Philanthropy Reading List Part 1 – USA

Deborah Elizabeth Finn (@Deborah909) recently published a reading list on some of the current key issues in philanthropy – eg power, diversity, equity and inclusion: https://deborahelizabethfinn.wordpress.com/2019/11/25/the-ongoing-revolution-in-philanthropy-an-open-ended-reading-list/

Almost all the resources are from the US – which is an indication of how far ahead the US is on most of these issues in comparison to the UK.  And the US context has many social, political, historical and cultural differences to the UK.  But we have a lot to learn from the US about how to tackle issues of inequality, lack of diversity, withholding of power, etc.

I have listed below the items from Deborah’s list which I’ve found most interesting or useful from a UK perspective*  – acknowledging that I also have a particular perspective as a white, middle class, middle aged, gay man in a leadership position in a UK foundation.

I have grouped them under some fairly arbitrary headings – although several of the resources contain content that could fit under several of the categories I’ve used.

In a second blogpost – Philanthropy Reading List Part 2 – UK – I’ve compiled a second list based on my own reading around the subjects of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, power & privilege and funding practices.

From Deborah’s List – the resources I’ve found most helpful:

Overview:

• Philanthropy is at a turning point. Here are 6 ways it could go   From Rhodri Davies – the Head of Policy at the UK’s Charities Aid Foundation.  Very much worth following on Twitter as both @Rhodri_H_Davies and as @Philliteracy where he tweets about the history and development of UK philanthropy.  His blog is also a really valuable regular read:  https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/blog-home/giving-thought

• No Time for Complacency: Preparing Foundations for a More Turbulent Future   Links to a downloadable resource

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:

• From Promise to Practice — Embedding Equity and Inclusion     A helpful video in which DEI practitioners and non-profit leaders speak about “the gaps between our aspirations and reality, and shared strategies to build pathways to developing effective organizational practices that move us toward a more diverse and equitable sector”
• Why diversity, equity, and inclusion matter for nonprofits     Another helpful list of resources in the topic of DEI.
• Transparency: One Small Step for Funders, One Giant Leap for Equity
• The 2018 Diversity Among Philanthropic Professionals Report: A Tale of Two Sectors   Links to a downloadable resource
• ‘You Can’t Lift People Up by Putting Them Down’: How to Talk About Tough Issues of Race, Poverty, and More
• Results Count: The Path to Equity
• You’re not serious about equity if you don’t post salaries
• Race to Lead: Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap     Links to a downloadable resource
• Diversifying Boards Means Ceding Control—Are White Nonprofit Leaders Ready?
• Cultural Organizing Needed for Equity: A Framework of Belonging
• Social Innovation Alone Can’t Solve Racial Inequality
• Going Upstream: Philanthropy’s Role in Advancing Justice
• Practical Ideas for Improving Equity and Inclusion at Nonprofits
• So you don’t think race, equity, diversity, and inclusion are relevant to your mission

Power and Privilege:

• Announcing the first foundation assessment guide on power and privilege    Links to an important downloadable resource – “Power Moves”
• Deciding Together Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking    Links to a downloadable resource
• Do we know best what others need?    Podcast – interview with Phil Buchanan, Chief Executive of the Center for Effective Philanthropy – author of “Giving Done Right”
• Solutions Privilege: How privilege shapes the expectations of solutions, and why it’s bad for our work addressing systemic injustice
• How funder fragility is similar to white fragility and what funders can do about it
• The Challenge of Nonprofit Leadership: Navigating a Perilous Moment
• Nonprofit Leadership at a Crossroads
• Systems Change Is All about Shifting Power

Grantmaking/Funding Practices:

• What if pizza shops were funded like human service nonprofits?    A video every funder should watch.  Twice.
• As Distrust in Big Philanthropy Grows, Here’s How Leading Foundations Are Demonstrating Their Value
• Answers on grant proposals if nonprofits were brutally honest with funders
• Why Impact-Per-Dollar is a terrible, harmful way to measure nonprofit effectiveness
• Self-Interest (Rightly Understood) in the Nonprofit Sector
• Trust-based grantmaking: What it is, and why it’s critical to our sector
• Trust-Based Philanthropy Project
• Fund The People: Talent Justice Initiative

Books:

• Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance – Edgar Vallenueva (Chair of the Board of Directors of Native Americans in Philanthropy)
• From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth – Darren Walker (Ford Foundation) – free download

Several of the above links are to the NonProfitAF blog by Vu Le. I’d very much support Deborah’s recommendation to follow @NonprofitAF on Twitter and read Vu Le’s blog on a regular basis:  https://nonprofitaf.com/

* (Note:  Some items on Deborah’s list I couldn’t read as they are behind paywalls.)