Giving Compass' Take:

• Nicole Jarbo, at Fast Company, urges philanthropists to have conversations about power in order to elevate underrepresented communities and actually achieve racial equity.

• Why are conversations about power critical in tearing down long-lasting structures of white supremacy? How can you encourage philanthropic organizations to recognize their own privilege and elevate the voices of those who've been historically oppressed?

• Read more about how corporate leaders can establish a diverse, inclusive atmosphere.

There’s much conversation happening at the moment—across industries and throughout sectors of society—about how to dismantle long-standing systems of inequality in America.

These conversations are also happening, of course, in the world of philanthropy. In philanthropy, such discussions are commonplace—combating inequality being a goal we pay lip service to, but often make little progress towards. Foundation executives delay action by searching for better equity frameworks and tools, but avoid asking vulnerable communities what they believe will actually uplift their lives.

What’s remarkable now is the urgency with which these conversations are happening, and the undeniable manner in which they are finally translating into action. Over the past few months, corporations and major donors have committed huge amounts of money to organizations fighting specifically for racial justice. This has contributed at least in part to a larger reckoning.

For all the enthusiasm and capital we’ve generated in the past few months, however, we’re still falling short of creating meaningful change in the philanthropy world. We need to have a hard conversation about why.

Still missing in our work is a discussion of power—namely, shifting power from those who have it, and have for centuries held onto it, to those who don’t, and for whom it has been systematically denied. Nonprofit executive teams and boardrooms will still be exceedingly white, and the people who benefit from our beneficence will be, too. Philanthropy has long lagged when it comes to investing in power-shifting policies. Increasing diversity can be understood as getting more Black people in the room, where they can bear witness. Transformational change is only created by getting the woefully underrepresented a seat at the table, where they can make decisions.

Read the full article about having conversations about power by Nicole Jarbo at Fast Company.