There is growing imperative for healing, from governments, social change leaders, and certainly among philanthropies funding social good. The urgency feels sharper as so many people are experiencing physical or mental suffering or trauma of some kind. However, in spite of resources expended, those of us making funding decisions may not be having the impact we intend, and might be missing the impact that is possible. This is because we are not seeing the whole picture. Specifically, we are working from frames that limit our view, and from processes that, even once we expand our perspective, limit our capacity to act. This piece guides funders to widen our frame and offers seven practical process shifts to increase funders’ capacity to take a systems view, do less harm, and have deeper impact.

Those of us moving resources towards social impact have many different strategies, approaches, and institutional cultures. But at the root, much of the work intends for individuals to thrive, and for systems to support, rather than harm. As is often the case, we are capable to produce that which we are. If we as funders seek to do trauma-informed work and heal systems of human interaction, it makes sense that we heal our own.