How Philanthropy Can Help Position Leaders With Lived Experience for Success
Leaders who have firsthand knowledge of their communities and understand their specific needs and strengths are known as proximate leaders. Philanthropy can support them in numerous ways.
A black community leader speaking through a megaphone, guides their community through a winding neighborhood, symbolizing how personal lived experience builds power to drive positive change.
Our communities should offer the opportunity for our children and grandchildren to live their best and healthiest lives—and what that looks like is best determined by the people who live there. Each of us approaches our work through our “lived experience”—where we grew up, who we’ve met, and the experiences we’ve had. So, it stands to reason that communities flourish when their own members—who deeply understand their unique needs and assets—are empowered, supported and placed at the head of decisionmaking tables. That’s sometimes referred to as “proximate” leadership, which recognizes that leaders who are close or “proximate” to their work are uniquely qualified because of the experience they bring. That’s very personal for me.
My bio will tell you where I went to college and business school, my early-career jobs at major financial institutions, and my current role as lead investment officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). What you won’t see is that I’m an immigrant, born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Queens, that I attended New York City public schools, qualifying for free and reduced-priced lunches. Or that I went to public health centers for vaccines and my care was funded by Medicaid.
These and other experiences shaped who I am today and why I do the work I do. They give me unique insight into the communities my work touches. They are also why I care so deeply about empowering proximate leaders—leaders like me who have the experience, relationships, and knowledge to help communities develop sustainable solutions to the challenges they face.
Strengths and challenges
Research shows that proximate leaders bring distinctive assets to their roles, including relationships, trust, and a strong sense of accountability to their community; outside-the-box thinking; radical imagination; and an inclination to collaborate. All of that is historically undervalued by funders and boards.
Importantly, proximate leaders can recognize and leverage community assets that are often overlooked or misunderstood. But they also face unique, compounding, barriers such as being expected to solve problems that existed before they arrived or create change rapidly. A lack of trust regarding fundraising, board engagement, staff management, and organizational policies is also common as are constant questions or challenges around their leadership and decisionmaking.
I understand this phenomenon all too well. Even with my professional qualifications, experience, and achievements, I’ve felt overlooked, and my perspective undervalued, at points in my career despite having a deep, firsthand understanding of the community conditions my work seeks to improve.
And while proximate leaders face burdens at the individual level, I believe this is a systemic problem across sectors that philanthropy can help address. Some solutions include flexible, unrestricted funding to organizations with proximate leadership and supporting learning exchange opportunities with other proximate leaders and mentors, elevating leaders' voices and perspectives, and facilitating shared learning opportunities.
RWJF’s Impact Investments team is stepping up to support proximate leaders in the community development sector, which is one of our three core areas of focus.
The community development sector faces a critical transition with many long-time leaders and founders stepping down from their roles. We are investing in a cohort of organizations undergoing leadership transitions with unrestricted grants to help five leaders implement their strategies and vision and help build a robust pipeline of proximate leadership.
Proximate leaders take the reins
One of them is Margie Salazar at FirstLight Federal Credit Union (FCU), who brings to her leadership role a deep understanding of both the organization and her community. Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Margie started at FirstLight FCU 25 years ago when she was in college, working as a part-time bank teller. She rose to become the first woman and Latina CEO of FirstLight FCU in 2023. Today, Salazar is among the first Latinas to lead a $1 billion credit union.
In addition to removing barriers so local small business owners and community members can get the financial support and stability they need, Salazar serves her community as board chair for the El Paso YMCA. Her shared experiences with and connections to the community have amplified her impact as a lender. The credit union demonstrates this by engaging directly with community members and small business owners, to listen to their stories and goals firsthand. Her vision for FirstLight FCU is centered on financial inclusion and education, and her top priorities include expanding non-traditional loan products to increase access to people who do not typically qualify with traditional banks.
A new strategy for giving
RWJF’s support for community development organizations like FirstLight FCU offers a new model for philanthropy. It also reflects our belief in the power of leaders who can create a more just, healthy, and equitable community development ecosystem.
This is just the beginning of a greater movement at the Foundation to lift up organizations and their leaders to advance equity. Philanthropy has an important role to play in advancing this goal in ways that center trust and shift power.
We are eager to see other funders join us in addressing the institutional and systemic challenges that create barriers for proximate leaders and better enable them to fully thrive in their roles. A new report from The Bridgespan Group provides specific recommendations on how to set up generations of leaders like me for success by giving us the time and space to think, innovate, strategize, and dig into new ways to work toward addressing the root causes of systemic problems.
About the Author
Zoila Jennings has been lead impact investment officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation since 2021. She has focused her career on social justice and poverty alleviation through targeted community financing.