Talking Safely and Listening Productively About Justice and Equity

• 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.

In other words, you can give your philanthropy high marks for progress achieved on this pathway when you see signs that…

• The terms “social justice” and “racial equity” are less likely to trigger emotional reactions which can get in the way of making progress, especially with those we would want as allies.
• There is a greater sense of safety for me to speak up, and to feel less animosity directed at me.
• More people, especially White Americans, are more likely to see the problem of disparities.

This page updated 19 August 08