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Short Essays and Tools for Focusing PhilanthropyShort EssaysNEW! Social Justice and Evaluation: Thinking Differently About Evaluation by Steven E. Mayer. Funders frequently ask of nonprofit efforts, "What's the bottom line?" Unfortunately, this question has limited use outside of business settings, where it originates. In social justice work, the bottom line is typically to reduce inequities or disparities, but this is almost never under the control of just one organization. Better than asking for "measures of bottom line impact" is to more gently ask for "evidence of progress" and justification that this evidence is plausibly connected to disparities reduction. Try this exercise: assume the program you support or operate has been accused of being trivial or ineffective, doing nothing to reduce disparities or improve social justice. What evidence could you provide in its defense? NEW! How to Create More Social Justice With Your Philanthropy by Steven E. Mayer (pdf). Four key steps can help you transform your philanthropy to make much more of a difference. Once you've decided to help "close a gap" or "reduce a disparity," you can use the six Pathways to Progress to guide your investments. Dated Mar 25, 2008. NEW! Op-Ed: Philanthropy Must Address Structural Inequities by Steven E. Mayer (pdf). Until foundations address the structural inequities that contribute significantly to human suffering, their own effectiveness will be limited. … Philanthropic organizations can and must put their shoulders to the wheels. Until it does, and becomes more relevant to today’s society, we will continue to see mean-spirited systems and markets that contribute to substantial human suffering, and highly mediocre levels of philanthropic organization performance. Dated Jan 9, 2008. Gaps in Racial Equity, and Strategies for Reducing Them by Steven E. Mayer (pdf). An evidence-based inventory of gaps and disparities, plus what we mean by “gaps” and “disparities.” Also, technical and human issues in understanding gaps and disparities, and a five-step strategy for reducing gaps. Philanthropy and Philanthropic Organizations by Steven E. Mayer (pdf). What we mean by
philanthropy. Kinds of philanthropic or charitable organizations.
Reasons why people give. Philanthropy, in its newest personal and
organized forms, is for everyone.
Racial Equity by Steven E. Mayer (pdf). By racial equity, we mean that ideal situation in which society’s systems and markets perform equally well for different racial and ethnic groups. Inequity, shown in the data as performance gaps, implies injustice. Social Justice by Steven E. Mayer (pdf). Definitions of social justice culled from the Web, meant to show its various meanings. Its roots in faith traditions, law, and political theory. Its connection to philanthropy, human rights, spirituality, and the quest for racial equity. Providing Culturally Appropriate Technical Assistance by Betty Emarita. Technical assistance has a cultural viewpoint, acknowledged or not. Getting the right kind of assistance can make all the difference, and the wrong kind can be harmful. Examples of appropriate assistance. Why this is important to effective grantmaking. Relationships as Infrastructure in Southern African
American Communities by Betty Emarita. In human society, and in
Southern African American communities especially, relationships serve
as an essential infrastructure for getting things done. An example
from the Black Belt Community Foundation in Alabama. Why this is
important to philanthropy.
Saving
the Babies: A Clash of Philanthropic Approaches by Steven E. Mayer
(pdf). A parable is used to illustrate a key dilemma in philanthropy:
Do we use our charitable resources to save drowning babies one at a
time, or do we look upstream for the causes of casualties and invest
in solutions? Or both.
Tools
Becoming a Catalyst for Social Justice: A Tool For
Aligning Internal Operations to Produce Progress (pdf)
Choosing Promising Ideas and Proposals: A Tool For Giving That Closes The Gaps (pdf)
This page last updated 18 April 2008
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