Closing the Gaps in Racial Equity and Social Justice

The Challenge

The data are consistent: increasing racial equity and strengthening social justice remain challenges to our society.  Data consistently show disparities or gaps in how well our society’s systems and markets performs. Study after study shows how our public systems and private markets yield very different results for different racial and ethnic groups. Helping organizations address these disparities, producing more equitable results for all, is a legitimate goal for philanthropy.

Barriers to progress include:

• These gaps or disparities are everywhere, in all walks of life, all regions of the country, and in all public systems and private markets that regulate good outcomes in these arenas:
  • Education
  • Income and Wealth Development
  • Housing, Infrastructure and Amenities
  • Health
  • Justice
  • Dignity and Respect
  • Civic Participation
• In our inquiries, we discovered several conditions that block progress, but which could be addressed by philanthropy.  The astute reader of this website will note that these correspond to our six Pathways.
  • Too many philanthropic organizations (that is, their leadership) aren’t well prepared or positioned to play a useful role.
  • The subject of justice and equity is inflamed by feelings of hurt, shame, or helplessness, such that too often it is ignored, resisted, or set aside as low priority.
  • Promising solutions that stand a chance of “moving the needle” if they saw the light of day and given the opportunity to gain support are instead allowed to wither on the vine.
  • The connections, networks, and leadership needed to bridge divides and move effective solutions to fruition aren’t well enough supported.
  • Philanthropic resources directed to this issue are insufficient, given the magnitude of the challenge.
  • Maintaining one’s philanthropic focus on disparities reduction requires strategy, discipline, and patience – all in short supply in the philanthropic community.
• There is too little grand vision, too little strategy, too little pursuit of useful change, and not enough respect for authentic evidence of authentic progress.

Fortunately, there are practices that address these barriers; investing in them, one at a time and in combination, is exactly what philanthropy can do to make a difference, to move the needle and level the playing field. Some gaps are more conducive to change than others. Good reconnaissance within the community will help you assess the potential for creating change.

Benchmark Practices.  Progress is made when philanthropic organizations get good at these benchmark practices:

Choosing disparities that touch on your interests, discovering how they came to be and what maintains them, creating a plan to remedy the situation and pursuing it, staying focused on evidence of progress, and helping  others learn from the experience.

• Review. Examine how your current mission effectiveness is affected by private markets and public systems that work unfairly, creating unequal outcomes for different groups.
• Be strategic. Good community reconnaissance, listening to a greater variety of resources, could put some promising ideas and solutions in play, and if supported by a growing base who see their self-interest in improving the data, and if backed by a variety of philanthropic resources – all of which can be lined up – could move the needle and bend the trend lines in the disparities data you choose to monitor.
• Use a variety of lenses — rural, environmental, racial, cultural, geographic, gender – to develop a more comprehensive approach. PolicyLink works to bridge the traditional divide between communities and policymaking at the local, regional, state, and national levels. It is developing the concept of “regional equity” and has developed a set of tools to “help reduce social and economic disparities among individuals, social groups, neighborhoods, and local jurisdictions across metropolitan regions.” National Rural Funders Collaborative supports “the reinvention of rural economies – ones with living wages, career ladder employment and jobs that respect the environment and the health and safety of employees – is fundamental to addressing extreme and persistent rural poverty and forging positive transformative change in rural America. NRFC understands that poverty is often a factor of race, class, culture, and power dynamics that are linked and concentrated.”
• Make sure your plans, leadership roles, and guidelines help rather than hurt the chances of success.

Applying a wide array of your resources and skills to the challenge of closing a gap in equity that you want to take on.

• Create a culture of accountability and cooperation .The Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. , conducted intensive community-based studies of conditions in Jacksonville and how to improve them. They now work to keep alive the good recommendations from the studies. The South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations encourages its members to recognize their rights and their responsibilities to their communities, to step up and participate.
• Work to change rules, increasing the opportunities for good outcomes. The Louisiana State University Foundation changed the wording of its rules and regulations to positively affect 600 scholarship funds. ERASE Racism changed key provisions of Nassau County’s fair housing ordinances. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families , working with a variety of other groups, wrote legislation that reduced the number of uninsured low-income children in the state. When the budget was cut, Lee County Community Development Corporations , working in the Arkansas Delta, created new ways to offer education to its members. Alaska Rural Community Health Economic Strategies used new funding streams to create job positions and educational opportunities that support the viability of Native village life.
• Add voice and influence. Philanthropic organizations are, contrary to prejudgments of lawyers unfamiliar with IRS rules and regulations, allowed to be advocates for needed change to our social and community infrastructure, and they are allowed to support other philanthropic organizations in that work as well. That is, they can do almost all the things that a commercial entity or private individual can do, as long as the intent is to serve a public good rather than private gain. See more at Alliance for Justice .  A surprising variety of every-day activities make up the list of permissible acts of advocacy, including: Philanthropic organizations can engage in advocacy; that is, they can do almost all the things that a commercial entity or private individual can do, as long as the intent is to serve a public good rather than private gain.  This includes:
  • Bringing people together to discuss what they each might bring to the challenge of gap-reduction.
  • Introducing people to others who could conceivably be helpful.
  • Creating opportunities for others to step forward and do more.
  • Writing a check.
  • Giving encouragement to others.
  • Lending your name, your influence or your money to a gap-closing cause.

