racia ity l u ju q usion s m e cl tic o in e v e n leade m r e io sh t i n p t c a c m h r o o a f m s n n g a r m e t s re tu u c n a stru p d i t v o so o y y c cac w ial just e icer CRITICAL ISSUES FORUM VOLUME 5 • JUNE 2014 Moving Forward on Racial Justice Philanthropy Philanthropic Initiative PRE Critical Issues Forum, Volume 5 for Racial Equity Lori Villarosa, Project Director Lori Villarosa Maggie Potapchuk, Project Manager Executive Director Sarita Ahuja, Editor Rick Cohen, Senior Editor, Critical Issues Forum series Advisory Board Julie Quiroz and Lisa McGill, Content Team Viviane Oh and Philip Kim, Copy Editing Ron Chisom Isabelle Blanco, Jessie Gallogly, Ilyssa Parker and Claudia Triana, Copy and The People’s Institute for Survival Project Support and Beyond Richard Healey Grassroots Policy Project Kalpana Krishnamurthy Forward Together Contents Keith Lawrence 3 Preface: Has There Been Progress on Racial Justice in Philanthropy? Aspen Institute Roundtable on Lori Villarosa Community Change 8 Timeline of Race, Racism, Resistance and Philanthropy 1992-2014 Larry Raphael Salomon, Julie Quiroz, Maggie Potapchuk and Lori Villarosa Kien Lee 23 The Structural Racism Concept and Its Impact on Philanthropy Community Science Daniel Martinez HoSang Martha McCoy 27 Reflections from the Inside: Philanthropic Leaders on Racial Justice The Paul J. Aicher Foundation / and Grantmaking Everyday Democracy Rick Cohen 43 Walking Forward: Racial Justice Funding Lessons from the Field Gihan Perera Julie Quiroz Florida New Majority 48 Paths Along The Way To Racial Justice: Four Foundation Case Studies john a. powell 50 Woods Fund Chicago: Adopting Racial Equity as a Core Principle University of California – Berkeley, Lisa McGill Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society 57 Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation: Advancing Racial Equity in the New South Lisa McGill Julie Quiroz 63 The California Endowment: Racial Equity Grantmaking in a Movement Strategy Center Place-based Initiative Maggie Potapchuk Rinku Sen Race Forward: Center for 71 Akonadi Foundation: Movement Building – Locally with a Structural Racial Justice Innovation / Racism Analysis Maggie Potapchuk ColorLines.com 78 The Leadership We Need: How People of Color are Leading the Makani Themba #CultureSHIFT for Racial Equity The Praxis Project Malkia Amala Cyril 84 Funding at the Intersection of Race and Gender Kalpana Krishnamurthy Organizational affiliations listed for identification purposes only Full volume and individual articles are available for free download on www.racialequity.org or scan the QR code to access the full PDF on your digital device. www.racialequity.org | [email protected] Has There Been Progress on Racial Justice in Philanthropy? by Lori Villarosa “Have you seen any progress?” This is a question most of Grantmaking with a Racial Equity Lens, co-produced with us are asked in our work toward social change. It is asked of GrantCraft, and Catalytic Change: Lessons Learned from ourselves, asked by our funders or boards or others. And The Racial Justice Grantmaking Assessment, with Race when we focus that question on racial justice, a source Forward (then called Applied Research Center). Later, of ongoing discourse where one’s answer can signify our when several funders sought to establish a dedicated space level of awareness and be taken as a testament of our own for grantmakers with a racial justice portfolio rather than righteousness, it’s an even more weighted question. only working through other affinity groups, we agreed to convene the PRE Racial Justice Funder Roundtable to help If we say there is no progress, are we denying huge strides? them learn from one another, sharpen their strategies and Are we invalidating reasons to keep trying? On the other strengthen their leadership on these issues among other hand, if we say there has been great progress, do we risk a peers. self-congratulatory invitation to complacency? In 2007, PRE became a project of the Tides Center, As with most social justice work, the reality of moving a continuing this work and in some cases convening affinity racial justice approach within philanthropy has been a mix group partners as well as funders to strategize collectively of progress and setbacks. It is important to examine where and strengthen racial justice funding. But at the same has there been more or less progress, what has contributed time as we began engaging more funders in applying a to it and what may have diverted us. Some questions we structural racialization lens, it was also clear that those might ask ourselves: Where has there been backlash? Could who had recognized the value of the analysis were seeking or should we have predicted it, so that perhaps in our future even greater skills-building to operationalize it in their efforts we can be better prepared to pre-empt it or respond grantmaking and throughout their foundations. As the more effectively? Were there