We believe it is imperative for philanthropy to become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable in its practices for three main reasons:
Advance the common good. Those of us in philanthropy have dedicated ourselves to promoting the common good. Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our organizations and grantmaking helps us live up to our values.
Increase effectiveness. Diverse perspectives within foundations can help build better relationships with grantees, improve team problem-solving, and lead to better outcomes.
Enhance impact. Our constituencies, from the communities we serve to our partners in business and government, are becoming increasingly diverse. We need to understand and reflect this rich variety of perspectives in order to achieve greater impact.
The D5 Coalition is an unprecedented effort by leading philanthropy associations and foundations to tackle diversity issues in a coordinated way. We believe we are better together. We also believe that the coalition strategy of D5 represents the sector’s greatest chance to make substantial progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Until and unless there is a more unified voice on these issues, they are unlikely to gain traction in philanthropy.
And the timing is critical. Philanthropy has the opportunity to unify today around a strategic agenda, rather than continuing to react. We are focused on encouraging foundations to take voluntary action to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion because we believe philanthropy has been successful in tackling some of the nation’s biggest problems effectively, without outside intervention.
