headlights” last February, we shared what funders and nonprofits were telling us at the time. They believed listening was essential in a moment of chaos, but they weren’t sure how to listen well without overburdening grantees already stretched thin, or without raising expectations they couldn’t meet.

A year later, we’re seeing something hopeful. Funders around the country are showing us what it looks like to navigate uncertainty by leaning into listening, not away from it.

Supporting the “How-To” of Listening

Last year, CEP’s report “Voices That Matter” highlighted a persistent gap between funders’ stated commitment to listening and nonprofits’ and communities’ experiences of being heard. Fortunately, 2025 also showed us that many funders are focusing not just on whether to listen, but on how to do so in ways that are timely, practical, and responsive to community needs.

For example, when federal funding cuts and freezes were announced early last year, a coalition of New Mexico-based funders, including The Anchorum Health Foundation, Santa Fe Community Foundation, and the Thornburg Foundation, worked together to survey grantees to understand how programming and communities were likely to be affected. The joint survey not only saved grantees time (respondents could indicate on the survey if they were grantees of more than one participating foundation) but also increased the coverage of the survey leading to more responses and better representation across the state.

In order to share examples like the one in New Mexico, as well as frameworks and approaches to help funders listen, Feedback Labs worked with partners across philanthropy to understand what it really takes to listen in a context of political pressure, fear, and rapid change. That collective effort became “Listening in This Moment: A Guide for Funders,” a practical roadmap for the how of funder listening right now.

The guide lifts up examples from funders who are forging a path forward by listening despite the challenges — who are listening quickly, listening without burdening partners and communities, protecting the people they are listening to, and being transparent about what they can and cannot act on.

A few examples that are highlighted in the guide include:

• Last April, the Michigan Health Endowment Fund leveraged its annual convening of grantees and community leaders focused on healthy aging to discuss the effects of proposed federal funding cuts. The event included a panel of grantees making recommendations to funders on how to reaffirm their commitments to Michigan’s older adults and their caregivers.
• The Weissberg Foundation was able to quickly pivot plans for 2025 based on input from grantees and communities. To address power imbalances, the foundation has worked to diversify its board to include community leaders and created space for grantees to shape decisions.
• Earlier this year, the JM Kaplan Fund connected with its grantees to ensure they were doing everything they can to protect grantees’ safety online. The Kataly Foundation has also been listening to grantees about their safety concerns this year, and is investing in a Solidarity and Resilience Fund that is supporting digital security for movement groups, among other protections.

Perhaps most importantly, funders are realizing when nonprofits and communities don’t know what funders are thinking or planning, they fill the void with fear. When funders listen openly and communicate honestly, even saying “no” to grantee or community requests strengthens trust.

A Collective Step Toward Better Listening

This year, Feedback Labs and Fund for Shared Insight, along with five other partners, launched the Listen to Community Initiative, which aims to have more leaders and staff in foundations engage in listening practices that shift power to impacted communities.

The initiative comes at a critical moment. Every time a project that communities neither need nor want receives funding, philanthropy not only wastes resources, it risks causing real harm. With the sector facing a crisis of credibility and heightened scrutiny, Listen to Community offers a clear path forward: practical support for funders who want to listen in ways that strengthen their connection to the people most impacted, and a shared commitment to support decisions that reflect the community’s self-determined needs and goals.

Keeping the Headlights on in 2026

The past year has shown that listening is not a luxury reserved for stable times. It is a critical tool for alignment when priorities feel scattered, and for resilience when institutions and communities are under strain. The funders navigating uncertainty most effectively are keeping their headlights on this year by listening deeply and being transparent about what they can and cannot do.

In 2026, that commitment to listening may be one of the most important investments philanthropy can make.

Britt Lake is the CEO Feedback Labs. Find her on LinkedIn. Melinda Tuan is managing director of the Fund for Shared Insight. Find her on LinkedIn.