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Invests $4 Million in D5 Coalition’s Work on Making Foundation Leadership, Practice, and Funding More Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive
Los Angeles (September 21, 2011) - The California Endowment announced a $4 million grant to the D5 Coalition, a growing alliance of 16 national and regional philanthropy organizations, to support its efforts to make organized philanthropy in the U.S. more diverse, equitable and inclusive. The funds will help the coalition generate more diverse and inclusive foundation leadership, strengthen the work of diverse donors and population-focused funds, develop relevant policies and practices for foundations, and track philanthropy’s progress on diversity.
“The big opportunity here is to translate years and even decades of rhetoric and hand-wringing into more consistent, sustained action in the field of philanthropy,” said Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and CEO of The California Endowment and a founding chair of the coalition. “The D5 strategy is designed to meet philanthropic institutions ‘where they are’ on the issue of diversity and help them take the next step in a way that is mission-supportive, results-oriented, and not too scary.”
The funding—$4.05 million over five years—continues The Endowment’s support over the last decade for such work, part of an overall strategy in its Equity and Diversity program to support systems change within the philanthropic field and promote the practice of equity and diversity as a social norm within foundations.
“We believe it’s our responsibility to engage with communities and institutions in a way that both challenges and encourages them to take into account differences in language, culture, and class and bridge those differences,” said Tessie Guillermo, board chair of The California Endowment and president and CEO of ZeroDivide. “Our board is a reflection of California’s diverse communities. We have first-hand experience in working through these differences, experience that validates that this work is possible. As a social justice organization, we think it’s essential for The California Endowment to exercise leadership in this work.”
The D5 Coalition has an ambitious agenda, aiming to achieve five outcomes in organized philanthropy over the five years of the effort, 2010 to 2015:
- New foundation CEO, staff, and trustee appointments more closely reflect U.S. demographic trends.
- More foundations take meaningful action to address diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in their organizations.
- Annual funding for diverse communities increases substantially.
- Philanthropy has the research capacity to be more transparent about progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Foundations have access to a wide array of exemplary policies, practices and educational resources to help them become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
"These institutions coming together is an important opportunity to practice what we preach and in the process demonstrate the power and effectiveness of diverse perspectives and real inclusiveness,” said Kelly Brown, the coalition’s director. “The D5 Coalition has the potential to manifest the leadership and vision needed to keep U.S. philanthropy valuable and relevant in our increasingly diverse and global future. We appreciate the California Endowment Foundation enabling us to seize this opportunity."
Other foundations have contributed leadership and funding to D5, including the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Prudential Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
For years, leaders in U.S. foundations have embarked on efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in their hiring and grantmaking. Progress has been significant in a few cases, sporadic and isolated in most.
“The D5 strategy is fundamentally about alignment,” said Dr. Ross. “For decades, isolated voices and pockets of advocacy have lamented the slow pace of advancing this work, so it’s not a new issue for the field. The coalition connects nodes of activity that have been percolating to a more intentional platform for action. Regional associations of grant makers, philanthropic affinity groups, the Council on Foundations, the Foundation Center and others have joined to cobble together a single, workable strategy for the field—and this is new.”
The Endowment is a longtime supporter of efforts to diversify the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, which it sees as essential to its mission to improve health in underserved communities in California. It also has made diversity a priority in board and staff composition and grant-making programs.
“As a health foundation, we have witnessed how consideration of diversity and inclusion in the health care setting can lead to significant health improvement in underserved communities. As a result, diversity and inclusion are central to our mission,” said Dr. Ross. “We believe—and the emerging research is supportive—that community health efforts and problem-solving will be served if the field of philanthropy adopts more proactive, assertive leadership on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
About The California Endowment
The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment challenges the conventional wisdom that medical settings and individual choices are solely responsible for people's health. The Endowment believes that health happens in neighborhoods, schools, and with prevention. For more information, visit The Endowment’s Web site at www.calendow.org.
About the D5 Coalition
D5 is a five-year coalition to grow philanthropy's diversity, equity, and inclusion. The coalition includes 18 philanthropy organizations—and counting—with connections to thousands of grant makers. D5 coalition partners: Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy; Associated Grantmakers; Association of Black Foundation Executives; Council of Michigan Foundations; Council on Foundations; Donors Forum; Foundation Center; Funders for LGBTQ Issues; Hispanics in Philanthropy; Horizons Foundation; Joint Affinity Groups; Minnesota Council on Foundations; Native Americans in Philanthropy; Ohio Grantmakers Forum; Philanthropy New York; Philanthropy Northwest; Women’s Funding Network. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors serves as D5’s program office. For more information, visit D5’s website at www.d5coalition.org. |
