Diana Sieger on dispensing with ‘donor knows best’ philanthropy

GRAND RAPIDS — At the beginning of her 35 years leading the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, Diana Sieger was often the only woman in the room. But during her tenure, the foundation sought out diverse voices to shape its philanthropic e orts, distancing itself from the “donor knows best” model common in many nonpro t circles.

Founded in 1922, GRCF is Michigan’s oldest community foundation. It provides grants to support nonpro ts, scholarships, and other forms of outreach, largely intended to ght racial, social and economic barriers to prosperity. Some of its committees and initiatives include the Black Legacy Fund, Our LGBTQ Fund, Somos Comunidad Fund, the Challenge Scholars Dream Fund, the Youth Grant Committee and the 100 New Philanthropists.Since joining GRCF in 1987, Sieger, who plans to retire this fall, has helped the organization grow its nancial assets from $38 million to $387 million and its sta from three to more than 30 people. The following conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

 What are the some of the things you’ve been re ecting on as you prepare to retire?

I don’t think I have ever been more optimistic about the future of this community than I am now, in large part because of the amazing, younger leadership that has emerged. My era was the civil rights era and women’s rights. In the last 10 years, with all of the things that have gone on in our community, in this country and around the world, I am really heartened by the fact that the voices of the people are not letting up. I don’t see any of the current activism settling down; I see it really continuing, and to me, it’s such a thrill to see that. It’s like, watch out, folks, the status quo is not okay. I see it in my sta team, I see it in the leadership on committees and various programs that I’m involved with, and in business leaders, and it makes me really proud of the future.

 What type of activism are you thinking of, speci cally?

Primarily of areas that involve racial equity, economic equity and social justice. We’ve been on a trajectory for years — our North Star was created back about six, seven years ago as a directional piece for us — and in part, due to the isolation of COVID in the beginning days and all that, we have strengthened our voice as it relates to equity and not just accepting things as they are. (We’ve) been casting that direction for this foundation and nding people to serve on our boards, committees and sta who really believe that, as well.

 How has the foundation’s approach to philanthropy evolved

Rumblings

over the past 35 years?

Back in 2000, I was lucky enough to be selected to be (a fellow for the Transatlantic Community Foundation Exchange Program, and was paired with a foundation in Northern Italy).

What I learned from being immersed in another culture is the fact that there is philanthropy in existence everywhere, and it may not be like the American form of philanthropy. It may not always be nancial; it may be lending a hand, it may be sharing commodities, such as a home or food. I would say that the focus of philanthropy now, particularly for this foundation, is really giving heed to di erent ideas and di erent cultures that may not have been listened to previously and standing alongside people, versus saying, “I know how to approach this project.” What that means is, the answers aren’t always from my head. It’s listening to the experiences that people have had — their experiences with racism, their experiences with nancial support, their experiences with housing patterns — and really just saying, “This is what we think we can create,” and having the wherewithal to be able to say, “Let’s create that together." The biggest lesson for most funders is that we don’t know it all, and so philanthropy is, I think, recalibrating, in a good way. … We’re really working hand in hand with our donors by saying... ‘This is what we’re doing, you might be interested in doing it, as well.”

 Tell me about the Youth Grant Committee. How does it work?

Any student can apply to serve on our Youth Grant Committee. In general, there’s about 33 young people ranging from ninth grade to 12th grade, and

BY | RACHEL WATSON

they’re the ones who choose (their fund’s grant recipients). They do needs assessments, they do research. It’s just basically saying, “Here’s the template. You gure out how you want to proceed.” They’re on re, and they’ve been in existence now for 30 years. Many of the alums have continued to do work in Diana Sieger will be retiring as president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation this fall.

 What is your hope for the Grand Rapids Community Foundation after you leave? Opening the doors further is really what I’m hopeful for. A focus these days is the parlance of “systems change.” But what does that mean? What it means is there are some