As we count down to R/evolution, EPIP’s 2021 Virtual National Conference, we’re getting inspired by the words that come from our speakers and feature in our programming:

In Inside Philanthropy, Isabel Sousa-Rodriguez digs deeper into what makes a bad grant and how funders can shift their thinking about these grants to focus on community impact, learning, and the grantmaking process. 

R/evolution will also feature a sneak peek at our revamped Philanthropology curriculum, which gives a grounding in philanthropy with a social justice lens - the full program’s resource list includes this timely article by Michael Selzer in Chronicle of Philanthropy, which looks at lessons that can be learned for COVID-19  from philanthropy’s response to the AIDS crisis.

Plenary speaker Derecka Purnell’s book Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom won’t be out until October, but her article “The System is Built For Power, Not Justice” is a great primer. 

This month, we're asking what philanthropy can learn from the past year....

• In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Tonya Allen, Kathleen Enright, and Hilary Pennington lay out ways for foundations to commit to change, including addressing inequities within their own institutions, treating grantees as partners in creating change, and exploring collaboration.
• On NCRP’s blog, Siobhan Davenport gives suggestions for philanthropy to "recover right" from COVID-19 by committing to multi-year funding, focusing on the root causes of inequities, and shifting the existing power structures in the sector.
• In Nonprofit Quarterly, Dax-Devlon Ross explores differences between the ways established and emerging leaders in the sector view racial equity work and how those differences can be bridged on both sides. Suggestions include having sector “elders” help emerging leaders better understand the history of the sector and encouraging emerging leaders to create better boundaries

...looking at recent reports from the sector on mission-aligned impact investing and narrative change, and sharing resources curated by our chapters, including a recent blog post on the need for philanthropy to address the erasure of AAPI voices.

This month, as philanthropy offers solidarity to AAPI philanthropic leaders and communities, we’re taking a closer look at AAPI-directed philanthropy...

• AAPIP’s newly-released Seeking to Soar: Foundation Funding for Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities finds that foundation funding designated for AAPI communities accounts for only 0.20 percent of all US grantmaking and has remained stagnant even as both the AAPI population in the United States and overall philanthropic giving have risen.
• AAPI Data’s State of Philanthropy among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, released in September 2020, echoes the findings of AAPIP’s report and makes a number of recommendations to foundations to strengthen AAPI philanthropy, including developing and supporting AAPI-specific pooled funds, prioritizing language access and underserved AAPI populations, and funding intersectional and coalitional work.

We’re also continuing to look at the ways that philanthropy can and should use the upheaval of the past year as an impetus for long-term change and marking Women's History Month alongside EPIP chapters and members from across the country by reflecting on the power of self-advocacy and the need for institutions to make space for that advocacy to flourish.

This month, we’re celebrating Black History Month by lifting up reading that brings an equity analysis to philanthropy.

• Building Movement Project marked Black History Month with a resource list for non-Black co-conspirators to use to take action in support of Black leaders and leadership, while PEAK Grantmaking made the Black Voices in Grants Management issue of the PEAK Grantmaking Journal freely open to the public.
• Nick Tilsen of NDN Collective wrote in SSIR about the importance of investing in Indigenous self-determination and building Indigenous power by centering community-driven solutions.
• Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) decried the recent rise in anti-Asian violence, repudiating violence against Asian American communities and calling on grantmakers to include AAPI organizations in their grantmaking profiles.

We’re also getting actionable advice from leaders in the sector and exploring the resources shared by EPIP chapters across the country....

Philanthropy and the social sector grapple with the wake of the recent Capitol insurrection and presidential inauguration...

• In Inside Philanthropy, Mike Scutari looks at the role that philanthropy could have played in fighting misinformation and the tools and resources that can be used in this effort going forward.
• In Nonprofit Quarterly, Crystal Hayling calls for the transfer of power to Black women, communities of color, and lasting movement work.
• Vu Lee reminds us on Nonprofit AF that the collective trauma we have experienced over the last year and beyond may continue to reverberate for some time to come.

...and the turning of the calendar year gives us the opportunity to look back at 2020 to see how philanthropy has stepped up and where to go from here.

