At the Participatory Grantmaking 101 session I did a reverse Q&A where I asked the attendees a number of questions to reflect and ponder on and I invite you to do the same.

  • Do you think you’re the best person to make the decisions you do?
  • Do you think the people who make decisions about where funding goes are the best people to make those decisions?
  • How often do you feel deflated by decision making meetings in your organisations?
  • How often do you feel elated and excited by a decision making meetings in your organisations?
  • How long have you been doing decision making in the same way in your organisation? When was the last time it changed? Was this a fundamental review or just a little tinkering with the agenda?
  • How much of your time in decision making is spent talking about governance and risk?
  • How much is spent talking about the idea and the impact?
  • How long does it take people in your organisation to truly understand an ‘issue’ you are making a decision on?
  • How long do you work on an ‘issue’ before it changes? Are you stuck in a cycle of not knowing enough, learning and lot, then moving to a different topic?
  • Do you make decisions on things that you know little or nothing about?
  • How would you feel if the organisation applying for funding, a service user or someone from that community could hear your decision making conversation about their application?

Read the full article about questions for donors by Hannah Paterson at Medium.