The Funders Network is committed to sharing the stories and strategies of our members, partners and others in the philanthropic sector working to create more sustainable, prosperous and equitable communities.
Today, we’re sharing a blog post by Jill Fuglister, executive director of BuildUS, co-chair of TFN’s Partners for Places Governance Committee and a 2016 PLACES Fellow. Drawing on three years of supporting place-based coalitions, she reflects on how partnerships between power builders and project implementers can turn federal investments into equitable outcomes, and introduces “From Policy to Possibility,” a new resource from BuildUS to help funders strengthen local implementation capacity.
BY Jill Fuglister, BuildUS Executive Director (TFN Partners for Places Governance Committee Co-chair and PLACES Fellow, 2016)
During my years at a regional foundation, I saw how sustained investment in organizing and coalition building led by and for communities that have experienced historic disinvestment led to big wins.
My experience at BuildUS has deepened my appreciation for how essential that local power building infrastructure is to turning ambitious national public policy into equitable outcomes. Over the past three years, I’ve seen how partnerships between power-builders and project implementers can advance complex projects and how the work of implementation can, in turn, build the community capacity and power needed to shape future decisions.
This is also where national and place-based philanthropy can be complementary. Place-based funders can make patient, long-term investments in organizations, leadership and coalition-building that enable communities to innovate and take bold actions. National funders can provide an influx of flexible resources, specialized expertise and connections across geographies to help communities navigate complex federal policy implementation and accelerate results.
BuildUS has been supporting place-based coalitions to implement Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act-resourced equitable clean energy, infrastructure and economic development projects.
There’s a lot that makes this work hard. Technical gaps, policy and regulatory barriers, misinformation, lack of capital, disconnects between community and government, and more can derail promising projects. But partnerships between power building groups and implementers have overcome these barriers to move strong projects forward. They’ve also given communities historically marginalized from public investment decisions greater influence over which projects move forward, how they’re designed and who benefits.
One example of this is the Allegheny Decarbonization Coalition. The coalition unites a diverse set of community, labor and government partners to advance climate resilience retrofits of public housing in Pittsburgh. Heinz Endowments has supported the organization at the center of the work for years to build the capacity and deepen relationships critical for the coalition’s development. National funders, including BuildUS, helped fuel the coalition’s momentum as the new federal funding opportunities emerged. When their federal grant was declined, the coalition had the strength and capacity to find a new path forward. As a result, they are on track to complete a public housing decarbonization pilot, and lessons from that work have informed the proposed Pennsylvania Energy Savings and Jobs Fund, legislation planned for introduction in 2027 to help replicate this approach statewide.
Over three years, we’ve learned a lot from our partners about the nitty gritty specifics of this work. We recently compiled these lessons into “From Policy to Possibility”, a new resource designed to help funders more fully understand all of the interconnected capacities communities need to turn public resources into meaningful outcomes. It also features dozens of example projects and the successful strategies we’ve seen groups on the ground use to navigate a federal policy context that changed direction midstream. In addition, it includes a framework that offers funders and practitioners a way to assess implementation capacities in the places they support: what’s strong, what’s missing, and where investments or new partnerships could make the greatest difference.
Why did we think it was important to create this resource?
First, the work of implementing BIL, CHIPS and IRA isn’t done. Billions of dollars are still flowing and projects are in progress, including many that we highlighted in our report. But the organizations and partnerships needed to deliver equitable clean energy, clean water and good jobs results remain vulnerable. If support recedes now, projects that are underway are at risk of stalling or reinforcing longstanding patterns in which public investments disproportionately benefit those with the greatest resources and power, a pattern that philanthropy has been trying to break.
Second, community capacity to shape public investments matters beyond any single funding opportunity. The federal, state and local governments invest in infrastructure, energy, housing and economic development every year. The capacities strengthened in places over the past several years can help communities influence this ongoing flow of public investments. Stronger implementation capacities also mean communities can move faster and more effectively to complete new and unfinished projects and shape how public funds are spent more broadly, creating a virtuous cycle of greater community influence and impact.
Third, with fewer philanthropic dollars flowing into implementation, funders face difficult choices about what to sustain. The From Policy to Possibility framework can help funders and practitioners make investment decisions strategically by identifying capacity strengths and gaps in an implementation ecosystem in the places they work, as well as opportunities for investment, coordination and partnership.
Finally, implementation ecosystems are part of the civic infrastructure we need to build a more equitable, green, and democratic economy. When communities build their capacity to shape public investments and see tangible results from their participation, they build the foundation needed to influence public decisions and hold institutions accountable. At the same time, more effective relationships between communities and government can help transform existing institutions and create new forms of governance that put equity and community priorities at the center.
The next major federal policy opportunity will no doubt look different from this one. But the lesson from the past several years is clear: investing in strong implementation ecosystems that unite power builders with project developers pays dividends well beyond any single project or funding opportunity. These investments can deliver more equitable outcomes today while strengthening communities’ collective power to shape future decisions. Over time, they can help fundamentally change who makes decisions, whose priorities drive public investments, and who benefits.
Photo by Matthew Kaplan, courtesy of Chicago Teachers Union.