White-Focused philanthropy is on the way out. A philanthropy that unites us is taking over.

About

There are individuals being harmed by the nonprofit industrial complex. But let’s be clear; the people being harmed are certainly not the institutions and wealthy individuals for whom this system was created.

Philanthropy – “Love of humandkind/humanity”

The Origins of Philanthropy

Andrew Carnegies Gospel of Wealth :  Identifies the imperative for wealthy individuals to give away their money to support the public good

“The ways in which philanthropists have accumulated and protected personal wealth have perpetuated harm,”, with many philanthropic leaders and individuals building their wealth through abusive capitalism and exploitation of the poor. Two examples include:

  • The Sackler family, notorious for philanthropy across the art world, secured their wealth through their company Purdue Pharma, “which made billions of dollars in the course of minimizing the addictive tendencies of OxyContin, while a national opioid epidemic raged for decades and killed nearly half a million people.”
  • Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, became richer during the pandemic and endowed the Bezos Earth Fund while his company employees — Amazon warehouse workers — organized against hazardous working conditions. 

Speaking plainly, the “people” in “people-focused philanthropy” are white and wealthy. 

Darren Walker, CEO of the Ford Foundation
Towards a New Gospel of Wealth

“Philanthropy’s role is to contribute to the ‘flourishing’ of the ‘far greater part’ — to help foster a stronger safety net and a level playing field. With each generation, we should be guided by our legacy of support for social progress and human achievement in the spirit of the Green Revolution, advances in public health and human rights, social movement building, creative expression and cultural innovation, and so much more. Ultimately, this reckoning with — this reimagining of — philanthropy’s first principles and its relationship to our market system will not be easy, but this moment requires that we not go easy on ourselves. Some might see this as a problem or as pressure. To me, however, it is inseparable from our privilege — because with privilege comes responsibility. In this spirit, let us commit ourselves to proffering, and preaching, and practicing a new gospel — a gospel commensurate with our time.”

A New Philanthropy – What is Community-centric Fundraising

 “Our donors deserve the right and respect to grapple with what they are learning, unlearning, and seeing clearly for the first time. As a sector, we owe them this time and information. When we do not address how social constructs — such as race — have caused harm, our donors cannot possibly address the problem they seek to solve because they do not understand it.”

Community-centric fundraising … is an anti-racist movement that seeks to dismantle the power-dynamics that have contributed to systemic racism and inequities, and, true to the nature of the word philanthropy, is deeply rooted in justice, equity, and love of people. “

White Supremacy Tactics in Philanthropy: include poverty tourism, tokenizing, competitive and complicated grant procedures, and other gimmicks that continue to increase the wealth of a privileged few, reinforce a wealth-as-power dynamic, and perpetuate a white savior role that is less than transformational. 

Weekly Round-Up | Equity, Ecosomatics, and Mission-Driven Communications

Every week I create a round-up of my favorite reads and listens over the last 7 days.

Organization Spotlight

The Northwest Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian & Gay Survivors of Abuse.
The NW Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian and Gay Survivors of Abuse works to end violence and abuse by building loving and equitable relationships in our community and across the country.

Monday: Anti-Racism, Equity, and Organizational Development

Tuesday-Thursday: Communications & Fundraising

I have embarked on building a new multi-year strategic development plan for my current organization. A part of that process was a revisit to favorite resources on communications, including the Progressives Study Guide from Sum of Us, which I strongly recommend everyone reading–not just communications people! I also picked up two books to help me expand my thinking on Fund Development and Communication Methods.

Friday: Health / Movement / Play

Ahead of an interview, I revisited and researched readings on ecosomatics. Strengthening appreciation and connection to the places we live and play has been at the heart of my career–Parkour being an eco-somatic practice that brings together ecological consciousness with movement education, improvisation, and play. I believe it is critical to facilitate a physical and emotional connection to our natural world in order to expand our ability to empathize and take action on the larger challenges facing us as a society today.

Olive Bieringa on the Ecosomatics Classroom

About

Interview with Olive Bieringa; The ecosomatics classroom is a roving experimental project that intertwines the fields of ecology, biology and other sciences along with dance and the somatic practice of Body-Mind Centering

Excerpts

Ecosomatics is an emerging interdisciplinary field which connects embodiment practices such as dance and the healing arts with ecological consciousness. It is a dynamic approach to learning and living and a manifestation in how the moving arts can facilitate a lasting positive impact upon the natural, and the social landscape.”

