In our ongoing “Context is Key” series, SFE's Executive Director Katy Knight explores the ways that different facets of context (from understanding the perspectives of the teams doing the work at a given organization, to the importance of building trust in funder-grantee relationships) inform our grantmaking strategy. We’ll share the questions and behaviors that we incorporate into our processes to make our understanding of context more actionable, effective, and impactful.

I’ve always told the team here that “context is key” when we are thinking about our work, and the “context” of the impact of institutionalized and systemic racism cannot be ignored. We are on a journey that is not without significant obstacles, but I also see it as an opportunity to grow together, support each other, and put our collective energy towards building the world we deserve.

Combating misinformation and ensuring information integrity will only continue to grow more urgent as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. SFE grantees are springing into action to strengthen the information ecosystem and to develop impactful strategies for preventing the spread of false information.

Being inquiry-driven means that we don’t think of ourselves as having all the answers. Meeting the challenges posed by the next stages of this crisis will require a lot of long-term thinking, and starting from a place of questioning. We think our question-driven approach is especially well suited to meeting that need.

Coronavirus and its associated impacts have significantly affected all aspects of our day-to-day routines. Many of SFE’s grantees are adapting by finding new ways to make their programs available remotely and modifying their work to keep serving communities everywhere in the face of substantial uncertainty. We’re keeping a running list of our grantees and partners who are adapting their programming to be accessible remotely. Learn more about the grantee responses from across our network here.