Immigrant Grassroots Associations in the Netherlands: A Sense-Making Approach to Understanding Exclusion From Endowed Foundation Funding

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Despite a regional Dutch foundation’s inclusive mission to respond to the growing ethnic diversity in the Netherlands, its funding for immigrant grassroots organizations has fallen behind its funding for other grassroots organizations. Since 2011, the disparity in funding has been growing without any prior change in the foundation’s mission and goals. This study investigates why immigrant grassroots associations (IGAs) are more likely to be excluded from funding than other grassroots associations (GAs). It examines possible underlying causes from the perspective of grant-making foundation staff by comparing the written language they use when rejecting applications from IGAs with those of other GAs. We offer a sense-making perspective on grant-making to demonstrate a tendency toward groupism among grant-makers, particularly in ambiguous decision-making situations. Although the ethnic particularity of IGAs’ grant applications does not appear to be a dominant reason for rejection, foundation staff’s interpretation of their quality leads to a higher rejection rate of IGAs. This study helps the understanding of the role of sense-making in exclusionary assessment practices in endowed foundations and its implications for foundations’ pursuit of inclusive grant-making.