Shared Stewardship

A woman is getting her hair dyed in a salon.

A young boy sitting on the floor with a tablet computer.

A woman and her son riding on a toy car.

A nurse helping an elderly woman out of a car.

How do we unlock the full potential of all people everywhere to thrive and experience optimal well-being?

That question is central to The Rippel Foundation’s work. The answer is complex and continually evolving, but one thing will always be true: stewards play a leading role in bringing that vision to life.

Who are stewards?

Stewards are people or organizations who work with others to create conditions that all people need to thrive, beginning with those who are struggling and suffering. Stewards have or want to develop an equity orientation in regard to purpose, power, and wealth.

Stewards understand that:

Purpose must be larger than oneself and one’s organization
Power must be built and distributed with others, not consolidated
Wealth must be invested, not withheld, to create long-term value as well as address short-term urgent needs

Stewardship is not a new phenomenon. Stewards have always existed and played a critical role in society. But the past few decades have seen an increase in recognition of stewards’ importance and the critical role they play in creating positive system change.

The Rippel Foundation’s ReThink Health initiative works alongside stewards to help them influence how regional decisions are made and how resources are spent, to shift systems in ways that produce equitable health and well-being.

A woman shaking hands with a woman in a warehouse.

How do stewards create change?

Creating a future where everyone thrives requires much more than isolated programs, policies or reactive measures like urgent services. It requires a fundamental reorganizing of the systems that we rely on every day—bridging social, cultural, and institutional boundaries.

Stewards work on the front lines, actively building consensus and encouraging the cross-sector collaboration necessary to create lasting change. Ultimately, no individual or institution alone can create the kind of change necessary to support everyone’s ability to thrive. That is why shared stewardship is the key to progress.

Stewards advocate for a wide variety of system changes to improve health and well-being for everyone.

Here are a few examples:

Increasing investments in the vital conditions for well-being, like humane housing, meaningful work, and a thriving natural world, and decreasing reliance on urgent services
Helping health care systems shift resources to focus on whole-person community health
Remaking power structures to be more inclusive
Improving communication between separate institutions, between departments within a single institution, and between institutions and community residents

A man and woman holding a baby in a hospital bed.

Stewards Begin by Changing Attitudes and Beliefs

A family is running in a park with a city in the background.

A group of children are planting plants in a garden.

A group of business people smiling around a table.

A group of people holding hands on a couch.

System change doesn’t begin with shifting policies and investment practices. The first step in effective system change is shifting mindsets and changing mental models. The policies and practices of any health system are based on certain deeply held beliefs and assumptions about how to best improve health and well-being.

For instance, many communities deal with chronic health and wellness issues by continually investing in more urgent services, like emergency medical clinics and homeless shelters. Stewards help decision makers in these communities see how increasing investments that improve the vital conditions for health and well-being can reduce residents’ demand for and reliance on urgent services. Examples may include improving access to quality food, expanding public transportation to increase economic mobility and access to health care, or instituting programs that promote affordable housing.

In this way, stewards begin by helping people examine their implicit assumptions about health, well-being, and the systems they rely on. Through this process, people discover how these patterns of thought help to perpetuate systems that produce inequitable outcomes and fail to give people the tools and resources they need to thrive.

Stewardship Is a Constantly
Evolving Practice

Stewardship is never a simple, one-size-fits-all process. It requires approaching every situation with an open mind and a willingness to discover new ways to overcome barriers to system change. It is often hard work, but the outcome of effective shared stewardship can be utterly transformative.

The best part is that anyone can become a steward. All it takes is a commitment to helping create more equitable systems that support thriving for all people.