Day two of the 2016 GEO National Conference was all about bringing equity to the forefront in Grantmaking. Two of the morning short talks really stood out for me:
- Isaiah Oliver, Vice President of Community Impact at the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, on the water crisis, and
- Alicia Garza, co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter and special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, about turning moments into movements.
Here’s some of what they covered.
Isaiah Oliver told a heartbreaking story about how the Flint water crisis is impacting his family directly. He said “I trusted those that said the water in Flint was safe, so I gave it to my babies. My little girls should not have to analyze public water. What if this was your child?” The EPA has said that 15 parts per billion is a safe level of lead in the water; two weeks ago there were houses in Flint that had 11,040 parts per billion. Isaiah said that “if a house is on fire, you need to get the people out and then worry about blame later.” We have not yet gotten all of the people out of the fire.
Alicia Garza said “Hashtags don’t start or sustain movements, people do.” Philanthropy is not prepared to support fast moving movements. Our structures and processes have created a situation where celebrities have given more to #BlackLivesMatter than philanthropy has. She made two critical suggestions to address this issue:
- Philanthropy should get money to change agents while change is happening. Fund movements to fail fast and learn quickly from those failures to innovate their strategies.
- Structural racism exists in philanthropy, and grantmakers should develop strategies to get out of the way of social movements.
The lunch plenary started with the powerful video below from PolicyLink (you can also see the video here).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhWc6Dzy8xM&feature=youtu.be
Then there was a panel on Equity as an Effectiveness Imperative.
Michael McAfee, of Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink, when given the chance for closing remarks at the Equity as an Effective Imperative plenary luncheon, said “I love all of you.” That may strike those not in attendance at the 2016 GEO conference as an odd thing for a speaker to declare to a room of 900 funders, grantmakers and organizational leaders, but in context it perfectly summed up the message of the collective speakers. For equity to truly be a part of the work in philanthropy there must be equal parts discomfort and love throughout all conversations and collaborations.
In addition to McAfee, the panel included: Minnesota State House Representative Peggy Flanagan, CEO of Meyer Memorial Trust Doug Stamm, and moderator Reverend Starsky Wilson of the Deaconess Foundation. Each of the four speakers brought a vulnerability to how they shared their personal and professional experiences with racial inequities in the philanthropic sector. And this created an open and connected space in the ballroom.
Wilson made it clear from his opening remarks that the plenary would focus on racial inequities and the uncomfortable work grantmakers face if meaningful change is to be made. Flanagan talked about her work as Executive Director at the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota and the impact there in creating people of color-centered and American Indian-centered spaces to talk about early childhood education. Stamm talked frankly about the heavy burden carried by the people of color at Meyer Memorial Trust as they’ve worked to make racial inequalities more than just a side conversation in their work but actually take action to make internal and external changes. And McAfee shared how sometimes talk about “equity” can be a way to avoid dealing with subtle or institutional racism.
There were powerful questions from attendees about the importance of what language is used and how it is used and how to decide when to educate a colleague about race and when to delegate that education to books or professional development. McAfee, Flanagan and Wilson shared stories of often feeling subtly or overtly ignored, othered or discounted while Stamm admitted his slow learning curve as a white person who hasn’t been forced to be aware of institutional racism.
Numerous attendees expressed on social media that this conversation resonated in ways few other conference sessions ever have. You can see the emotional and engaged responses to a moving and important conversation at #2016GEO.