Weekly Reads
“Organizations we call ‘field catalysts’ play a key role in driving systems change, harmonizing multifaceted work and serving as a kind of nerve center for the matrix of activity needed to transform our inequitably designed systems. But this crucial role often goes unnoticed. We surveyed about 100 field catalysts and interviewed more than 40 leaders to learn what these social-change makers most need from funders to launch, thrive, and work toward equitable systems change.” [more]
Lija McHugh Farnham, Emma Nothmann, Kevin Crouch, and Cora Daniels, The Bridgespan Group
“Whether we are seen and heard influences decisions about the policies and practices that rule our world. Sometimes, being seen becomes a matter of life and death: discriminatory sentiment, incidents, and hate crimes add up over time and contribute to chronic stress that undeniably harms health. This makes diverse representation in popular culture a critically important aspect of social change strategy.” [more]
Isabelle Gerard, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
“The solution to othering is bridging, not more othering. This is also the case with fragmentation. While many social justice activists may view “breaking” as a way of protecting themselves from external forces who seek to blame, injure, or divide, this response harms movements’ ability to build power. As we know, there is power in diversity, numbers, and transformation—all of which require cross-group engagement, not merely in-group bonding.” [more]
Sara Grossman and john a. powell, Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, for Nonprofit Quarterly
“We’ve all gotten very good now at the rhetoric of listening to those closest to the problem. But we have not all internalized the rhetoric. And we in philanthropy have perfected the rhetoric of inclusion. But we have not all been able to or willing to internalize that in our own policies, procedures, and programs and behaviors to actually demonstrate that.” [more]
Darren Walker, Ford Foundation, in The Chronicle of Philanthropy
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