  • How can we can access knowledge from other disciplines to enrich our own?
  • How can embodiment/movement play a role in how we accumulate knowledge?
  • How can our somatic knowledge expand research in other fields?
  • How can embodied and empathetic practices help us to evolve as human beings and transform our environmental consciousness?

Notes

I’ve always been drawn to the eco-somatic framework;

Strengthening appreciation and connection to the places we live and play has been at the heart of my career–Parkour being an eco-somatic practice that brings together ecological consciousness with movement education, improvisation, and play. I believe it is critical to facilitate a physical and emotional connection to our natural world in order to expand our ability to empathize and take action on the larger challenges facing us as a society today.

Words matter: Creating a language guide to inform your communications.

About

Is your organization working on how it can be more inclusive? One of the many ways you can do that is through the messaging and content you produce. Words matter. These Language guides provide instruction for respect and dignity, while steering clear of prejudice and stereotypes.

1. Accessible Language: A Guide for Disability Etiquette

2. I am Disabled: On Identity-First Versus People-First Language 

3. LGBTQ-Inclusive Language Dos and Don’ts

4. Talking About Pronouns 

5. Racial Equity Tools Glossary

6. Covering poverty: What to avoid and how to get it right

7. Inmate. Prisoner. Other. Discussed.

8. Sierra Club’s Equity Language Guide

9. Reporting Guides

10. The Social Justice Phrase Guide

11. A Progressive’s Style Guide

12. A Brilliant Way of Living Our Lives: How to Talk About Human Rights

Ten Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism, and Racial Justice

About

Advice on how to improve conversations about race, racism, and racial justice.

10 Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism, and Racial Justice

VPSA: Value, Problem, Solution, Action

One useful approach to tying these lessons together is to structure communications around Value, Problem, Solution, and Action, meaning that each message contains these four key components:

  • Values (why the audience should care, and how they will connect the issue to themselves),
  • Problem (framed as a threat to the shared values we have just invoked)
  • Solution (stating what you’re for)
  • Action (a concrete ask of the audience, to ensure engagement and movement).

Demos’ Racial Equity Transformation: Key Components, Process & Lessons

About This Resource

This report outlines the key components of the racial equity transformation that think-tank Demos underwent, including the overall process and lessons learned. The goal of Demos’ ongoing, organization-wide Racial Equity Transformation was to build the racial equity skills and practices of their staff to equip them to effectively tackle racism and center race in all of their work. Demos took a multi-faceted approach, addressing the “how” of their work—the organizational culture and interpersonal components—as well as the “what” of their work—the programmatic content and strategies. Strong recommendation to review the attachments.

Excerpts

Key Lesson 1

Ownership and engagement, not just buy-in, from leadership is essential. Ideally, the most senior leadership at an organization (those who have the power to set policies and hold staff accountable for progress) are a driving force behind transformation efforts. At the same time, all staff engagement and substantive input need to be planned with care and attention to power dynamics. Positional authority can distort decision-makers’ awareness of the impacts of their choices, no matter their race. At Demos, counsel from the Advisory Group was essential for vetting program decisions and raising important needs of staff outside of the leadership body.

Key Lesson 2

Clearly articulating, in writing, the rationale for racial equity has been absolutely critical to the success of this organizational transformation. Demos created a new take on its core story of the problems we seek to solve. Regularly referring back to the racial equity rationale was an important part of re-grounding staff in the work. Cascading the rationale by having each department articulate their own team-specific rationale was important to ensuring racial equity would be fully integrated throughout the organization.

Key Lesson 3

Developing new expectations on racial equity demonstrated that the skills and practices we wanted staff to build were not “nice to have” but “must have.” It made knowledge and skills on racial equity a mandatory qualification for working at Demos; the new competencies were incorporated into job descriptions and embedded in performance evaluations. This reinforced the foundational analysis that Demos cannot achieve its organizational goals without directly addressing the issue of racial inequity, and that staff could not be successful at Demos if they did not have a well-developed racial equity analysis and the interpersonal skills needed to work and lead across difference.

Key Lesson 4

Upon reflection, engaging Demos’ senior leaders in the curriculum prior to rolling it out to the rest of the staff would have been preferable. At the start of this effort, our staff, including senior staff, had varying levels of racial equity skills and practices. We needed our senior leaders to lead their teams through this learning, and asking them to lead while also learning themselves proved difficult. If possible, it’s best to have senior leaders complete an intensive learning curriculum before the rest of the staff so they can effectively lead their teams through the transformation. This is more expensive because you’re offering content twice, but it provides time and the opportunity for managers to grow into their leadership roles.

