Giving Compass’ Take:
• Rena Greifinger emphasizes the importance of acknowledging your giving privilege in order to impact real change in a broken, racist system.
• Why is acknowledging your giving privilege the first step towards systems change? How can you urge others to accept the fact that the current system benefits them? How can we all work together to change that?
• Learn about the unavoidable but necessary challenges in philanthropy to address racial inequities.
Giving better begins with acknowledging that you are in the position to give because of the broken systems that philanthropy is built on.
I am a white woman with privilege. I lead the Maverick Collective, a community of bold women philanthropic partners who deeply engage in the work they are funding to ensure women and girls in the developing world have health, well-being and equality. The Collective, powered by global health non-profit PSI, includes many white women and some women of color. We have virtually convened every single week for the last 10 weeks, to hear from leading thinkers and actors around the world, share our stories of hope and resilience, and foster collective action. We have asked ourselves critical questions about what needs to change in our own consciousness, and in the ways that we approach philanthropy, to support movements for social justice here and around the world.
I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that for those of us who are white, this process is uncomfortable. If you are white, wealthy and/or philanthropic, I call you to act as well.
Here are just a few ways to start immediately.
1) Give now and give a lot.
2) Create an impact portfolio.
3) Invest in women and in particular, women of color.
4) Invest in yourself.
5) Create space to listen.
It is time to use our privilege to pass the mic and listen.
And then we need to listen with our full bodies — with our ears and eyes and hearts and minds — to the people and communities with lived expertise. We must trust and celebrate that expertise. We should resource and vote for the ideas, ideals and leaders that grow from it. We will stop trying to give answers and just ask questions.
Read the full article about acknowledging your giving privilege by Rena Greifinger at Medium.
Race and Ethnicity is a complex topic, and others found these selections from the Impact Giving archive from Giving Compass to be good resources.
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