Friends,

I am filled with joy and immensely humbled to write to you today as the new Executive Director of EPIP. In the few days since my appointment was announced, I have been overwhelmed - in the best of ways - with your messages of support, excitement, partnership, and hope for the future. I share that same optimism and zeal for this next chapter in EPIP’s history, and I am excited for what lays ahead. EPIP’s beloved community has been a dear part of my growth in philanthropy. Like so many of you, I found my people at EPIP, and through EPIP was able to connect with colleagues who I still count among my friends. 

But more than that, EPIP was the place where I was encouraged to boldly articulate a simple truth which I have always known - for philanthropy to truly live up to its meaning, a love of humanity, our sector must advance equity by working collaboratively to address the systems, institutions, and practices which oppress, silence, and further marginalize others, both within and outside of its own walls. I am proud to be the first woman of color and first Black woman to be EPIP’s Executive Director, and it is my hope that in the years to come we will create more firsts together as we work towards a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable sector.  

As we begin a new year, we are looking forward to the work we will be doing in 2020 and the inspiration we are taking with us to start this work anew.

• Tending To Your Altar in 2020 reminds us of the importance of grounding and introspection as we move forward.
• Moms4Housing’s successful battle to reclaim a vacant home shows us the power of organizing for change.
• Learning to Support Indigenous Communities and The Most Important Work We’ll Never Finish showcases the ongoing work being done in philanthropy to work towards racial equity.
• The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project is addressing the issue of power in philanthropy with a new trust-based approach.

After an extensive national search, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) is pleased to announce that Storme Gray has been named our next Executive Director, effective Monday, January 20th. Storme has held the position of Interim Executive Director since July 2019.

Storme, the first woman of color to lead EPIP since its founding, has been a change agent and advocate for justice throughout her career in the philanthropic sector. A member of the EPIP community since 2014, Storme was a Chapter Leader and Co-Chair of EPIP DC and member of EPIP’s Advisory Board prior to joining EPIP’s staff in 2017 as our Director of Programs. As Director of Programs, she brought her commitment to social justice and philanthropy to EPIP’s work, developing member programming that centers equity in philanthropy, managing EPIP’s successful bi-annual conference, and re-invigorating the EPIP People of Color Network, among other accomplishments.

“I’m excited to step into this new leadership role at a pivotal time in EPIP’s growth," Storme said when asked about her new position. “As EPIP approaches our 20th anniversary next year, I look forward to working to make our community the place for early and mid-career professionals in philanthropy who are thoughtful, intentional, and care about building a more just future for all.” 

As we ring in 2020, we're taking a moment to celebrate EPIP's top 10 wins in 2019! It's been a year of change and a year of celebration, a year of rising to challenges and one of seeking out new opportunities. And most importantly, it has been a year that has us excited and energized for the year (and decade) to come.

As we look forward to 2020, which will include our 2020 Conference, new programming initiatives, and a time to reflect before our 20th anniversary year in 2021, we continue to be grateful for you. Thank you for all the events you've attended, resources you've shared, and support you've offered. Thank you for the thoughtful conversations and insightful observations, for making us think and keeping us reaching for more. Thank you for continuing to keep a more equitable and just philanthropic sector in your hearts and minds.

This month, our focus has been on the resources in our Giving Tuesday toolkit, including:

• Stifled Generosity: How Philanthropy Has Fueled the Accumulation & Privatization of Wealth, a timeline of the impact of philanthropy from 1913 to the present from Justice Funders Today
• Funding Community Organizing, Changing Lives, a call-to-action to fund community organizing and a look at the impact it has already had on key social justice issues by NCRP
• Give Big, Give Now, Keep Giving for Social Justice, guidance on giving for social justice from Resource Generation

How we give and who we give to are vital as we work to build a more just world. As Vanessa Daniel noted in her recent New York Times opinion piece, Philanthropists Bench Women of Color, M.V.P.s of Social Change, only 0.6 percent of foundation funding was targeted to women of color in 2016, despite the strides they have made in creating change.

This month, we reflected on Indigenous People's Day by...

• Learning about the history of the Americas through a Native lens, from the tribal independence era through the current era of Indian self-determination and self-governance.
• Remembering whose land we actually live on using this map of tribal lands in the Americas and Australia.
• Sharing this self-assessment tool that can help foundations determine where they are in their work with tribal communities, Native organizations, and Indigenous peoples.
• Bookmarking this series of articles from Nonprofit Quarterly that lift up Native voices and identify ways that philanthropy can help Indigenous communities.
• And remembering that The Future Is Indigenous.

...and celebrated ways that philanthropy can make a difference for other marginalized people and communities.

Thank you for your interest in the EPIP LA 2020 Mentorship Program! Applications will open on November 5^th and are due November 20^th. We hope you'll apply then.

EPIP LA is thrilled to announce that it is accepting applications for its seventh year of the Mentorship Program. Through its Mentorship Program, EPIP LA aims to provide participants with the tools needed to develop and maintain meaningful connections with experienced leaders and their peers.

The EPIP LA Mentorship program connects emerging leaders in the philanthropic field with a seasoned leader to serve as a mentor and like-minded peers to support them on their journey.

I have always been an advocate for justice. As a nearly lifelong community organizer, I have spent years navigating through grassroots organizing spaces, institutions of higher education, traditional nonprofits, foundations, and multi-stakeholder collaborations. From a young age I was fortunate to be politicized by former Black Panthers, SNCC organizers, community activists, and young peers with whom I still share a deep connection.

Still, I can remember sitting in a church in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans in 2008, surrounded by dozens of community residents, organizers, advocates, and movement builders, and experiencing, for the first time, my privilege being challenged as a white-passing straight man. At that moment, I realized that even though both of my mother’s parents emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. as teenage orphans and my grandfather is from Acámbaro, Guanajuato and of indigenous descent, I have received the benefit of whiteness my entire life and through every stage of my career. From that point forward, my life became dedicated to dismantling systems of inequity.