The Forum has a strategic focus on advancing racial equity, diversity and inclusion in philanthropy by leveraging the power of our expanding nationwide network of regional and national philanthropy-serving organizations (PSOs).
We provide programming on racial equity, diversity and inclusion for people working at PSOs through our annual conference, webinars and in other ways. We are also focused on helping PSOs provide funders with effective resources, programming and strategies to advance racial equity, diversity and inclusion in philanthropy, guided by a new Racial Equity Working Group.
The Forum was a partner in the D5 coalition, a five-year effort organized by a coalition of foundations and associations to galvanize philanthropy’s work on diversity, equity and inclusion. D5 sought to leverage the collective knowledge, experience, and action of more than 17 organizations, representing thousands of foundations.
D5’s Final State of the Work highlights voices of leaders in the field who share their stories of change and progress. This final report catalogs the stories that tell of human impact and human struggle to create a more equitable philanthropy.
Developed by the Southern Law Poverty Center, the guide (available in pdf and website formats) provides advice and suggestions for responding to everyday bigotry in a variety of settings-- among family, among friends and neighbors, at work, at school, and in public.
The seven steps in this guide provide a clear framework for how a race equity lens can be adopted by foundations or other organizations that work directly with systems, technical assistance providers and communities.
Foundations Facilitate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Partnering with Community and Nonprofits, a report by the OMG Center for Collaborative Learning, confirms that foundations can, in fact, facilitate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through their grantmaking processes and their partnerships with nonprofits—and identifies eight specific practices for foundations to emulate.
Low levels of diversity in the senior ranks of foundations have proven to be a stubborn challenge for the field of philanthropy. A report by Forward Change takes an important step toward a deeper understanding of the career pathways of professionals of color in philanthropy—how they enter foundations, how they advance across their careers, and what factors affect their advancement within the sector.
African American family foundations have grown in number and in popularity, at least in part due to the fact that African Americans expressly prefer giving to organizations that are close to them and that aid their community.
As PSOs continue to build and expand their work in embedding racial equity, both internally with staff and boards, as well as externally with their foundation members, many are exploring questions around metrics and identifying indicators of progress.
Check out the latest resources from around the nonprofit sector featuring items from ABFE, Council on Foundations, Economic Opportunity Funders, Grantmakers In Health, Movement Tapestries & Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement and Virginia Funders Network.
The Forum’s 2022 Compensation & Benefits for Philanthropy-Serving Organizations report offers comprehensive benchmarking data and analyses on the salaries and benefits of regional and national PSOs and information on what’s happening today in PSO workplaces.