Many of you have probably seen our recent Commitment to Racial Justice and wondered about the path behind it. There has indeed been quite a journey to even arrive here and we have much more to go.
In many ways, this has been embedded in our values since the inception of the Foundation. We felt called to put our commitment into words and measurable goals because of the last two years and because philanthropy is so rarely held accountable. In fact, philanthropy by its nature is not accountable to anyone or anything, beyond our boards. While the Foundation has worked to make our board and staff representative of the communities we care about, we also want to be held accountable to the community of grantee partners and their community members.
If I’m being really honest, it’s scary to put measurable goals out there. That’s probably why you don’t see it all that often, especially from foundations. There’s a real risk of failure and admitting that we couldn’t do what we said we wanted to do and what we know is right.
And if I’m being truly vulnerable it’s particularly hard to lean into the discomfort as a White woman. I carry with me the baggage of racism and White supremacy culture, just like all of us. I struggle to know what this will mean for me as a person and a leader and acknowledge that it means I need to continue to work on sharing power and giving up power. Power that I have simply by being born as a White person. Power that I can use for good, but power that is not mine to have forever.
This work is not new to me, yet I feel like I’m still at the beginning, at the beginning of really understanding what philanthropy can do, how we listen deeply, what sharing power looks like, where racism shows up, what my role is and should be and so many more questions.
In the interest of transparency and in hope that it may help you on your journey, here’s what we have engaged with in our learning journey over the last few years to inform where we’re going:
- Tracking race/ethnicity demographics to get a baseline of our funding in 2019
- Facilitating annual feedback-gathering listening sessions with grantee partners starting in 2020 to better understand how racial justice is a part of their work and what we can do to support their work
- Staff participating in a multi-day in-person training on systemic racism in 2020 with CROAR
- Participating in a virtual board retreat on systemic racism in 2020 with CROAR
- Staff participating in a series of racial healing circles with TRHT
- Participating in Teach-In Tuesdays generously organized by funders and grassroots leaders in Chicago to educate funders about community organizing and racial justice issues.
- Facilitating a monthly Equity Learning Community in 2020 and 2021 for JGF and the associated 4SBay family office
- JGF staff participating in Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture workshop and integrating ideas into our organizational culture
- White staff and some White board members participating in White allies training
- Diversifying the JGF youth board who is on a participatory grantmaking journey and listening to new members as we address the intersection of adultism and racism.
- Staff participating in Racial Justice Stances: Grounding in our Truths workshop.
And we’re not done learning and reflecting. Our country was largely founded on and with systemic racism and it will likely take as many years to change our systems, structures and way of being. It’s in the air we breathe at this point. This means it takes thinking about every breath and every action to undo, especially as White folks.
I look forward to updating you on our progress and what other actions we’re taking as we grow as individuals and as an organization.
I invite you to help us, by sharing your own journey, asking hard questions and learning with us.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” — Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail”