21/64 In Practice: Sidney Suttles

Sydney Suttles

Donor Services Manager | Oklahoma City Community Foundation

One of our favorite things about the 21/64 Certified Advisors community is watching how professionals bring 21/64 tools and frameworks to life in their own work. Every advisor brings something different: a unique context, a distinct population, a creative adaptation that none of us might have anticipated. Those moments of practice are worth sharing, and that’s exactly what this section is for.

We are honored to feature Sidney Suttles, Donor Services Manager, Oklahoma City Community Foundation (OCCF).

Whether you’re a longtime practitioner or still finding your footing with the tools, we hope these stories remind you of what’s possible when you trust the framework and that it inspires your practice.

21/64 In Practice

WHAT WERE YOUR PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES?

After attending the 21/64 Approach training virtually in fall 2025, I met with our Donor Services team to share more about what I learned. We realized how valuable the tools could be for our donors and community members, so we wanted to start “flexing our muscles” and identified an OCCF staff member who also happened to be a fundholder for our very first meeting guided by the 21/64 Approach. The objectives of this meeting were to help our colleague and their partner review and refine giving strategies to ensure values alignment and plan future giving, including both contributions and grants over time.

WHAT DID YOU FACILITATE AND WHAT CHOICES DID YOU MAKE?

We asked the couple to complete pre-work with a few questions inspired by the Exploring Giving card deck. The session itself consisted of reviewing their separate answers to those prompts to better understand how they currently viewed their philanthropy and capture any emerging perspectives. We then jumped into a review of their grant history, connecting some of the organizations or causes they cared about with answers to the prompts. Finally, we worked through the Motivational Values ™‌ and Picture Your Legacy™‌ tools, both of which we connected back to their previous grantmaking and used to spark conversation about hopes for the future.

HOW DID THEY RESPOND?

The session was really moving. Key phrases throughout included hope, impact, community, and connection. They were incredibly engaged, and it was beautiful to see how aligned they already were in their values and legacy statements. Even when they differed in their thoughts or strategies, they found commonalities that only strengthened their overall philanthropic vision. The best part of the session was seeing how they lit up when they identified a dream that had been in the back of their minds for some time and that the session helped them articulate. It was emotional and inspiring for all of us.

WHAT WENT WELL FOR YOU? WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

Overall, we received incredibly positive feedback from the couple and from team members who sat in for observation. We captured a few facilitation notes to improve future sessions, but overall there is not much we would have changed.

WHAT INSIGHTS OR ADVISE WOULD YOU SHARE WITH FELLOW 21/64 CERTIFIED ADVISORS?

You can do this! I had only recently been through the Approach training and was a ball of nerves heading into our first session. Finding a friendly face to conduct your first session with – whether that is a long-time client, friend of your organization, or even your teammate – is a great way to shake off those nerves and get started. Remember that it is okay to be new at something, and that with each conversation, you are developing your skills and helping your clients experience the power of philanthropy.