- Diversifying our membership to better reflect our larger community
- Developing collaborative spaces of welcome and belonging
- Applying an Equity Lens to our grant making
Why is this so important? Over the last 20 years, research and reports from the social sector have shown outcomes in many areas such as health, education and economic advancement have been minimal at best. For example, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) stated that “American kids have seen minimal improvement in their academic abilities since the early to mid- 2000s”. Yet over the past 50 years, more than $1.4B has been poured into the social sector, so what is the problem?
Thought leaders in the philanthropic industry have conducted studies to determine what is causing this stagnation in various social areas. Three main factors are emerging:
- Lack of representation from groups most impacted by the issue in leadership positions
- Lack of proximity to the issue being addressed
- Evidence that organizations led by groups most impacted by the issues seem to be severely underfunded.
- So, what does this have to do with Impact 100? By applying an Equity Lens to our grant making cycle, we seek to ensure that every grant application receives fair treatment, access, and opportunity to advance. Additionally, we seek to identify and eliminate any structural or systemic barriers to our grant making processes that may prevent participation. Steps we have taken thus far include:
- Modified our Letter of Intent and Grant Applications to add leadership, proximity and demographic questions about the nonprofit and the target audiences they serve.
- Designed and implemented the role of Equity Champion as part of the LOI and grant making process. This role helps to facilitate dialogue around these topics as well as to conduct any research needed around DEI for their Grant Review Team.
- Incorporating this DEI information into the Executive Summaries that are distributed to all members for consideration as part of the voting/selection process for our grant recipients. To learn more about our Equity in Grant making journey, please review our GRT training power point on the members only section of the Impact 100 website by clicking here: https://impact100.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/grant-making-with-equity-lens-2022-2.pdf
Thank you for being an integral part of the Impact 100 journey to make a difference in our community.
Warm regards,
Kathy Thornton
President
