The power to ignite your philanthropy for equity and justice is in your hands.
But timing matters. Not all grantmakers are ready just yet to begin their journey with Power Moves: Your essential philanthropy assessment guide for equity and justice.
To get the most out of Power Moves, you need to be prepared to ask yourself and your stakeholders some tough questions, to receive honest and critical answers, and be willing to make strategic changes based on your findings.
Find out in two steps if you’re primed for Power Moves
Step 1: Review the Power Moves glossary.
Step 2: Answer these questions:
- Can you envision talking about these concepts with your foundation staff and board leadership? Would leaders be receptive to these definitions?
- Does your grantmaking prioritize benefit for under-resourced and marginalized communities? (Note: Your foundation may use another term such as “disadvantaged,” “vulnerable,” “at-risk” or “underserved.”)
- Do your foundation’s stated or implied values align with equity?
- Has the foundation committed to advancing equity for priority issues or communities?
- Has your foundation’s board and staff leadership embraced systemic change as a grantmaking goal or strategy?
- Does your foundation place a value on community engagement in its programs and external relationships?
- Has your foundation taken any steps to integrate principles and practices of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into its internal operations?
- Have your foundation leaders examined their power and privilege as grantmakers in relation to the nonprofits and communities they support?
If you answered “yes” to at least four of the questions above … Good news! You’re ready to begin your Power Moves journey.
“More and more often, foundations are speaking of equity, justice, and opportunity. This toolkit helps foundation take the next step: to act on those intentions. POWER MOVES is flexible enough to meet foundations wherever they are and help them ask, ‘how are we doing?’ and, more importantly, ‘how can we do better?’ Using this tool, grantmakers will be better prepared to articulate practical goals, ask good questions, listen carefully, and act with humility, intelligence and purpose.”
“Foundations confront multiple challenges in embracing effective, wise, responsible and relevant philanthropy. POWER MOVES can be a valuable asset in the hands of those who commit to that effort. It offers respect for the diversity of strategies, structures and purposes, which guide those engaged in these ventures, in a world of almost constant debate as to what is the public good and how to achieve it. The toolkit will be especially helpful to family foundations which seek effective strategies for examining their legacy and maximizing their opportunities for philanthropic accomplishment.”
