BOLD: A Framework for Philanthropic Action
Philanthropy Cannot Be Neutral. This Moment Calls for Bold Action.
Public investments families depend on are under pressure. Rights and protections are being challenged. Community-rooted organizations are meeting growing needs amid rising uncertainty. Children and families can't wait while institutions decide whether this moment calls for greater action.
Across the ECFC community, funders are already responding: moving resources, building power, using their voice, working across institutions. Much of this work goes unrecognized in the broader narrative about philanthropy.
BOLD gives us shared language for recognizing, strengthening, and amplifying it.
What is BOLD?
BOLD is ECFC's framework for how each of us can respond to this moment with greater clarity, purpose, urgency, and partnership.
It's not a new requirement or a single model every funder must follow. It's an invitation to use what you have (resources, relationships, influence) in service of what communities need, and to take on a meaningful share of the risk communities are already carrying.
B – Build collective power
Strengthen alignment across funders to advance coordinated, community-centered strategies.
- Build long-term relationships with community leaders and organizations
- Align funding and strategy across institutions
- Invest in shared decision-making infrastructure
O – Organize for systems change
Invest in policy, power building, and structural reform.
- Provide flexible, long-term resources for community-rooted organizations
- Support advocacy, organizing, and power building, including C4 funding where appropriate
- Create openings for parents, providers, and community leaders to shape policy
L – Leverage influence
Use your voice, networks, and capital to elevate community voices and shape public decision-making.
- Use institutional voice when communities need amplification or protection
- Open doors to influential spaces for community leaders
- Support community-led storytelling and narrative change
D – Double down on equity
Center racial equity and justice explicitly in funding, messaging, and partnerships.
- Invest in culturally rooted, community-developed solutions
- Support leaders historically excluded from funding and decision-making
- Build trust and accountability into funding relationships
There's no single way to be BOLD.
Bold action looks different depending on what you hold: more unrestricted funding, longer grant terms, public advocacy, a seat brought to the table for a community leader, alignment with other funders. What connects these actions is using your resources and influence in service of what communities need, and asking honestly: whose risk are you centering?
Bringing BOLD to life
BOLD is already showing up across ECFC's network: pooled resources, cross-institution partnerships, and funders using their voice in public and policy spaces. Through stories, member examples, and events, ECFC will keep highlighting how BOLD takes shape across philanthropy and in communities.
Join the conversation
What does BOLD look like in your organization, your partnerships, or your community? Share a story or example that shows what's possible when we act with greater clarity, purpose, and partnership.
Explore BOLD
Read Philanthropy Cannot Be Neutral. This Moment Calls for Bold Action, a message from A Message from ECFC’s Executive Director and Chief of Equity & Strategy.
Explore Stories of BOLD in Action
Read The Bold Way: Seeding Change, Building Power, the Racial Justice and Equity Fund's first evaluation report to share what changes when organizations closest to communities are supported and funded with trust.