Create Space for Learning about Race

Because racial equity is such a charged issue, grantmakers often need to create opportunities to explore issues of racial equity with each other. Ideally, those should be structured so that they can eventually seed larger institutional investments in racial equity. One grantmaker recounted the process by which an internal affinity group ultimately emerged as an institutional catalyst: “A number of black program officers, including myself, were feeling uncomfortable about the capacity of our foundation to understand black families in our overall commitment to families. We wanted the foundation to look at issues of black families in terms of race, class, culture, and power, so we started to work together to bring in speakers who could frame the issues in that way. Our meetings were also an open space for candid conversation. Other staff of color began to join us. Later, when the foundation’s strategy moved toward place-based community change work, our group was in a strategic position to influence the institution in a more formal way.”