JustPhilanthropy.org presents six Pathways to Progress, synthesized from our inquiries of the past several months. These pathways have been developed to help move philanthropy closer to racial equity and social justice. For each pathway we present several promising practices, examples as practiced in the field, and benchmarks for noticing progress.

Preparing the organization. Philanthropic organizations must act with clarity, focus and vigor, both internally and in their interactions with others.

Discussing social justice and racial equity safely. The terms social justice and racial equity often trigger emotional reactions which can get in the way of making progress.

Crafting and advancing solutions. Going upstream – looking for opportunities to create solutions that prevent problems at their source – can pay off, but solutions have to be surfaced and promoted.

Strengthening relationships, networks and leadership. The relationships, networks and leadership in minority communities are often only partially visible or understood in the dominant culture, but are as important.

Increasing philanthropic resources – time, talent and treasure. For philanthropy to effect progress, more philanthropic resources devoted specifically to closing gaps in equity are needed.

Reducing barriers and changing conditions. For philanthropic organizations to close gaps they should work on all the pathways, especially in combination, and stay focused on the challenge of reducing gaps.

Our emerging theory of action.  The more these pathways are engaged and productive, the greater the likelihood of justice and equity. With increased action on any one pathway, one can expect increased progress. With increased action on these pathways in combination, one can expect even more progress.  To produce the most meaningful progress requires combining all the pathways while keeping a focus on closing the gaps.

Benchmarks of progress. If the goal is to reduce a key equity gap in an arena you or your organization cares about, you are making progress when you see signs that…

• you are more prepared and ready than before to take on this task;
• you are better able to sustain a conversation about justice and equity;
• you are more actively engaged in crafting or advancing solutions that can help close that gap;
• you are in the business of strengthening relationships, networks, and leadership that can mobilize people, resources, and solutions;
• you are finding, gathering, and managing more time, talent, and treasure that can be directed to efforts that could close that gap;
• you are more focused on fixing one of the systems or markets that produces gaps, and more engaged in using the various pathways and practices suggested on this site.

These benchmarks are broken down further on each of the Pathways pages.

This page updated 30 Oct 07