Key Lesson 5

In addition to workshops, the primary vehicle for learning during Demos’ intensive learning phase was reading and discussion. In retrospect, to account for workload and differences in learning approaches, the curriculum should have included more multi-media learning tools, such as videos, other forms of visual presentations, and speakers.

Key Lesson 6

The cultural norm around conflict aversion is not unique to Demos. Many see conflict aversion as a commonly shared human trait, others see it as a core trait of white-centric cultures. Regardless, Demos continues to struggle with conflict aversion and staff continue to fear directly engaging in difficult conversations. Demos can never do enough training and learning around this, and skills in this area always need to be refreshed. Senior leaders modeling skills in looking for and receiving feedback and productive difficult conversations is key, as is deep personal learning about identifying and managing triggers.

Key Lesson 7

The learning and growth experience differs for staff of color and white staff. Creating spaces for staff of color and white staff to meet separately can be a powerful part of a racial equity transformation effort. Carefully articulating the rationale for this and being thoughtful about the purpose and outcomes of these spaces is critical. It’s also imperative to identify the right facilitator for those kinds of engagements. Having staff facilitate can be problematic given the skill level needed. However, turning to an outside facilitator for each group meeting can get very costly very quickly.

Key Lesson 8

For some staff, the organizational and team-based learning and skill-building achieved the transformation we were seeking. In a few cases, it was not enough and individual coaching was needed. Having high-quality and trusted racial equity coaching available as a resource when needed is absolutely critical. Some people simply need more individualized attention, and a learning and skill-building plan more catered to the specific issues with which they’re struggling. This can be a considerable expense, and limiting this only to senior leaders may need to be considered.

Key Lesson 9

Equity and fairness in how staff are hired matters, a lot. An employee’s existence within an organization has to be grounded in a process that is consistent, transparent, and fair. Issues of equity are at their peak when assessing candidates for employment. Implicit and explicit bias can play out when determining whether someone is qualified to do a particular job, and unspoken organizational norms can influence and dictate hiring decisions. Accordingly, developing hiring practices that are focused on reducing bias is key. In addition, before the hiring process begins, robust recruitment is essential. People often rely on their networks to hire staff. With a majority white staff that had majority white networks, creating a systematic process to recruit qualified candidates of color was critical to Demos’ success in finding a wider range of talent.

Key Lesson 10

Demos’ new hiring practices do not require many more steps than hiring processes at other organizations or companies. However, given the historic underrepresentation of people of color in their field and in related educational institutions, building racially diverse pools can be time-consuming. Demos no longer allows “no qualified people of color applied” to serve as an excuse to end the recruitment process. We have been working to encourage staff to diversify their networks and to consider recruitment an ongoing responsibility, building relationships with future candidates of color and connectors to candidates of color. Staff who have racially diverse networks, and devote real time to tapping those networks, tend to build diverse pools very quickly; staff who don’t, struggle to meet this requirement. Finally, hiring staff does indeed take more time now, but that is time well spent. Our story bears that out. As work doesn’t wait for new hires to be made, we do bring on temps or consultants to fill capacity gaps.

Key Lesson 11

With Demos assessing for racial equity skills in our hiring process, new staff at Demos bring a higher level of knowledge and professional experience on racial equity. Given this, we are reviewing our foundational trainings and readings to meet the needs of these new staff. We aim to continue to provide the same learning content that created the foundation for our work on racial equity, while adapting our onboarding curricula based on the needs, knowledge, and experience of new staff.

Demos Foundational Analysis Statement

Progressives are increasingly coming to terms with a political analysis that sees race as the organizing principle of American politics—not just historically, but also in the Obama era, and most likely prospectively, as our country grows even more diverse. It’s particularly important for us as progressives to understand how racial anxieties and divisions undercut our political and economic goals. Call it the Sweden problem: it’s a lot easier for progressives to win a strong social contract in a homogenous state. In the U.S., progressive policies must face up to the fear that a strong social contract will lift up non-white people at the expense of whites. Addressing and de-legitimizing that fear must be a priority for Demos to meet our strategic goals.

