Weekly Reads – June 12, 2020

A roundup of timely insight from the grantmaking community and beyond.

“[W]e can do our part to change the course of this country’s future by funding Black-led organizations right now. This means making more grants to people who are literally defending the ideals of our democracy with their bodies. We can and must support them now. A flood of grants to these groups from individual donors, corporations, and foundations will send a signal that no matter how uncomfortable it might make our boards feel, we stand beside the people our foundations were created to help.” [more]
– Crystal Haling, The Libra Foundation

“The structure of much of our grant making is designed to protect institutions in perpetuity by hoarding money that could be put to use right here, right now. Until we see past our own comfort and agree to give over resources and the power that goes with them, we are collaborators in systemic racism.” [more]
– Lori Bezahler, Edward W. Hazen Foundation, in The Chronicle of Philanthropy

“[I]f we all take a critical look to question whether each of our actions and decisions are helping to reduce racial inequities, not sustain or deepen them, it can add up to deeper change.” [more]
– David Biemesderfer, United Philanthropy Forum

“Philanthropists must become advocates and use our privilege, power, and connections to enact fair policies that advance needed structural changes and dismantle generations of discrimination and racism.” [more]
– Fred Blackwell, San Francisco Foundation

“The work ahead of us is to be as useful as we can be in the moment, recognizing that things are not returning to normal, nor should they. It is our job to move massive resources quickly and easily to facilitate change, to recognize new leadership, and to listen more humbly and deeply to where the answers lie.” [more]
– Lisa Pilar Cowan, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, in The Chronicle of Philanthropy

“The insidiousness of white supremacy & anti-Blackness will continue to permeate in philanthropy until we acknowledge how our institutions & our field have perpetuated these systems of oppression & actively work to dismantle them within our own practices.” [more]
– Justice Funders