Embodied Leadership for Funders & Donors
Embodied Leadership for Funders & Donors (ELFD) (online)
This eight week introductory embodied leadership program is for leaders in the funding world who are committed to redistributing wealth to social and climate justice movements, BIPOC communities, and poor and working class communities. ELFD will support participants to vision new possibilities, align actions with vision, and transform toward our longings for freedom and liberation.
About This Course
Embodied Leadership for Funders and Donors (ELFD) (online) is an introductory embodied leadership program for leaders in the funding world who are committed to redistributing wealth to social and climate justice movements, BIPOC communities, and poor and working class communities. ELFD offers donors and funders an opportunity to build relationships across organization and role. Participants will be in conversation and practice with one another about the particular challenges facing leaders in social justice funding in these times. Participants are invited into joint inquiry about the relevance of embodied leadership development, trauma healing, and resilience building in funding contexts that aim to support and be part of powerful social and climate justice movements. ELFD supports participants to grow their leadership in moving resources (financial and otherwise) to organizations engaged in movement building.
This eight week online program will support participants to vision new possibilities, align actions with vision, and transform toward our longings for freedom and liberation. We will explore ways to more effectively coordinate together, take action, and ally with one another towards our individual and collective visions. As an individual, you will reflect on your own leadership, envision the kind of leader you want to be, and begin to make the moves to get there. You will explore how you historically act under pressure and learn to shift unwanted automatic reactions. While individual leadership development is a key focus and outcome of this course, our bigger aim is for participants to take away a greater ability to align our movement culture and strategies with our shared values.
In this course participants will be invited to:
- Identify and articulate your vision and how you want to lead;
- Notice your default habits that show up in your leadership and relationships, when you are under pressure;
- Relax under pressure, which supports more grounded action;
- Stay more present through a wide range of emotions and experiences;
- Form more connected, mutual relationships;
- Coordinate with others more effectively and easefully;
- Embody greater authenticity and accountability in your leadership and relationships;
- Strengthen your presence with others and increase your ability to move others in beneficial directions;
- Learn to hold contradictions and complexity, while you continue to move toward your visions, and sustain your relationships;
- Compel and inspire people towards a collective vision and greater leadership risks;
- Develop a daily practice that will feed your leadership and wellbeing beyond the course.
Who participates in ELFD?
Participants in ELFD include individuals who work in foundations or funder/donor networks, as well as those who identify as major donors. We also invite groups or teams from organizations or institutions (foundations and funder/donor networks) to participate in ELFD together.
Past Participants
21st Century Foundation * Akonadi Foundation * Amplify Fund * Bay Area Justice Funders Network * Borealis Philanthropy * Brico Fund * Brooklyn Community Foundation * The California Endowment * Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy * Common Counsel Foundation * Compton Foundation * Conflict Transformation Fund * Criminal Justice Initiative * Embrey Family Foundation * Fenwick Foundation * Ford Foundation * General Service Foundation * The Giving Circle * Groundswell Fund * Hidden Leaf Foundation * Hill-Snowdon Foundation * ioby * The JPB Foundation* Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation * Kalio Fund * Kapor Foundation * Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust * Katz-Krantz Family Fund * Kellogg Foundation * Kresge Foundation * Leeway Foundation * Maria Fund * Merck Family Fund * North Star Fund * Northern California Grantmakers * NoVo Foundation * Open Society Foundations * Raikes Foundation * Regenerative Finance * Resource Generation * Rockefeller Brothers Fund * Roy A. Hunt Foundation * San Francisco Foundation * Satterberg Foundation * The Seasons Fund for Social Transformation * Solidago Foundation * Solidaire Network * The Sunrise Initiative for Human Rights in the U.S. * Surdna Foundation * Thousand Currents * Third Wave Fund * Threshold Foundation * Vervane Foundation * Women Donors Network * Woodcock Foundation
“I recently joined a space with funders and movement leaders organizing to move big dollars to frontline organizations. Since going through [ELFD], I am able to show up with more grounded confidence and purpose, whereas before I found I had a lot of self talk happening internally that was minimizing what I had to contribute in that space.”– Rena Meyers-Dahlkamp, Conflict Transformation Fund, participant in ELFD 2020.
Course Details
No prerequisites. Applicants can apply as individuals or as part of a group or team from an institution or organization.
We’re in an ongoing commitment to embodying disability justice (DJ) in our theory and practice. gs has shifted key pieces of our coursework, including language and practice, and we continue to be disability justice learners. Thank you in advance for partnering with us as we continue to transform and deepen our DJ embodiment.
In ELFD, there will be closed-captioning. ASL or Spanish interpretation will be offered as needed. We will share adaptations for somatic practices to meet the needs of a wide range of bodies. Please contact us with questions or to discuss your access needs: programs@staging.gs-dev.mysites.io.
April-June 2022
5 sessions (2 hrs each)
3 additional sessions of small group coaching (90 minutes each)
This course will take place online, on Zoom.
Detailed Course Schedule
- Session 1: Wednesday April 20th, 12noon-2pm PST / 3-5pm ET
- Session 2: Wednesday April 27th, 12noon-2pm PST / 3-5pm ET
- Coaching group: Wednesday May 4th, 12noon-1:30pm PST / 3-4:30pm ET
- Session 3: Wednesday May 11th, 12noon-2pm PST / 3-5pm ET
- Coaching group: Wednesday May 18th, 12noon-1:30pm PST / 3-4:30pm ET
- Session 4: Wednesday May 25th, 12noon-2pm PST / 3-5pm ET
- Coaching group: Wednesday June 1st, 12noon-1:30pm PST / 3-4:30pm ET
- Session 5: Wednesday June 8th, 12noon-2pm PST / 3-5pm ET
The program fee is $3,000-$6,000 per person (sliding scale based on organizational budget and individual capacity). For more support on how to determine your sliding scale fee, read here. If you need flexibility around this fee and/or would like to propose an alternative amount: contact development@staging.gs-dev.mysites.io with “ELFD fee” in the subject line.
If you are applying with a group or team from your organization or institution, and if your organization will be paying for the full team to attend, we can create a contract with your organization reflecting the full amount due for your whole team to attend. Please make sure a point of contact at your organization is in touch with us about this. Contact: development@staging.gs-dev.mysites.io
Participant fees for ELFD cover the costs of this program and also support gs to make all of our other programs accessible to poor and working class movement leaders.
Thank you for your interest and for all the ways you support gs!
Please consider making a donation for the sake of making our programs accessible to innovative movement leaders, to poor and working class communities, and to communities of color. All donations go a long way and no amount is too small to have an impact.
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