Members are invited to attend a virtual forum sponsored by Impact 100’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee on Tuesday, March 23, at 6 p.m., or Thursday, March 25, at noon, to ask questions and learn more about the concept of equity in grant making. 
 
Equity in Grant Making Subcommittee Chair Taisha Rojas-Parker will host. The conclusions we reach as we observe and explore these concepts this year could affect processes and decision making in awarding future Impact 100 grants. This forum is intended to be the first of a series the DEI Committee will host in 2021. 
 
Defining Equitable Grant Making
“Equitable grant making ensures fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for all nonprofits,” Taisha says. “It also identifies and eliminates structural and systemic barriers that prevent participation.” See her full presentation here. 
 
Taisha continues, “Many philanthropic organizations are discovering that race is strongly associated with some of our worst social problems. And by not addressing the racial component, they are not making grants that are truly transformational.” 
 
The two biggest factors holding back philanthropy’s quest for social change are rooted in race, according to a recent analysis by two experts* in the national discussion on equitable grant making. Those factors are 1) the need to understand the role of race in the problems an organization is trying to solve and 2) the significance of race in how the nonprofit identifies leaders and finds solutions.
 
Join Us on Our Journey
The Impact 100 board and DEI Committee invite members to join us in 2021 as we investigate ways to bring greater equity to our organization and our grant making. We will continue to recruit a more diverse membership and reach out to other Impact 100 chapters and local philanthropic groups who are engaging in the equity space to learn best practices. 
We welcome all Impact 100 members who would like to help with this important work to participate in the forum, or volunteer to help. For more information, contact equity@impact100.org.
 
To attend an open forum on Equity in Grant Making this month, register here for 3/23 @6-7:30 or  register here for 3/25 @12-1:30