LISTENING AS PRACTICE: HOW COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS SHAPE THE INDIANAPOLIS FOUNDATION’S WORK rooted. | issue 1
By: Shari Finnell Senior Director of Communications, The Indianapolis Foundation By the time the Indianapolis Foundation (IF) formally adopted its new strategic plan in 2018, something fundamental had already shifted. For the first time in its long history, the foundation wasn’t just listening to grantees or institutional partners about what Indianapolis needed. It was listening directly to residents—people living the realities behind the data points, programs, and proposals. “That was a turning point for us,” said Rob MacPherson, vice president of grantmaking at the Indianapolis Foundation. “As funders, we know there’s always a power dynamic. People may tell you what they think you want to hear. We wanted the honest, sometimes uncomfortable truth of what was really happening.” That decision to move beyond traditional feedback loops and center community voice laid the groundwork for what would become the foundation’s Community Ambassadors program, a model that continues to inform grantmaking, policy priorities, and relationships across Indianapolis. From consultation to connection In 2017, as the foundation prepared for its strategic planning process, it partnered with a local firm to do something new: Hire community members themselves to gather insights from their own neighborhoods and networks. Forty ambassadors were selected to represent a wide range of lived experiences—across race, geography, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, and community affiliation. They were trained in human-centered design and open-ended interviewing, then equipped with tools to collect feedback in creative, accessible ways. “The methods were incredible,” MacPherson recalled. “We had ambassadors talking with riders as Uber drivers, creating graffiti walls that asked people to imagine their neighborhood 20 years into the future, meeting folks where they already were.” What emerged was not just feedback, but a field guide: a living document shaped by hundreds of conversations. One recurring message cut through clearly: communities were tired of programs designed for them, without them. “People told us, ‘You come in with solutions you think will help, but no one ever asks what we actually need,’” MacPherson said. “That idea—do with, not to—came straight from the community.” At the time, the work was intended to be temporary. Few expected it to evolve into a long-term partnership. “We didn’t even know if we’d get robust information back,” MacPherson admitted. “What we got instead was transformational.” Building trust, not transactions As the foundation transitioned from a one-time engagement to an ongoing ambassador cohort, trust didn’t happen overnight. “This is a historically white institution,” MacPherson said. “There was understandable skepticism. Folks wanted to know: ‘Are you really going to share power?’ ‘Are you going to listen when the feedback is critical?’” Over time, that trust deepened—not because of promises, but because of follow-through. The foundation created space for ambassadors, who are part of The Learning Tree, to define their own roles, priorities, and ways of working. Leadership remained open to critique. Decisions began to change.
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