BOLD Funder Spotlight: Sarah Robinson on Leveraging Influence 

Sometimes the boldest thing a funder can do is to use their influence to put the microphone in the hands of someone already doing the work. 

Sarah Robinson, program partner, movement & coalition building at the Couch Family Foundation, has spent much of her career helping people organize around the issues that affect their communities. 

A lifelong resident of New Hampshire, Sarah previously worked in public education policy at Reaching Higher NH and Granite State Progress, helping communities organize to support their public schools and participate in the legislative process. In 2015, she helped establish the Concord chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice. 

Today, Sarah brings that organizing experience to her philanthropic work. The Couch Family Foundation has a statewide focus on early care and education (ECE) in New Hampshire, with a goal of supporting high-quality, equitable ECE systems. 

Sarah approaches philanthropy much like she approached organizing: find the people already doing the work, then make it easier for them to lead. 

“We don’t have to be the brave ones,” Sarah explained. “We have to go and find the brave ones.” 

Find the People Already Doing the Work 

When Sarah was a community organizer, she helped communities build the capacity to organize effectively. Her role was not to do the work for them. It was to find the people who were already doing it and help connect them to the support, relationships, and strategies they needed. 

She remembers a community that needed to fight a book-banning provision in its school district. Sarah encountered people who were already deeply engaged. They did not need someone to take over the effort. They needed support to keep showing up, whether that meant helping prepare testimony for a school board meeting or planning how to canvass their neighborhoods. 

“It was easy to find the people who cared deeply,” Sarah said. “They kept showing up.” 

That experience continues to shape how she thinks about philanthropy. 

Philanthropy can do the same. Funders can deeply understand their grantee partners, pay attention to the people those partners work with, and recognize leaders whose contributions may not yet be visible to philanthropy. When those people have an opportunity to raise their voices, funders can use their access and credibility to help create the conditions for them to lead. 

Influence is More Than Money 

For the Couch Family Foundation, leveraging influence does not mean simply writing a check. Philanthropy can offer technical assistance, make connections to important networks and use their credibility to open doors. 

She saw an opportunity to do this with a chief financial officer at a large neighborhood early care and education facility in Concord, New Hampshire, which has served as a community hub for decades. After hearing the CFO, Ana Byers, speak in a meeting, Sarah recognized her deep understanding of the financial complexities facing ECE providers, including the ways federal and state financing and parent contributions intersect. 

Sarah asked her to coffee. From there, Sarah came to know her expertise well enough that when opportunities arose for people to hear directly from an ECE provider, she could recommend her by name. Since that meeting, Sarah has been able to connect Byers to foundation grantees such as advocates to assist in creating new policy ideas, and she’s now serving as a valuable social media influencer for a grassroots organizer focused on state revenue. Ana described her partnership with Sarah: 

“The challenges I’ve faced as an administrator of a child care center have been dire, and the political, social, and economic landscape has been especially challenging,” Byers said. “Connecting with Sarah has been a wind in my sails, and the connections she has provided have encouraged me to keep fighting to fix the system. I feel like I am not alone, nor am I the lone voice screaming in the void.”  

“We don’t have to be ‘brave,’” Sarah said. “We can say, I work on this issue, and these are the people I’ve come to trust.”

For Sarah, that is part of what it means to leverage influence: using a funder’s own access and credibility to create opportunities for people with firsthand knowledge and experience, rather than continually turning to the same familiar voices. 

Pay Attention to Who Keeps Showing Up 

Sarah’s organizing background also shapes how she identifies potential leaders. 

Because advocacy and organizing are her areas of expertise, she spends significant time in policy discussions around New Hampshire. She listens for updates and pays attention to where organizations stand, but she also watches who is in the room. 

She notices the people who may not already be part of her network. She pays particular attention to people who keep showing up without capacity support, simply because they feel compelled to be there. 

People develop different skills through the work they do in their communities. And the fact that someone is doing something without compensation does not mean their work should remain uncompensated. It can be a signal that someone has deep commitment, relationships and expertise that philanthropy may not yet recognize. 

A funder’s role can be to build relationships, understand what skills an individual brings and identify what support would make that person’s leadership more effective. That support might be funding, technical assistance, connections, access to networks or opportunities to reach decision-makers. 

For funders with limited time, Sarah’s advice is straightforward: go where the work is already happening. 

As part of the Couch Family Foundation’s approach, Program Partners participate in discussions related to early care and education across the state. That is how Sarah became acquainted with the ECE provider she later recommended. 

And relationship building does not always need to begin with an agenda. 

“Building a relationship without an ask is powerful in itself.” 

From Amplification to Shifting Power 

There is a difference between amplifying someone’s voice and creating opportunities for them to exercise power, Sarah said. 

For philanthropy, passing the microphone or spotlight to grantees can be a starting point. But doing so intentionally, particularly to elevate voices that are often overlooked, can create opportunities for people with direct experience to shape conversations and decisions. 

That requires funders to recognize the power they already hold. 

“Being a funder is a seat of privilege, and we can’t throw out the fact that a power imbalance exists,” Sarah said. “As a foundation shepherding these dollars, it’s our responsibility to do extra due diligence and act with the highest integrity.” 

That means recognizing that skilled, difficult work requires skilled people. Understanding people’s passions, motivations, relationships and expertise is part of doing philanthropy well. 

It also means being present. 

“They have to be in the community. That’s how you correct a power imbalance, too. You have to keep showing up for people to trust you.” 

For Sarah, collective power cannot stop with funders organizing among themselves. It has to extend to the people and communities whose participation is essential to advancing change. 

“If you want transformational change, there are no shortcuts,” she said. “You have to be in the dirt, doing the thing with the people.” 

Philanthropy also belongs at the design table, Sarah said, but they should arrive ready to learn from the people already doing the work. Grace Kindeke, program director for the New Hampshire Center for Justice and Equity and a grantee partner of Sarah’s put it this way: 

“Working with Sarah has demonstrated the possibilities of collaboration between organizations and funders who share a commitment to investing in and supporting BIPOC, immigrant, LGBTQIA+, and Disability communities—communities that have long been building the solutions our society needs, often without the resources or recognition they deserve,” Kindeke said. “Our relationship is grounded in a shared hope for a better future, trust in the expertise of people directly impacted by unjust outcomes, and a sustained commitment to move beyond simply managing inequity. Together, we work alongside communities and invest in the power of people and institutions to shape a more just and liberated future for all.” 

What can travel beyond New Hampshire? 

Sarah is careful about drawing direct comparisons between New Hampshire and other states. New Hampshire has a distinctive context, including its relatively small population and scale. But communities everywhere have their own boundaries and circumstances. 

“The size of the state doesn’t matter when a community is a child care desert,” she said. 

For Sarah, the broader lesson is not about replicating New Hampshire’s approach. It is about paying attention to the people doing the work in each community and understanding what they need to lead effectively. 

That starts with being willing to show up, build relationships, and use the influence that funders already have. 

“We just have to be willing to be in the work with our partners,” Sarah said. “It will take all of us to create the future we dare to dream of together.