Interesting question! I think my relationships with grantees has become more formal / professional over the years, and less informal / friendly. I think a few factors drove this:
Concern about conflicts of interest, or the perception of them, from being too friendly with any group (I now recuse myself from grant renewal consideration for groups where I’m friends with the leaders).
Relatedly, not wanting to be perceived as having personal favorites, especially given it’s easier for US advocates to become friends with me than advocates in other countries.
Not having the time to maintain a lot of friendships in the community, mostly because we now have many more grantees than we used to.
I’m not sure if this has made me more or less effective as a grantmaking. On the plus side, it’s probably reduced my bias a bit and freed up some time. On the downside, I think I learn less gossip than I used to when I had more informal friendships with grantees, and sometimes this gossip matters to impact. I also miss being friends with such an incredible group of people!
In what ways have your relationships with grantees changed over the years, and how has this influenced your effectiveness as a grantmaker?
Interesting question! I think my relationships with grantees has become more formal / professional over the years, and less informal / friendly. I think a few factors drove this:
Concern about conflicts of interest, or the perception of them, from being too friendly with any group (I now recuse myself from grant renewal consideration for groups where I’m friends with the leaders).
Relatedly, not wanting to be perceived as having personal favorites, especially given it’s easier for US advocates to become friends with me than advocates in other countries.
Not having the time to maintain a lot of friendships in the community, mostly because we now have many more grantees than we used to.
I’m not sure if this has made me more or less effective as a grantmaking. On the plus side, it’s probably reduced my bias a bit and freed up some time. On the downside, I think I learn less gossip than I used to when I had more informal friendships with grantees, and sometimes this gossip matters to impact. I also miss being friends with such an incredible group of people!