This is part one of three in a CEP blog series in which leaders from eight foundations shared — in their own words — the most important changes they have made at their foundation since 2020 that they plan to sustain going forward. These funders’ stories, which can be read in full here, explore numerous changes on several dimensions. In each post in this series, we will explore changes centered around a particular theme — be it increased focus on advancing equity, greater flexibility and responsiveness, or more listening and collaboration. It’s our hope that the stories collected here foster learning and inspire further action.

In the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s research report Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting Change?, released late last year, most foundation leaders reported that racial equity is a more explicit consideration in how they conduct their work, with many describing modifying their practices as a result. Addressing systemic inequities was a key component in the stories that eight funders shared for this series — and, for many, advancing racial equity was the foremost focus of the changes they describe making since early 2020.

Many of these leaders included examples of external changes, including increasingly prioritizing communities most affected by systemic inequities and changing grantmaking practices — who, what, and how they fund.

Rose Community Foundation, for example, noted that:

Propelled by the pandemic’s disparate impacts on communities of color — as well as the nationwide dialogue on racial justice following George Floyd’s murder — we embarked on a series of 50+ “listening and learning” conversations with BIPOC-led and -serving grassroots organizations, which ultimately culminated in new learnings, new relationships, and new grantees.

President and CEO Lindy Eichenbaum Lent also wrote that the Foundation “prioritized populations most disparately impacted by the pandemic and racial injustice in our community grantmaking while expanding our investments in the policy and advocacy arena.” With equity in mind, the foundation also partnered with other local foundations “to launch a zero-interest Metro Denver Nonprofit Loan Fund prioritizing BIPOC-led/serving nonprofits, who — as a group — had not fared well in the federal pandemic emergency loan program or, historically, in the commercial banking markets.”

The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota similarly shifted their work to more explicitly center racial equity, noting an “ethos that people most impacted by inequity hold the solutions to lead us to lasting change.” 

Read the full article about addressing systemic inequities and racial equity by Chloe Heskett and Naomi Orensten at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.