  1. We Suffer Together. A deeper understanding of racism doesn’t just equip Demos to focus on communities of color; it helps Demos better understand what we have already identified as America’s two central problems—inequality in our democracy and in our economy.
  2. Progressive Class Politics Fall Apart on Race. Class consciousness has always been formulated racially in America. Landless European immigrants and their descendants in the early days of the multicultural colony were given a new identity that undermined allegiance with black slaves by offering the promise of mobility to the aristocracy based on skin color, not heredity. Throughout American history, populist movements have been destroyed because the illusion of racial difference and hierarchy have overridden class solidarity. The golden postwar era of shared prosperity was built as a social contract among white men, and when the contract expanded in the 1970s to include everybody else, white men overwhelmingly left the progressive coalition and the contract was torn.
  3. More Than a Black-White Story. America’s racial past and present have always been more pluralistic than our dominant historical narrative suggests. The learning process at Demos will include readings and discussions on the history and current political context for Native Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Pacific Islanders (categories that are already overbroad).
  4. Intersections Between Race and Other Group Identities. Demos believes that it’s important to understand how power dynamics of dominance and subordination function with group identities that both relate to and are distinct from race and ethnicity, such as gender, sexuality and religion. Demos chose to focus on race first, but Demos learning will include readings and discussions on other identity groups after the foundational understanding of racial hierarchy and racism has been set.

Racial Equity Competencies

  • Equity Analysis. Clearly and consistently articulate a sophisticated understanding of racial equity and structural racism, and the centrality of this analysis to the work we do and how we operate at Demos. Integrate that knowledge into work projects and interactions by addressing structural implications and disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions on race, class and other group identities within the context of job responsibilities and projects.
  • Self-Awareness. Demonstrate awareness of multiple group identities and their attendant dynamics, and consistently bring a high level of self-awareness, empathy, and social skills to work and interpersonal interactions.
  • Direct Communication. Communicate clearly and directly with colleagues, working to match intent and impact in interactions, and be proactive to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings, especially across difference. Consistently give both positive and developmental feedback to support learning, excellence, and personal growth.
  • Authentic Relationships. Proactively build and sustain robust, authentic, productive working relationships with colleagues across race and other group identities, including Demos staff and external partners.

My Notes

“Think-and-Do Tank”

  • We must address and de-legitimize the fear that a strong social contract will lift up non-white people at the expense of whites.
  • We need skills to lead on race and work effectively across difference in order to fulfill our mission. This is a must have, not a ‘nice to have’.

4 Step Approach for Organizations

Foundational Analysis – Articulate and Ensure everyone understands why this is central to the work you are doing.
Organizational Assessment – Start by collecting baseline data on what staff and board understand about racial equity concepts, how its integrated into the work, interactions with others/partners, and feelings about workplace culture.
Learning – Develop a robust and multi-channel learning program, utilizing outside experts and facilitators.
Implementation

Specific Practices in Hiring & Ongoing Operations

  • Standardized Interview Process. Employing the same interview process—i.e., ensuring uniformity in screening procedures, interviews, exercises and questions—for every job candidate is a key way to ensure equity and fairness throughout all hiring processes.
  • Screening for Racial Equity Competencies. Incorporate racial equity competencies into the job description. Expectations around fulfilling these competencies should be calibrated according to the level of staff.
  • Standardized Interview Questions. Research shows that asking candidates the same interview questions at each stage of the hiring process limits implicit bias.
  • Hiring Committees. Hiring by committee is an important way to ensure staff with different backgrounds and perspectives provide input into hiring decisions. Aim for hiring committees to include between 2-4 staff members with gender and racial diversity as a priority.
  • Racially Diverse Interview Pools. Many kinds of racism—structural, interpersonal, etc.—have enacted barriers to employment for candidates of color. Importantly, many forms of preferential treatment also privilege white candidates. To combat this racism and preferential treatment, and recognizing that a more diverse staff is a stronger staff, require all pools of candidates coming in for first-round interviews to be comprised of 50 percent candidates of color. Demos has a detailed policy around how the racial diversity of this pool is assessed, as well as a rarely-used exception to this policy (allowing for a lower than 50-percent pool, though never an all-white pool) when a hiring manager can show they have exhausted all recruitment efforts.
  • Onboarding. How staff enter the organization is crucial to their sense of belonging, inclusion, and efficacy. Create and share a set of foundational racial equity documents with all new staff. This could include the organizations rationale statement, an overview of DEI/RET to date. Plus add a racial equity orientation session as well as a meeting with senior leadership to discuss.
  • Dedicated Division/Committee. Establish a group that is a cross-section of multi-racial staff members who partner with leadership to continue to shape and move racial equity learning and growth

Demos HR Samples

Demos Levels of Racial Equity Practice by Position

Junior-level staff (Intern, Assistant, Associate, Accountant, and Coordinator-level) positions must include the following:

  • Interested in Racial Equity. You are interested in expanding your analysis and knowledge about the role that racial inequity plays in our society, and are committed to building and/or deepening your commitment to racial justice work.

