Center for Effective Philanthropy: Standing Strong for DEI
Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Phil Buchanan makes the case for supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and highlights ways in which funders and nonprofits can stand by their commitments to justice. The below is an excerpt that mentions the Surdna Foundation and a few of our partners and peers—please read the full article here.
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Refusing To Be Intimidated
I hope employers speak out for what’s right and refuse to be cowed. Because, make no mistake, intimidation is the goal of these anti-DEI proclamations. The battle is happening right now. Nonprofit and foundation leaders that care about DEI need to join it.
And some leaders are doing just that. I am impressed and inspired by the consistent, powerful voices of leaders at influential national nonprofit organizations that prioritize DEI, like (to name just a few) Bridgespan, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO), the Institute for Nonprofit Practice (on whose board I serve), and PolicyLink. A myriad of community-based organizations are also unwavering in their commitment to DEI.
I’m also grateful to the influential national foundations – like Ford, Kellogg, Kresge, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Surdna and others – whose commitment to DEI appears to be rock solid. “It is unconscionable that the Trump Administration would co-opt the language and vision of the civil rights movement in these executive orders as it attempts to send our nation back to an era of rampant, state-sanctioned discrimination,” RWJF President Richard Besser said in a statement late last week.
A number of regional foundations have similarly shown resolve. Thoughtful funders are making grants to support organizations prioritizing equity and they’re also supporting their grantees, who often lack the same access to legal and other resources that foundations enjoy, to protect themselves from politicized attacks.