We are only a few months out from being able to publicly announce and then support the launch of a new community fund in Kingston!
What has been happening out of sight is the subject of this update: there are so many details that have to fall into place for this project to go from idea to reality. From the completion of the community fund design by the members of the group that have been working on this since last June, to refining the planning and budgeting, to securing the implementation funding, to getting all systems and people in place, it has been a busy season of behind-the-scenes work.
Rather than dive into a crazy long narrative of how it’s all been going, we wanted to share a few reflections prompted by questions that we get a lot when we talk about this project. If this is all new to you, check out Building Community Wealth to get an overview first and meet the design group!
What is a Community Fund Design anyway? What projects did you all fund?
People often think that the 9-month process that we facilitated for a group of Kingston residents to design a fund was actually a process of deciding where funding goes. They ask: Well, what got funded? And we answer: Nothing. Which usually prompts a big laugh.
At that point, we back up and explain that the typical way funding gets allocated is often opaque and inequitable. This project is all about redesigning that process to be more democratic and transparent. It’s about shifting power to the community, to allow for the emergence of a fund that is grassroots, not only in its funding focus, but in how it came to be in the first place.
9 months! What did the fund design group work on for so long?
Initially, we designed and facilitated a 6-month cohort program. We wanted to provide a chance for a group of community members to immerse themselves in learning about all sorts of things that would apply to the design of a fund – and then design the fund. We learned about different ways of making decisions around money (e.g. participatory budgeting, citizen assemblies, trust-based philanthropy, sou-sous); we heard from people who operate different types of funds (e.g. integrated capital investment funds like Boston Impact Initiative or Black Farmer Fund); the participants researched and investigated the city of Kingston to see what services and funds already existed and where there were gaps; we talked and thought deeply about the role of money in society and in our own lives; we practiced shared leadership and democratic decision-making ourselves.
The group also co-imagined what the future could look like if the community decided where funding could go. They wrestled with the idea of addressing the emergency needs that come from the current systems we live with OR funding future-focused projects to uplift positive and radical ways of being in community. They became very interested in the idea of the commons – and they asked themselves what it would look like if Kingston had more shared resources in general. Could they design a fund to do that?
In January – March, the group switched from a blend of learning and design work to focusing exclusively on design. We added this additional 3 months once we knew we needed more time. This phase of the collaborative work meant starting to create and refine the vision, mission, structure, and decision-making processes for the fund. We called it making the “blueprint” for a fund.
We learned that there is a big difference between reflecting on what we collectively learned and actually deciding on the fund design collaboratively. The questions that the design group addressed were big, foundational questions that then had to ripple into specific answers. It was not easy!
- What is the mission of this fund and what is the fund’s intended outcome?
- Who gets to decide on funding priorities?
- Who gets to participate in the decision-making process itself and decide who/what gets funded?
- How does the fund help the community to identify and support the types of projects and priorities that matter to the people in that community?
- How can the way the fund operates mirror the values that it is looking to bring into being, values like equity and inclusion, trust and transparency, connection and mutual support?
- How does the fund reverse historic injustices and invite broad participation by people who have been left out of economic opportunity?
- What scale is the right scale for a pilot fund that will be distributing $150K?
- What needs to be set aside for a future iteration so we can stay within feasibility?
- What is essential to this project? What must be included in the pilot?
- What can we decide by consent and what aspects need consensus to move forward? (You can read more about the differences between these consensus and consent decision-making processes here)
In the end, we did answer all these questions, and more. The group landed on and consented to a final fund design in mid-March that allowed the fund implementation process to begin. The fund design, or “blueprint,” provides explicit guidance and process descriptions for what the fund’s focus will be and how it will operate.
Is a community-led design process worth it? Isn’t it slower?
Our colleague Susan framed the question like this:
A group of residents that represented the diversity of Kingston, who are each deeply committed to their community, spent 9 months designing a community fund. Their resulting design was “ABC.” On the other hand, 9 months ago a single person could have declared: We’re establishing a community fund, and its design will be “ABC.” Some would point to that second approach, the top-down, unilateral decision-making process, as more efficient. What is the value and importance of the community fund process?
Great question! We believe that a fund design process that builds trust, understanding and collaboration amongst committed members of the community is an experiment in working together. We believe this particular community-designed fund process is a concrete manifestation of the value of collaborative, equitable, democratic processes.
It is also an example of how people who are committed to positive change can enter into arenas that are often seen as impossible to influence, or the province of experts, and provide deeply considered solutions to the problems they have experienced first-hand.
Yes, it is slower. But what we may have lost in speed, we gained in the richness, integrity, and thoughtfulness with which this group approached their mandate.
The fund design group represented a microcosm of the Kingston community. They felt responsible for creating something that would be the first step towards a truly inclusive and regenerative experiment in the realm of community fund AND community building. As a diverse group of individuals, they brought a wide range of perspectives together. As people who are all dedicated to making Kingston a better place, a place where everyone can thrive, they built trust and understanding amongst themselves, and brought their combined efforts to bear on this hard problem of money and where it flows.
My co-facilitator on this project, Micah, said it this way:
What has always seemed true to me, is that the answers to the collective problems are held by the collective. The answers to the problems that plague any group are best sourced from that group, and a true democracy is not formed by representatives convincing anyone of their expertise but rather by any group of ordinary people working collectively towards a goal, choosing to operate by sharing power instead of hoarding it. I am convinced that with the right amount of care and time, everything is possible. This community, and any other, can at least begin to function with resources differently. There is such a long way to go with this fund, and certainly the larger question of “resources in a community” which encompasses nearly everything is an open question, but we can start here and now.
The community fund design that has been created will be shared with the community in the next few months. After that, in the fall, we will see it move into action, beginning the process of allocating a pilot fund of $150K to projects that benefit the residents of Kingston.
To learn more about the Community Fund Design Project, to get involved, and connect with us, please visit Building Community Wealth.
