The Aspen Institute

Commissioned by Fund for Shared Insight, this landscape scan explores whether and how US funders and nonprofits seek to meaningfully connect with the people and communities that their advocacy and policy work is intended to benefit. It employs an intentionally exploratory lens, without a predetermined definition of what “connecting” would look like in advocacy and policy contexts, nor presumptions about what might be needed to support connections. The research findings are intended to inform Shared Insight’s grantmaking strategy, and to contribute to the broader field’s understanding of what it means — and what it takes — to meaningfully connect with communities that are ultimately intended to benefit from advocacy and policy work. Shared Insight is a funder collaborative seeking to improve philanthropy by elevating the voices of those least heard.