• The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Foundations Respond to Crisis reports find that foundations have shifted in their giving and practices in response to COVID-19 and the fight for racial justice.
• TCC Group’s report Approaching the Intersection: Will a Global Pandemic and National Movement for Racial Justice Take Philanthropy Beyond Its Silos?, however, argues that moving beyond funding silos, even in this time of crisis, will require fundamental changes in the way philanthropy operates and sees its role.

EPIP Director of Network Resources Adriana Loson-Ceballos shares some ways that fundraisers are thinking differently about resource mobilization that parallel the move towards equity in the philanthropic sector:

• Community-Centric Fundraising is a fundraising model grounded in equity that prioritizes mobilizing resources for the community as a whole over individual organizations. 
• Decolonizing Fundraising works to dismantle inequities built into the fabric and structure of fundraising.
• Giving Circles provide a democratic, community-centered approach to philanthropy. 
• Initiatives like The Rooted Collaborative and Women of Color in Fundraising & Philanthropy bring together BIPOC leaders working on these and other aspects of resource mobilization.

And we continue to look at the ways philanthropy intersects with racial justice in its giving practices and internal policies.

As the election nears, we are thinking about what comes next for the sector’s conversations on race and equity…

• EPIP joined with a number of other philanthropic institutions in signing an open letter from Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), Philanthropy Must Confront Our Country’s History of Racist Immigration Policies. 
• A new report from Building Movement Project, On the Frontlines: Nonprofits Led by People of Color Confront COVID-19 and Structural Racism, finds that POC-led nonprofits are bracing for future moments of crisis and filling gaps left by government programs, while the work is taking a toll on their leaders, especially those who are women of color.

…looking at ways that grantmaking practices will continue to be impacted by this tumultuous year, and enjoying the resources shared this month by EPIP chapters.

As we move into the last quarter of 2020, we are looking back at how philanthropy has responded to the needs of the year….

• Shifting Practices, Sharing Power? How the US philanthropic sector is responding to the 2020 crises, released by the Council on Foundations, Dalberg Advisors, and Philanthropy California, found that while many institutions shifted their philanthropic practices in response to the needs of 2020 by increasing giving and adopting flexible grantmaking, few are shifting power by changing internal processes or moving for broader systemic change.
• A Candid blog post calls for greater transparency in COVID-19 funding after finding that “Unknown Recipient” and “Multiple Recipients” were the top two recipients of COVID-19 funding and many COVID funds have not shared details about the recipients of their funding.

...learning from the organizations and movements in philanthropy that are taking new approaches to their work to meet the current moment, and enjoying the resources that are inspiring EPIP chapters across the country.

We celebrated Black Philanthropy Month with words of wisdom from Black leaders in the sector (and a few thoughts on what philanthropy can learn from Black giving)...

• Leaders from around the sector, including EPIP ED Storme Gray, shared their perspectives on Black women's leadership in philanthropy in a Radical Generosity: Black Women in Philanthropy Twitter Chat.
• Andrea Caupain Sanderson, Michelle Merriweather, Angela Jones, and T’wina Nobles told The Seattle Times that “philanthropy is long overdue for a healthy dose of Blackness” and share how they are bringing a new model of Black philanthropy to the Seattle area.
• Nikki Kirk suggested “a values shift” and “an investment in leaders” as a way to support Black artists and communities on the Grantmakers in the Arts blog. 
• Toya Randall, Curator and Catalyst for Voice. Vision. Value. Black Women Leading Philanthropy, a new digital narrative project housed at Foundation for Louisiana, introduced the project with these words: "We use our voices in spaces of power to center the lived experiences of Black people. We do this in furtherance of our vision for justice."

...thought back on the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in July, and looked at how leaders and communities are (or are not) encouraged and supported.

The loss of civil rights and racial justice icons John Lewis and C.T. Vivian this July brought inspiration and sadness to many…

• In Inside Philanthropy, Libra Foundation ED Crystal Hayling appealed to funders looking to support the movement for racial justice with words from John Lewis - “Get in and stay in.”
• Native Americans in Philanthropy’s ED Erik Stegman shared his reflections on Lewis’ legacy in John Lewis was Good Trouble for All of Us.
• And Lewis himself shared his final wishes for the world in an op-ed written shortly before his death, "Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation"

...many of the ideas and topics raised in Sankofa Summer sessions resonated in our reading, and two recent studies highlighted large gaps in the funding landscape. EPIP chapters from across the country also shared from their reading, watching, and listening lists, with resources focused on advancing equity and social justice.