Philanthropy works best when it starts by listening.
At Brooklyn Org, that belief led us to build a platform for residents to shape philanthropic priorities in real time. What began as neighborhood Listening Tours evolved into the People’s Pulse — a public poll designed to ensure that the lived experiences of Brooklynites directly inform how resources are invested.
For too long, decisions about communities have been made at a distance with institutions, funders, and policymakers interpreting what they think people need. In The Foundation of Our Future, a new report from Brooklyn Org, we outline a different approach grounded in ongoing resident engagement and shared decision making because we believe the people closest to the challenges are also closest to the solutions.
The People’s Pulse project anchors that commitment.
Listening as strategy, not symbolism
Listening is often treated as a preliminary step, a box to check before returning to real decision making. For us, listening is the strategy.
Across Brooklyn, we engage residents through annual neighborhood conversations and participatory grantmaking across all major grant programs. The People’s Pulse builds on that foundation. An extension of our Listening Tours, the survey, which reached 3,000 New York adults, was based on top issues residents had surfaced over time and was designed to better understand during a mayoral election year how salient those issues were throughout the borough and beyond.
It was created in partnership with other foundations, including The New York Community Trust, Staten Island Foundation, Altman Foundation, and 5BORO Institute, and focused on how people were experiencing in their daily lives concerns about affordability, public safety, mental health, immigration, economic mobility, and civic participation.
Aligning process to community voice
Philanthropy, government, nonprofits, and community stakeholders often work toward the same goals but too often in separate lanes. Our aim is to bring everyone into closer alignment and to amplify community voices in civic conversation so residents, institutions, and leaders are working together to improve their communities. The People’s Pulse is not a one-time project, but an ongoing dialogue creating alignment between the community, policymakers, and civic leaders by:
- Defining the agenda
Rather than starting with what any single institution believes should matter most, we begin with what residents across Brooklyn say is most urgent in their lives. Those insights shape how we think about our funding priorities, how we design community conversations, and how we engage partners in government and philanthropy.
Learning from the poll that 61% of the respondents were finding it increasingly difficult to meet basic needs, such as housing and food — and that nearly half the respondents were considering leaving the city because of the high cost of living — Brooklyn Org more than tripled its annual budget for grants to housing organizations and alternative housing models, such as community land trusts that secure affordable housing.
- Strengthening participation
The People’s Pulse adds a broader layer of insight to our community engagement process, grounding community reviewers, advisors, and staff in borough-wide data. This ensures decisions are informed not only by individual experience but by the collective voice of neighbors across Brooklyn.
- Creating shared accountability
When we share findings openly and convene forums with elected officials and agency leaders, we create opportunities for dialogue rooted in what our community has expressed. These conversations are not about positioning one sector against another, they are about building mutual understanding and clarifying roles in responding to community priorities.
- Building partnerships
We co-designed the People’s Pulse to be a resource not just for Brooklyn Org, but for fellow funders, city agencies, advocates, and community-based organizations. When multiple institutions are working from a shared understanding of residents’ needs and aspirations, coordination improves and impact deepens.
When community priorities show up in funding initiatives, in public forums, and in cross-sector partnerships, it signals that voice translates into action.
Empowering through visibility and follow-through
Too often, engagement can feel one-sided. People are surveyed or consulted, but they rarely see how their input influences decisions. With the People’s Pulse, we are intentional about closing that loop. We share what we learn and connect findings to funding decisions, engaging residents beyond a single step in our process by hosting webinars and forums sharing our findings.
Two such community forums in 2025 at trusted Brooklyn institutions, BRIC and Brooklyn College, brought stakeholders together, including elected officials, into direct conversation about the issues shaping our borough’s future. Grounded in insights from the survey and our ongoing community engagement, these forums created public spaces where lived experience and survey data directly informed dialogue with decision makers and helped shape foundation priorities moving forward.
When community priorities show up in funding initiatives, in public forums, and in cross-sector partnerships, it signals that voice translates into action. That visibility builds trust. It encourages continued participation. And it shifts the narrative to “we are shaping decisions together.”
Why this matters now
Listening, when done genuinely and followed by action, is not a soft practice. At Brooklyn Org, we see our Listening Tours and the People’s Pulse as part of a broader movement toward community philanthropy that is accountable, participatory, and equity-driven. We believe philanthropy must move from directing change to enabling it.
That means we must continuously ask ourselves:
- Who is defining the problem?
- Who is shaping the solution?
- Who controls the resources?
The answer to those questions must include community for our sector to be changed by what we hear.
The future of listening at Brooklyn Org
The People’s Pulse is an evolving platform for civic engagement. Each cycle of Listening Tours informs the next cycle of action through the poll and forums. Our next cycle of listening begins Spring 2026. Each conversation builds a stronger foundation for shared decision making. Our hope is that this model inspires other funders and civic institutions to invest in listening not as optics, but as infrastructure.
When communities speak and institutions respond we begin to see what a more fair and just ecosystem of decision-making looks like.
At Brooklyn Org, we are committed to continuing that work because the foundation of our future is not just financial capital, it is trust, shared power, and communities driving the change they want to see.
Sabrina Hargrave
Vice President of Programs, Brooklyn Org
Listen to Community Ambassador
