Giving Compass' Take:

• Alyssa Curran discusses the questions that grantmakers should first ask about their investments when adopting racially equitable grantmaking practices. 

• How can racially equitable grantmaking help advance grassroots movements? What changes do you need to make to increase racial equity in your grantmaking? 

• Read more about the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity.

GrantCraft’s Grantmaking with a Racial Equity Lens guide provides some strategies and tactics for racially equitable grantmaking even if your foundation hasn’t made a commitment or developed explicit policies and procedures. Some of these strategies include: understand the racial landscape, talk with grantseekers about racial equity, include and cultivate the leadership of people of color, rethink and redefine “merit”, and assess impact on disparities.

To build on these strategies and support implementation, ABFE recommends three core tools that can be used for racial equity work. These include conducting a deep data analysis around race as well as a racial equity impact analysis to insure a particular intervention will close racial gaps, and effective messaging to keep people engaged while talking about race.

The racial impact analysis, adapted from Race Matters, includes the following questions:

  • Are the racial/ethnic groups most affected by this investment/practice/decision represented at the table? Is there another “table” where they are present?
  • For the investment/practice/decision being considered here, what results are you trying to achieve?
  • How will the investment/practice/decision affect different racial/ethnic groups?

Read the full article about racially equitable grantmaking by Alyssa Curran at PEAK Grantmaking.