Creatively using the Pathways, as illustrated by the 2009 Effies© Award Winners.

The 2009 Effies© Social Justice Philanthropy Award, a philanthropy competition created by the Effective Communities Project honoring the effective use of philanthropic resources to make society’s systems and markets work more fairly and effectively for all, was awarded to:

Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation – For raising awareness nationally to the unprecedented opportunity to transform the disaster caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita into a new Louisiana that ensures access and opportunity in rebuilding its communities and culture; for bringing together nonprofit leaders, community organizers, activists and advocates representing low-income communities across the Gulf Coast to re-engage them in our country’s democratic processes in the earliest stages of post-storm recovery; for nurturing grassroots leadership and facilitating citizen-driven systems change to promote social justice and ameliorate generational disadvantage; and for creating a stronger base for a comprehensive approach to advocacy and distribution of funds for a full and just Gulf Coast recovery.

Arkansas Public Policy Panel – For helping distressed and marginalized rural communities turn their worries into goals, plans, legislative solutions, and campaign structures; for helping these communities understand and participate in the democratic process for their own benefit by forming critical relationships with elected and potential candidates for office; for helping them develop the organizational skills to mount their own neighborhood improvement and community development projects; and for supporting the interests and capabilities of dozens such communities through a statewide Arkansas Citizens First Congress in advancing a statewide legislative agenda to improve basic infrastructure such as safe water, educational and employment opportunities.

Humboldt Area Foundation (California)– For working to reverse the local marginalization of American Indians by adding Native cultural leaders and activists to its board, hiring Native staff, and prioritizing Native communities and projects in its grantmaking; for using its influence to bring Native representation to the table in a range of policy, planning, resource distribution, and leadership support contexts; for helping to create an enabling environment in which stolen Native land was returned, apologies offered, and sacred sites, customs, and language preserved; and for early and pivotal support for partnerships that brought in millions of dollars that directly support Native services and projects.

The 2009 Effies© Community Leadership Award, for effectively leading their community in implementing initiatives that address a pressing community opportunity or problem, was awarded to:

Norfolk Foundation – For leading its own organization first and its community second through a process of learning about the challenges faced by its children in starting kindergarten ready to succeed; for its  convenings and trainings to mobilize support from civic and political leaders; for raising dollars from its board, existing donors, and beyond; for creating an organization that educates area residents, advocates for greater public and private investment, and encourages collaboration; and for creating a system for monitoring quality improvements made to individual preschools.

Parkersburg Area Community Foundation – For striving to build civic capacity and philanthropy in a small, rural, dispersed, economically distressed, and often forgotten part of the country; for working to transform its organizational character into one that more fully embraces the broad spectrum of those it serves; for substantially increasing its grantmaking funds to combat persistent poverty; and for fostering stronger access to education and employment opportunities; and for creating rural networks for stimulating voluntarism, engagement, and resource development.

Headwaters Fund for Social Justice– For mobilizing a group of Minnesota foundations, donors and activists to address inequalities in the electoral system in follow-up to the 2000 Presidential elections.  With a goal “to increase participation and political power of disenfranchised groups,” the specially created Democracy! Fund made grants to increase civic engagement, support public policy and advocacy, and build political power in disenfranchised communities.

The 2009 Effies© Community Advocate Award, for effective persistence in providing a necessary voice for constructive change, was awarded to:

Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children – For drawing attention to Louisiana’s “school to prison pipeline” and to the plight of those left behind in the two-tiered and racially divided New Orleans public school system; for supporting the passage of a statewide school discipline plan for Louisiana’s schools that includes evidence-supported efforts for keeping kids in school by using alternatives to suspensions and expulsions (which push children onto a criminalized path toward failure); and for advocating for parents and children by insisting on accountability for the plan’s implementation.