Mid-level staff (Manager, Campaign Strategist, Policy Analyst, Counsel, Designer) positions must include the following:

  • Understand Racial Equity. You have a demonstrated understanding of the role that racial inequity plays in our society and in movement-building, and have demonstrated an ability to effectively manage across difference.

Senior-level staff(Senior Manager, Senior Campaign Strategist, Senior Counsel, Economist, Senior Policy Analyst) positions must include the following:

  • Working for Racial Equity. You consistently integrate your deep understanding of key racial equity concepts into work projects and interactions by addressing structural implications and disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions on race, class and other group identities within the context of job responsibilities and projects.

Director and Associate Director-level positions must include the following:

  • Leading on Racial Equity: You have a sophisticated understanding of how race dynamics impact supervisory relationships, organizational culture, partnerships, campaigns and coalition work, and can demonstrate a history of successfully intervening in problematic dynamics and deepening a racial justice approach within an organization, team, or campaign.

Executive-level positions must include the following:

  • Movement Building with Racial Equity. Along with the above, you are pushing movement partners and allies to incorporate racial equity into their work and are crafting and leading Demos ’ internal racial equity transformation effort.

Demos Racial Equity Interview Questions

For phone screens, for all candidates:

  1. In 2014, Demos began a long-term and ongoing internal effort to transform our integration of racial equity into our work and organization. This process involves all staff and every facet of the organization and incorporates comprehensive intellectual and interpersonal learning curricula aimed to help us negotiate the challenges that encompass this ambitious mission. While this work centers issues of race and ethnic identity, additional intersections critically inform our development–gender, sexuality, physical ability to name a few. Our intensive learning curriculum for all staff has focused on such issues as the history and construct of race; levels of racism; color-blind racism; group dynamics; dominant and subordinated group identities; white privilege; implicit bias; and, so on. We now require that staff demonstrate benchmark racial equity competencies and practices, as reflected in job descriptions and annual reviews. As you hear this, what impressions come to mind, and how might you envision yourself engaging with this process?
  2. What is your perspective on the state of racial equity in the United States?

For 1st round interviews, for all candidates:

  • As you heard in the phone screen, Demos has elevated the issue of racial equity in all of our work. A very important component of racial equity is thinking about, and making changes to, how we work together. In particular, we have explored the concept of group dynamics and the concepts around dominant and subordinated group identities. For me personally, I have explored how my [XXX] identity influences my interactions with others. Within that context, in thinking about your own dominant identity (ies), what is your experience working effectively across subordinated identity groups? What comes to mind when thinking about working across race, culture, gender, class, sexual orientation, language differences?

For 1st round interviews, for SLC-level positions:

  1. As a senior leader at Demos, you will be expected to identify and effectively navigate challenging racial dynamics both internal and external to the organization. What specific professional experiences can you name that speak to this requirement? In giving one or a few examples, please set up the situational dynamics; detail your individual roles and action steps; summarize the outcomes–whether positive or otherwise; and tell us the lessons you learned.
  2. What is your opinion regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the progressive movement on the issue of racial equity? How do you feel progressives have functioned within this space?
  • 1. As we learned with the PBS documentary, our racial categories were themselves political creations to support the economic and political system of slavery: http:// www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-09.htm

Demos Assigned Racial Equity Readings

Note: I have not yet vetted this list. Posting here for future reference and reading.

REPORT — “Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Race”
Independent Television Service
http://resources.css.edu/diversityservices/docs/tenthingseveryoneshouldknowaboutrace.pdf

ARTICLE — “The Historical Origins and Development of Racism”
George Frederickson
https://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-01.htm

BOOK — The History of White People
Nell Irvin Painter (excerpts)

ARTICLE — “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack”
Peggy McIntosh
http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf

ARTICLES — “How Immigrants Come to Be Seen as Americans”
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/11/15/how-immigrants-come-to-be-seen-as-americans

BOOK — Race: Are We So Different?
Alan Goodman, Yolanda Moses, Joseph Jones (excerpts)

BOOK — Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society
john a. powell (excerpts)

BOOK — Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (excerpts)

BOOK — Searching for Whitopia: An Improbably Journey to the Heart of White America
Rich Benjamin (excerpts)

ARTICLE — “The Case for Reparations”
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