approaches that had important need to deepen this work became more evident, PRE added potential, but were ahead of their time? Or conversely, are another programmatic layer – the Racial Justice Funders we caught in a cycle of too many in power re-creating the Labs, which allowed teams of grantmakers and some wheel in the absence of a historical awareness – slowing board members to delve into strategy development and overall progress? implementation more intensively over two days. As the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE) Throughout our first decade, PRE has engaged with marked our 10th anniversary last year, we were faced with hundreds of funders from all parts of the country and of all these questions even more sharply than ever. When PRE different sizes and types. We recognize real advancement in received its initial support from the C.S. Mott Foundation the sophistication of some of these funders’ understanding in September 2002 through the Leadership Conference of the issues we address. On another level, progress can be 1 on Civil Rights Education Fund, it was led by a board measured by the number of funders in the room who are primarily comprised of racial justice experts who had at the earliest stage of learning about structural racism, a nuanced understanding of philanthropy, joined by because it means we have effectively reached “beyond philanthropic leaders who had a strong racial justice lens. the choir.” From the start, we made an intentional decision not to become a funder affinity group, believing in the value of When we considered this retrospective publication, rather an external perspective in philanthropic reform and of than solely focus on the past decade of our existence, we partnering with the many existing funder networks whose wanted to reference the work that PRE has grown out of missions would be strengthened by greater exposure to and continued to work on in close partnership with racial racial justice frameworks. justice leaders both inside and outside philanthropy. First and foremost for PRE, that reference point is the work In addition to conducting countless conference sessions of the activists who are at the heart of our change model. in partnership with these membership associations and But we also recognize the leadership and appreciate the other nonprofit colleagues, PRE produced a number of many opportunities to have partnered with the racial and publications, such as our Critical Issues Forum series. We ethnic identity-based affinity groups that were the earliest also partnered on other resources, such as the Guide to champions of racial justice efforts within philanthropy, and Moving Forward on Racial Justice Philanthropy 3 the other identity-based groups that later joined together as the 2 PRE invited former and current board Joint Affinity Groups. members to reflect on the past two decades of philanthropy and racial PRE has also appreciated the leadership among many issue-based justice work. We asked what progress affinity groups and geographically-based funder networks with have they seen, and what they think which we have partnered closely, or that have independently we should collectively focus on going advanced racial justice efforts. Our model of being more of forward. These are just a few of their an outside player with inside knowledge sought to modestly thoughts: mirror some important dynamics of the National Committee on Responsive Philanthropy’s early work. In more recent years, the Why Reflect? Diversity in Philanthropy project and its later incarnation D5, has Given the tremendous amount of transition brought a new internal focus to efforts of diversity, inclusion and in philanthropy, looking back at trends over equity within philanthropy. The growth of such efforts and the time is not only important - it is absolutely continuing interest within parts of the foundation world to engage necessary. I am proud of PRE’s efforts to look in them are marks of progress in the broader struggle. back on some of the important milestones in racial justice philanthropy and its importance, impact and implications for the work today. During the past decade, the field of philanthropy has evolved in We at PRE know there are some important its understanding and willingness to tackle structural racialization discussions to be had about this history, and in multiple ways. It has funded vibrant movements to reform the lessons to be learned and shared. criminal justice system, the workplace and immigration policy. – Makani Themba, Executive Director, The Praxis Project It has supported philanthropic leaders of color. It has learned about and debated implicit bias. It has funded some critical early It is useful to look at what foundations have experimentation on framing and communications related to done in the past to learn from both mistakes racial equity projects, giving us deeper insight into the question of and impactful actions within racial justice progress.