Brett Family Foundation – For undertaking a statewide listening tour to create relationships of trust and discovery of opportunities and challenges that this new Colorado foundation could address; for choosing to invest in opportunities to provide greater voice in the civic arena for people of color, people with limited socio-economic opportunities, and LGBTQ persons; for supporting several “organizing collaboratives” to provide safe space for discussing challenging issues; and for supporting organizations that allow their constituent communities to identify problems and seek solutions.

Working on all the pathways, especially in combination, to stay focused on the challenge of gap-reduction.  Below are examples of some productive combinations.

• Relationships and Networks + Solutions / To create a program of Individual Development Accounts in the state of Arkansas, the Southern Good Faith Fund helped write legislation drawing on ideas surfaced from numerous community discussions. They then helped pass the legislation, drawing on the power of numerous networks of vested stakeholders convened by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Elsewhere, the National Rural Funders Collaborative , a network of national and regional funders working with a collection of smaller organizations, has helped through its convening and direct assistance to bring forward several policies to legislative and executive deliberation.
• Organizational Preparation + Resources / The Community Foundation in Jacksonville (Florida) saw an opportunity, given the timing of events in the city, to create the “Quality Education for All” initiative. It allocated two-thirds of its unrestricted grantmaking budget annually for at least 10 years to the project, and provided leadership in both the private and public sectors. The board combined its historic donor-focus with a community leadership role. Wanting to add value more intentionally to the community, the foundation diversified its board, and gained a presence at more conversations in the community. The Twenty-First Century Foundation created a special initiative to attract attention and energy to the plight of African American men and boys. Hamilton Community Foundation focused on poverty reduction, neighborhood development and youth engagement.
• Resources + Solutions / Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has worked to create an economy in which African Americans can participate, by making several grants to improve science, technology, engineering and math education in all schools, additionally targeting middle and high schools with high African American enrollment.  Appalachian Ohio Regional Investment Coalition used local arts and crafts to create opportunities for community economic development. Alaska Rural Community Health Economic Strategies created and extended health field career ladders in Alaskan native villages. This helped to stimulate the local economies, increase the standard of living and allow elders to stay healthier and remain longer in their villages. The Community Foundation of Ottawa created a loan fund to assist low-income entrepreneurs.
• Organizational Preparation + Building Trust + Solutions + Networks&Leadership + Philanthropic Resources / The Council on Crime and Justice , a Minnesota nonprofit under the leadership of a former City Attorney, got support for its Racial Disparity Initiative and Call to Justice from federal and state agencies, Minnesota private, corporate, and community foundations, as well as many of the Twin Cities’ most prominent law firms and individuals to “reduce racial disparity and enhance public safety in Minnesota’s justice system,” resulting in moving specific solutions through the implementation pipeline, and a CLE course for the state’s legal profession.
• The more all these different Pathways to Progress can be engaged, the more likely the progress towards social justice and racial equity – our central thesis.  See our various Articles and Tools for elaboration.

Benchmark Signs of Progress.  Philanthropy gets high marks for progress achieved on this pathway when you can see signs that…

• More philanthropic organizations are better prepared or positioned to play a useful role.
• The subject of justice and equity is more readily discussed, with diminished feelings of hurt, anger, shame, or helplessness.
• Promising solutions that stand a chance of “moving the needle” are more likely to see the light of day and given the opportunity to gain support.
• The connections, networks, and leadership needed to bridge divides and move effective solutions to fruition are better supported and increasingly effective.
• Philanthropic resources directed to this issue are increasing.
• Maintaining one’s philanthropic focus on disparities reduction requires strategy, discipline, and patience – all in greater supply in the philanthropic community.

Resources

The Foundation Review. The Peer-Reviewed Journal of Philanthropy, published quarterly from The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University. Their mission: to share evaluation results, tools, and knowledge about the philanthropic sector in order to improve the practice of grantmaking, yielding greater impact and innovation.

State of the South 2007 calls upon the region’s philanthropic organizations to think more creatively and act more boldly to help the South address its self-limiting inequities and spur its competitiveness in a global economy. MDC, Inc. State of the South 2004 examines the region’s economic and demographic landscape and how Southerners are faring within it. MDC, Inc.

Grantmaking With A Racial Equity Lens. Available from Grant Craft,  www.grantcraft.org

Three articles by Steven E. Mayer, downloadable from this site. Choosing Promising Ideas and Proposals: A Tool For Giving That Closes The Gaps; Gaps in Racial Equity, and Strategies for Reducing Them; Saving the Babies: A Clash in Philanthropic Approaches.

Building Community Capacity: The Potential of Community Foundations, by Steven E. Mayer, available from Rainbow Research, Inc.