ARTICLE — “A Dream Undone”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/magazine/voting-rights-act-dream-undone.html

REPORT — “Whiter Jobs, Lower Wages: Occupational Segregation and the Lower Wages of Black Men”
http://s1.epi.org/files/page/-/BriefingPaper288.pdf

REPORT — “The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation and Race and Ethnicity”
http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/the-gender-wage-gap-by-occupation-and-by-race-and-ethnicity-2013

BOOK — Freedom is Not Enough
Nancy Maclean (excerpts)

BOOK — Harvest of Empires
Juan Gonzalez (excerpts)

BLOG — “On Two Year Anniversary of Blow to VRA, New Evidence That Voter ID Laws Are Racially Biased”
http://www.demos.org/blog/6/4/15/two-year-anniversary-blow-vra-new-evidence-voter-id-laws-are-racially-biased

BLOG — “Racism is Destroying the Right to Vote”
http://www.demos.org/blog/5/18/15/racism-destroying-right-vote

BOOK — A Different Mirror
Ronald Takaki (excerpts)

WEBSITE — Kanaʻiolowalu
Kanaʻiolowalu is a project of the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission. It is a campaign to reunify Native Hawaiians in the self-recognition of our unrelinquished sovereignty
http://kanaiolowalu.org/about/

ARTICLE — “Famous are the Flowers: Ha waiian Resistance Then–and Now”
Elinor Langer
http://www.thenation.com/article/famous-are-flowers-hawaiian-resistance-then-and-now/

REPORT — “Tribal Nations & The United States, National Congress of American Indians”
http://www.ncai.org/attachments/PolicyPaper_VmQazPEqbvZDMeaDvbupWTSZLmzyzBKOknQRXnUyoVMoyFkEWGH_Tribal%20Nations%20and%20the%20United%20States_An%20Introduction.pdf

ARTICLE — “Struggle for Chicano Liberation”
Bill Gallegos
https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-8/lrs-chicano/index.htm

BOOK—Yellow
Frank Wu (excerpts)

BOOK — Everyday Bias
Howard Ross (excerpts)

Demos Racial Equity Self-Assessment Sample

While this self-assessment is being completed during this year’s annual review process, it is not being considered a part of annual performance reviews. We assume and embrace the fact that staff have varying levels of skill and experience with racial equity issues. Setting your own benchmark of where you think you’re “starting out” in this multi-year process is important to track your own progress and to help inform where organizational trainings should be targeted. It is important to remember that our internal work here at Demos is a microcosm of the work the country needs to do, and so we will best serve our mission by being honest about our starting points and ambitious about our ability to deepen and grow. 

Racial Equity Assessment Questions

Competency 1:  Equity Analysis

You clearly and consistently articulate a sophisticated understanding of racial equity and structural racism and the centrality of this analysis to the work we do and how we operate at Demos. You integrate that knowledge into work projects and interactions by addressing structural implications and disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions on race, class and other group identities within the context of your job responsibilities and projects.

  1. How have you been fulfilling this competency? Please provide concrete examples.
  2. Has fulfilling this competency has been challenging for you? If so, please explain how.
  3. What action steps do you plan to take over the next year to increase your proficiency in this competency? Please be specific.

Competency 2: Self-Awareness

You demonstrate awareness of multiple group identities and their attendant dynamics and consistently bring a high level of self-awareness, empathy, and social skills to work and interpersonal interactions.

  1. How have you been fulfilling this competency? Please provide concrete examples.
  2. Has fulfilling this competency has been challenging for you? If so, please explain how.
  3. What action steps do you plan to take over the next year to increase your proficiency in this competency? Please be specific.

Competency: Direct Communication

You communicate clearly and directly with colleagues, working intentionally to match intent and impact in interactions, and being proactive to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings, especially across difference. You consistently give both positive and developmental feedback to support learning, excellence, and personal growth.

  1. How have you been fulfilling this competency? Please provide concrete examples.
  2. Has fulfilling this competency has been challenging for you? If so, please explain how.
  3. What action steps do you plan to take over the next year to increase your proficiency in this competency? Please be specific.

Competency: Authentic Relationships

You proactively build and sustain robust, authentic, productive working relationships with colleagues across race and other group identities, including Demos staff and external partners.

  1. How have you been fulfilling this competency? Please provide concrete examples.
  2. Has fulfilling this competency has been challenging for you? If so, please explain how.
  3. What action steps do you plan to take over the next year to increase your proficiency in this competency? Please be specific.