A nation where everyone can flourish as full participants in democracy and society: This is the future that is both necessary and within our reach, when we take collective responsibility for creating it.

In our Stanford Social Innovation Review series on realizing a multiracial democracy for all, our colleagues have explored what this future requires of each of us, and what it could begin to look like for governments. But what about the nonprofit sector? To play their part, many of these institutions will need to embrace their own transformation. Nonprofits will need to build from a past rooted in charity and move toward a model of liberation — a future where our laws, regulations, customs, and institutions are structured so all people can thrive.

In We, the Nonprofit Institutions: Transformation for Liberation, PolicyLink’s Executive Vice President Ashleigh Gardere and Jeff Bradach, a member of PolicyLink's Board of Directors and co-founder and former manager of The Bridgespan Group, describe PolicyLink’s relationship with love, accountability, and liberation.

"Until we bring love and accountability to our internal practices, external partnerships, and the nonprofit sector more broadly, we cannot expect to realize a flourishing multiracial democracy," they wrote. "The internal and external work to transform our nonprofit institutions towards liberation is the work of generations."

 

Look out for our final installation of this series. In the meantime, sign up to follow the series and get alerted as the articles are published.

Illustration by Diana Ejaita.