Project Updates
Dear Friends of the Diversity in Philanthropy Project,
On behalf of the Diversity in Philanthropy Project (DPP), we want to wish you a happy Spring.
As our days stretch longer, the extra hours of sunlight shine on a nation in economic crisis, and all of us are thinking about change and learning to accommodate daunting new realities. Out of necessity and wisdom, leaders around the globe, in our nation and across our field are demonstrating increased readiness to think differently and try new approaches. But positive social change is always met with resistance, especially in times of crisis. Our challenges today are so great that even our best and boldest thinkers cannot fully comprehend, much less assuredly determine, how to solve them. Now more than ever we must act courageously and think outside the box, despite the potential for criticism and opposition.
This update focuses on the inherent tensions that exist between new opportunities for progress and push-back in our profession. It highlights significant issues and choices that affect our field and the larger society. It also updates you on recent developments in our work to increase philanthropic sector effectiveness through expanded diversity leadership and investments. And, immediately below, it urges your participation in a brief but important poll to determine the extent to which our proposed diversity principles and practices resonate with your efforts.
As always, we welcome your feedback, which you can offer at any time by writing to us at info@diversityinphilanthropy.org.
We'd Like to Hear From You
At the 2008 COF Summit in Washington, DC, DPP broadly circulated a set of Common Principles and Promising Practices for leading foundations and philanthropic networks to endorse and apply in their respective institutional settings to promote voluntary initiatives on diversity. These Principles and Practices originated from the philanthropic sector executives, CEOs and trustees of DPP. In recent months, these Principles and Practices statements have been formally adopted by two important regional associations of grant makers - the Council of Michigan Foundations and the Ohio Grantmakers Forum. Going forward, we hope to inspire other leading philanthropic institutions and associations to adopt and implement these statements as well.
In this spirit, we hope you will share with us the extent to which these Principles and Practices resonate with you and your organization.
As many of you know, we are working to assemble a broader coalition of diversity and effectiveness stakeholders in the field of organized philanthropy to carry forward the work of DPP with an eye to the future. From its inception, DPP has always been envisioned as a time-limited effort: a three-year campaign to elevate dialogue and action on diversity and inclusion in philanthropy as a means to increase and enhance our sector's effectiveness in addressing and ameliorating society's most intractable challenges. DPP's efforts to date have concentrated on three strategic areas:
- promoting voluntary diversity and inclusion initiatives
- advancing an improved national system of data collection, analysis and accountability; and
- supporting the advancement, organization and distribution of knowledge.
Moving forward, DPP is facilitating a field-wide planning process tentatively called D5 - five infrastructure networks/groups coming together to develop a five-year plan to strengthen diversity and effectiveness in the independent sector. Joining in this unprecedented, forward-thinking approach to the work of expanding diversity, inclusion and equity in organized philanthropy are the Council on Foundations, The Foundation Center, a consortium of regional associations of grantmakers, a coalition of interested affinity organizations and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (representing a select cohort of diversity-focused community funds serving women’s and girls’ constituencies, LGBT groups, communities of color, and other historically underserved populations across the nation).
During the months to come, we will define individual and common agendas for D5's work going forward and seek additional funder-champions of this effort to support more in-depth work to be done over the next years.
The D5 planning process is scheduled to be completed over an 8-10 month period. We aim to roll out our five-year plan no later than January 2010.
Please join us in this important campaign by investing your institution's financial and intellectual capital, by co-hosting related planning convenings and consultations, and by encouraging your colleagues and allies across the field to be a part of D5 as well. Together, we can certainly accomplish more than we can on our own.
Voices and Resources from the Field
During the past six months, we have witnessed strong public opinion voiced on both sides of the diversity and inclusion argument in our society and in our sector. Voters have passed legislation like California's Proposition 8, changing the state constitution to eliminate same-sex couples' marriage rights.
For our current report, we invited commentary from two respected LGBT leaders in philanthropy (with links to recent reports on support for and inclusion of LGBT organizations and issues). We plan to provide periodic updates on the status of this important, evolving topic leading up to the California Supreme Courts’ anticipated decision on Proposition 8’s constitutionality. We begin our field leadership commentaries on the issues with entries from the following philanthropic executives:
- Evette Cardona is a Senior Program Officer at the Chicago-based Polk Bros. Foundation, a member of the Executive Committee of Chicago Latinos in Philanthropy and the immediate past chair of Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues. She discusses the implications of Proposition 8's recent passage in California, as well as the diversity challenges and opportunities facing grantmakers in the midst of the current global economic crisis. Read her commentary, completed with support from Diversity in Philanthropy Project consultant Robin Templeton.
- Michael Seltzer is a founder of both Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues and Funders Concerned About AIDS, the first chair of the Council on Foundations Committee on Affinity Groups and a past president of the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers. He reflects on the progress made and challenges remaining in creating equality for all in philanthropy and offers some concrete steps philanthropies can take today to assert their leadership and public voice on behalf of equal rights for LGBT communities. Read more here.
In addition to our entries concerning LGBT community marriage rights, our current offerings include a summary report of an important case study commissioned by DPP concerning the evolving work and needs of community based diversity funds. These funds represent an increasingly fertile ground for new philanthropic leadership, innovation and donor development of benefit to the entire organized philanthropy field. The report, titled Social Catalysts: A Case Study of Diversity Focused Funds, was recently completed by an impressive team of New York-based researchers headed by John Vogelsang. It builds on several years of DPP investment in increased knowledge enhancement and field building advocacy in support of the work of diversity funds. The case study highlights lessons gleaned from fifteen diversity funds active across the U.S. whose work has been particularly successful. The report underscores both the factors leading to their successes to date as well as their continuing development needs looking to the future.
Finally, we want to introduce a new section on our site, Latest News. Here we've posted recent statements, reports and opinions from various groups, like the recently published open letter on diversity issues from the Joint Affinity Groups, a report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy that calls upon our sector to be much more intentionally diverse and inclusive, and related conversation that arose from it. Most notably the Wall Street Journal opinion pages recently criticized efforts by groups like the Diversity in Philanthropy Project to strengthen diversity in the social investment field, suggesting that such work inhibits donor intent and incentives to future charitable giving.
These publications and commentaries, along with other useful information and resources, are available for review and analysis here on our Web site. We urge you to add your own perspective to the discourse via our blog or by emailing us your comments at info@diversityinphilanthropy.org.
As the field leaders primarily responsible for advancing the DPP's work, we want to thank you for your continuing interest and engagement. We look forward to an active and deliberate spring as we continue to work together on the issues.
Robert K. Ross, MD
President & CEO
The California Endowment
DPP Advisory Board Chair
Stephen B. Heintz
President & CEO
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
DPP Advisory Board Co-Chair
Sterling K. Speirn
President & CEO
W. K. Kellogg Foundation
DPP Advisory Board Co-Chair