You might recognize the title of this post as a play on What the F**K is Social Media, the popular presentation by Marta Zagan. I wrote this because thought it would be important to aggregate some of the resources and information out there on social justice philanthropy in preparation for our live discussion on this very topic tomorrow.
October 28, 12-1pm EST
Real Talk About Race and its Impact on Social Justice Philanthropy
Join me this week for a frank discussion about the current dynamics of social justice philanthropy, and how race, in particular, impacts this work in the nonprofit sector. How much progress has been made in this arena of social change? What’s happening right now? This week’s guests include:
- Rusty Stahl from Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP)
- Kevin Laskowski from National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP)
- Ludovic Blain, formerly of the Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative, now at the Progressive Era Project and the Color of Democracy Fund
What do we already know about social justice philanthropy? It seems that there is a definite distinction between it and what we might call “traditional philanthropy.” But how is it defined? A 2003 whitepaper from National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) contains this definition:
Social justice philanthropy is the practice of making contributions to nonprofit organizations that work for structural change and increase the opportunity of those who are less well off politically, economically and socially.
As well as the assertion that:
NCRP believes that social justice philanthropy involves giving to create a more equitable distribution of power — to truly reform institutions so that the need for chronic charity is eliminated. This, we believe, is the most important role that philanthropy plays in our democracy.
Beyond those basic ideas, though, social justice philanthropy seems open to interpretation, a sentiment echoed by Albert Ruesga in several articles below. And why do we need to talk about race along with social justice philanthropy? Because, as we all know, people of color have historically been disadvantaged, or less well off politically, economically and socially. The real question is, can we NOT talk about race as part of this work?
Here are more than a few good resources to continue our thinking about social justice philanthropy: what it is, what it’s not, and what it could be. Please add your own thoughts and additional resources in the comments. Hope you can join the live discussion tomorrow on this topic!
- Understanding Social Justice Philanthropy (NCRP)
- Social Justice Philanthropy: Defining the Term (EPIP, includes a fantastic resource page)
- Defining Social Justice Philanthropy: What’s Your Favorite Shade of Pinko? (Albert Ruesga, White Courtesy Telephone)
- Social Change Philanthropy (Resource Generation)
- Social Justice Philanthropy Seeing a Resurgence (Foundation Center)
- Social Justice Philanthropy: Where is the Movement? (New Voices of Philanthropy)
- The Twelve Most Common Objections to Social Justice Philanthropy (Albert Ruesga, White Courtesy Telephone)
- Resources for Focusing Philanthropy on Social Justice and Racial Equity (Just Philanthropy)
- Racial Equity-driven Grantmaking (NCRP)
- Taking Account of Race: A Philanthropic Imperative (Gara LaMarche, Atlantic Philanthropies)
- Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative (Insight Center for Community Economic Development)
Cozality on 
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