Earlier this year, the Hadassah Foundation was in the midst of preparing to launch a new category of grants. These “Spark Grants” would be new territory for us: investing in startup and emerging organizations. Our strategic plan included a commitment to seeking input from grantees and potential grantees, and we wanted to do so in a manner that was accessible and did not place undue burden on the grantseekers.

We could have sought advice from other grantmakers, or hired a consultant. Instead, we reached out to the philanthropic field’s least-listened-to authorities: the professionals who invest countless hours applying for grant dollars in order to keep the doors of their nonprofits open.

Learn more about how we did this — and critical role of our partners at UpStart — in this article just published in eJewish Philanthropy: “Sparking Conversations Between Funders and the Nonprofits We Support.”