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• Policies, Practices, and Programs for Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

To support leaders in their efforts to take meaningful action to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their organizations, D5 commissioned JustPartners, Inc. to identify the most effective policies, practices, and programs to advance DEI.

The Analysis of Policies, Practices, and Programs for Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (full report; executive summary, released in Fall, 2013) is a useful tool for foundation staff, leadership and other members of the philanthropy community who want to take action to advance DEI. It provides a comprehensive scan of existing written and web-based resources from philanthropy and the more general fields of organizational effectiveness and social justice in order to identify existing policies, practices, and tools that can inform and guide philanthropic action.

Drawing upon the literature, interviews with foundations, and the authors’ decades of DEI consulting in philanthropy, the report provides a chart of policies and practices that are key to advancing and sustaining DEI.  These are anchored in five strategic questions and their indicators:

• Has the organization made an expressed commitment to DEI? (with 3 indicators)
• Has it authorized DEI in organizational policy?  (with 6 indicators)
• Has it implemented DEI practices in its operations?  (with 11 indicators)
• Has it implemented DEI practices in grant-making/other programmatic areas?  (with 11 indicators)
• Does it utilize accountability mechanisms to monitor DEI?  (with 11 indicators)

In addition to this chart of indicators (organized by foundation type), the report also includes clear “on-ramps” to help initiate action, a comprehensive list of resources, and many other examples of how to best advance DEI in your institution.

> Executive Summary of the Report
> Full report: including a list of indicators to chart progress on advancing DEI
> Resource Guide
> Bibliography