Philanthropy Stories & Updates

Nonprofit leaders from Seattle and San Francisco inaugural appointments establish a community-centric board structure to further Magic Cabinet’s mission of championing community-led work.

Community voices shape every aspect of our work, starting with our engagement process. By prioritizing conversations with community leaders and grassroots organizations, we’re able to identify areas where our grants can make the most impact.

Magic Cabinet has a unique take on participatory grantmaking, inviting small cohorts of grantees to share flexible, capacity-building funds. Magic Cabinet’s leadership explains how it works in a report by Wendy Paris of Inside Philanthropy.

In this blog series, we’ll dive into each of the engagement phases described above our continuous learnings, and how Magic Cabinet works tirelessly to ensure and improve our process so that communities are the loudest voice in shaping their own future.

This report summarizes Magic Cabinet’s research and engagement in funding Solano County nonprofit organizations. In addition, we highlight opportunities, challenges, and recommendations for future philanthropic initiatives in Solano county as well as a framework for engagement for alike regions.

Magic Cabinet was founded as a learning organization. We did not want to make something for nonprofits – we wanted to build it with them. Together and over ten years, we experimented, with the aim to develop a new type of philanthropic partnership.