Strengthening Relationships, Networks and Leadership

• The Challenge
• Promising Practices
• Benchmarks

BENCHMARKS OF PROGRESS

One challenge facing philanthropy is to evaluate its effects or benefits. There is great demand for techniques that assess impact, measure results, or mark progress. An approach that fits the theory of action in this project is to gather evidence that shows progress on the different pathways.

Each of the benchmarks below is linked to Challenges that need to be addressed, using Promising Practices. Making progress on this pathway, along with the other pathways, is thought to be connected to the overall goal of “improving the bottom line” of disparities reduction.

You can give your philanthropy high marks for progress achieved on this pathway when you see signs that…

• The legacy of Jim Crow -- fear against coming together in common cause to explore problems and advance solutions -- is losing its grip, such that there is greater participation in efforts to address inequity or injustice.
• The networks of support to develop leadership in minority communities are getting stronger and better able to advance the solutions needed to produce more equitable development.
• The relationships, networks and leadership in minority communities that can advance good ideas are increasingly visible and better understood by predominantly white philanthropic organizations.
• Trust, of the kind that comes from respectful listening and talking, is an essential and increasingly available commodity for bridging racial divides so that we can create and implement solutions beneficial to all.
• The leadership that can knit communities and agendas strong enough to close gaps is increasing in quality and numbers.
• The costs of supporting networks is increasingly borne through philanthropy.

This page updated 19 August 08