Eddie's Blog

In dialogue with “Backlash: A Sharp Right Turn by a Philanthropy Member Organization,” an excellent piece from Phil Buchanan, president of Center for Effective Philanthropy, I offer this continuation of my more recent President’s Blog post.

In his recent blog post, Backlash: A Sharp Right Turn by a Philanthropy Member Organization, Phil Buchanan, president of Center for Effective Philanthropy, calls out the current critique of pro-BIPOC philanthropy.

We at Grantmakers in the Arts are delighted to present Solidarity Not Charity: Arts & Culture Grantmaking in the Solidarity Economy – a report by Natalia Linares and Caroline Woolard, commissioned by GIA with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and the Barr Foundation.

Like so many of us, we’ve been focusing much of our efforts here at GIA on what our future might look like. In the face of injustices like the racialized impacts of the pandemic and murders of Black people by the state, we must continue to center our values in all our work, as we explore new ways to share our work.

On behalf of GIA’s team and our membership, I am writing this blog post as a response to Quanice Floyd’s recently shared article, The Failure of Arts Organizations to Move Toward Racial Equity. First, to Quanice – Grantmakers in the Arts hears you. Your statement offered our community the opportunity and charge to reflect deeply, specifically about power.

In a recent series of blog posts entitled The Future We Want, I laid out findings from a number of recent studies of how the grantmaking community has responded to the events of 2020, including the pandemic and the movement for Black lives. Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) has conducted a survey of recent and upcoming changes in arts grantmaking practices, receiving 142 responses, a response rate of over 50% of our members.

The world is in the midst of a historic moment with our changing our practices in order to function during the pandemic and embracing the movement for racial justice. This is a time of great opportunity, as long as we recognize and embrace it. At the start of April I shared a letter calling for us to build deep resilience in our field.

The world is in the midst of a historic moment with our changing our practices in order to function during the coronavirus pandemic and to embrace the movement for racial justice. Six months into this pandemic, we are beginning to see evidence of how the grantmaking field is responding. In my prior blog post, I reflected on the important of capitalization and financing.

Six months into the pandemic, we are beginning to see evidence of how the grantmaking field is responding to this historic moment. I’m writing to reflect on the importance of capitalization and financing to our field.

I’m writing to share some thoughts on United Philanthropy Forum’s excellent 2020 Forum Virtual Conference, which brings together Philanthropy Serving Organizations (PSOs) to share examples of how we’re working to support, strengthen, and lead the grantmaking community.