Equity Learning Lab March 2025 - Post-session Engagement Exercise by Fiona Kanagasingam

2025-04-01 14:52:35 UTC

Would love to start using the Equity Primes if those could be shared

2025-04-01 14:52:40 UTC

The degree to which some of the findings are still very true/relevant in our work today is very striking

Some of these themes persist in the present - elitism in our culture, our large funding to elite universities, our use of "strategic philanthropy" as a way to dictate priorities we may not know best about, and our relative lack of trust of community based organizations

2025-04-01 14:53:28 UTC

2025-04-01 14:53:31 UTC

I think we need to acknowledge that RWJF resourced elite institutions and actors and that we ARE an elite institution and actor, and what values do we want to lead with instead of exclusion, secrecy, or scarcity. How do we still function like an elite institution and what needs to change?

2025-04-01 14:53:35 UTC

Actively sharing about what we are learning and how we are shifting. I think this would be especially important for organizations working on power building or working directly with movement groups.

2025-04-01 14:53:37 UTC

the themes, learning and equity primes will be very helpful for us to deepen our analysis on what strategies and programs to fund

2025-04-01 14:53:45 UTC

Maybe some kind of before action review/after action review process for grants and authorizations to capture decision making and equity choice points

Repair

2025-04-01 14:54:11 UTC

There are different ways to approach repair. You can consider repairs specific to the harm, e.g., reimburse people who paid the soda tax; or, you can consider repairs that operate on a higher level.

The equity primes are really important - asking who benefits and who is harmed helps make explicit what interests are at stake and prevent us from doing the most mission-aligned thing

2025-04-01 14:54:20 UTC

2025-04-01 14:54:25 UTC

We have to remain humble and always remember the most important voices are those that are being directly impacted by the policies and choices.

nepotism

2025-04-01 14:54:30 UTC

Perhaps I'm naive, but I've been shocked by how much our work directly benefitted J&J.

Critical Questions to Guide Work:

2025-04-01 14:54:36 UTC

1. what is the org we want to be (thanks Paul)? 2. Who is harmed and benefits? 3. Who is being asked to change? 4. What are the equity choice points and the benefits of being transparent on why certain decisions were made.

2025-04-01 14:54:53 UTC

Thinking deeply about the actors that inform our new bodies of work. Are we talking to the same folks? How do we make sure our work is being informed by people outside of existing grantees while still maintaining nimble grantmaking development processes

2025-04-01 14:54:54 UTC

Collaborating with the RWJF wisdom council on what repairs we move ahead with

2025-04-01 14:54:58 UTC

I think there should be some sort of system for staff to talk about what they are seeing in the moment that fit into these themes, so that we can keep ourselves accountable now instead of years from now

2025-04-01 14:55:17 UTC

We need more examples of what systems change truly is, that centers people most impacted vs systems change that still leads to the onerous on people most impacted

2025-04-01 14:55:35 UTC

Not a specific action, but will we get to a place where there are examples from outside our program work? I have a hard time figuring out how to apply the equity primes to my own work which isn't focused on our grantmaking.

2025-04-01 14:55:36 UTC

It seems even more important that we have ways of keeping record of why we fund something, what choices we considered, and how decisions are made. Not sure where to record this. Perhaps in precis?

2025-04-01 14:55:39 UTC

I want to think more about the thread that was raised on how we think change actually happens, as an institution.

2025-04-01 14:56:06 UTC

More explicit and present attention to power dynamics in process and outcome of our work

Feedback

2025-04-01 14:56:20 UTC

We need to actively build feedback loops. Right now there is so much we don't see because no one speaks truth to funders

2025-04-01 14:56:53 UTC

I already use the equity primes the group used and shared with us. They are very practical.

2025-04-01 14:56:56 UTC

Make sure our own house is in order and models the kind of transparency and openness within the organization, that we want to influence outside of the organization.

2025-04-06 15:15:42 UTC

Pattern of continuing to privilege those who are already at the "top" // making the elite more elite

2025-04-06 15:16:44 UTC

I want to make sure I ask the question "who is benefiting" from decisions I make at work. (Ex: who am I prioritizing/making the extra effort when I reach out to schedule meetings with external folks)

Who holds the burden?

2025-04-06 15:18:35 UTC

We can start thinking more about who is holding "the burden" of the work. RWJF is a highly resourced organization, when can we do the "heavy lifting" to make it easier on grantees, contractors, and others from community when they are working with us?

Saying the thing!

2025-04-06 15:23:12 UTC

We can name WHY we are making some changes to our policies. Ex: "In the past, we prioritized working with elite intuitions, NOW we are working to make all of our processes/policies more accessible to/inclusive of folks from marginalized communities" (this could include things like where are we investing our endowment, who we are contracting with as consultants, how easy/difficult it is to schedule a meeting with someone, who has access to our building/benefits, etc.)