At Magic Cabinet, we don’t see our cohort model as an instruction manual for philanthropy; it’s our values in action. It reflects what we believe: by listening first, investing in capacity, committing long-term, and staying rooted in community, we can realize a new approach to philanthropy.
While our cohort model is built around these values, we’ve always known that community-centered change can’t be confined to a single framework. That’s why we will continue to iterate, expand, and evolve how we apply these core principles.
In 2024, 14.8% percent of Magic Cabinet’s total grantmaking was awarded to our intermediary partners, Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) and Native Voices Rising (NVR), for a combined $2M of MC’s total grant funds disbursed last year.
Through these intermediary partnerships, we intentionally expanded our model in a way that reflects our values. Intermediaries are often closer to the communities we aim to support, offering trust, cultural insight, and deep relationships. By investing in DWP and NVR, we discovered new ways to fulfill our core commitments in places we could not reach alone.
A Phased Approach
We began to think more expansively about our model a few years ago when we started engaging with nonprofits in Solano County. Our team arrived ready to launch a cohort using our standard criteria but quickly learned that many of the nonprofits doing critical work in the region didn’t meet our budget size threshold.
Instead of forcing our model to work within Solano County, we treated it like what it really is: a living framework. We adjusted our standard criteria, revised our grant structure, and expanded the level of support we offer to better reflect the needs of smaller-budget nonprofits in Solano County.
Our experience in Solano County helped us see something clearly: the core elements of our model—deep listening, capacity building, long-term support, and a commitment to community—can and should show up in other ways. This realization would push us to think more expansively about our partnerships and lead us to work with intermediary funders, including DWP and NVR.
Some of the early drivers guiding these intermediary partnerships was deepening our understanding of the landscape in new-to-us communities while expanding access to funding opportunities for grassroots and BIPOC-led and serving organizations. Our intermediary partnerships with DWP and NVR not only help us to directly and deeply connect with communities where we have limited expertise, but they also enabled us to build a set of shared values and work toward mutual goals.
Ceding Power; Seeding Possibility
These partnerships didn’t pull us away from our values. Instead, they opened up deeper opportunities for how we could use them to move toward more community-centered practice.
- Listen First: Intermediary partners are deeply connected to the communities they serve. They respond to local insight and are able to shift focus and resources toward emerging needs and solutions.
- Focus on Capacity: Intermediaries provide an opportunity to invest in capacity-building across a broad network of organizations working toward shared goals. Intermediary funders also support grassroots organizations to grow from the inside out, offering unrestricted or flexible funding that strengthens internal infrastructure, leadership, and stability.
- Long-Term Grants Only: We fund intermediary partners for multiple years, just as we do with our cohorts. This gives relationships time to grow, opportunities time to arise, and communities time to build lasting impact.
- Commitment to Community: Each partnership supports a network of leaders who are connected by place, purpose, or lived experiences. They hold the power to name their priorities and seize opportunities that benefit their communities.
A single formula isn’t necessary for community-led change. However, funders willing to adapt, listen deeply, and trust the process are. If you’re exploring how to align your giving more closely with community needs, but aren’t sure where to start, we’d love to connect and explore the change we can build together.
In 2025, we expanded our intermediary approach by partnering with Native Voices Rising (NVR) to help strengthen NVR’s internal capacity to support the Native nonprofit ecosystem and provide essential funding to organizations led by and for Native communities. Learn more about our partnership here.
