Equity & Grantmaking Learning Group
Grantmaking practice is an opportunity for justice.
Equity & Grantmaking Learning Group
The last few years have made it increasingly clear that the challenges of our education system cannot be sustainably addressed simply through more programs or scaled interventions, no matter how impactful. Education sits within an interconnected set of social, economic and policy systems that are systemically unjust. If we are committed to furthering racial justice in education, educational philanthropists must be part of deeper conversations about what needs to change within systems as well as within grantmaking itself.
Based on interest and feedback from members, Grantmakers for Education launched a new learning group in 2022 focused on equitable grantmaking practice. EdFunders believes that how we do philanthropy is as critical to moving forward commitments to racial justice and equity as what we fund. This group was formed to provide space for education funders to learn together about their practice and integrate more focus on equitable grantmaking into EdFunders programming overall.
The learning group launched with several organization-wide programs and a six-month learning community for close to 40 funders in 2022. In 2023, the learning group broadened its programming for the entire EdFunders community, through webinars, other virtual programming, and the annual conference, to engage funders on key issues in equitable grantmaking creating space to engage with one another on how to shift practice.
In 2024, EdFunders launched a work group of members to engage in a collaborative process to develop a set of Principles of Grantmaking for Education Equity and Justice and accompanying practical guidelines. EdFunders is drafting the principles and conducting focus groups in 2025 to gather additional funder and field leader feedback. EdFunders aims to share the principles and practical guidelines with its members and broader education funder community in fall 2025.
Learning Group Goals
- Explore the root causes behind inequities in the education system and funders’ role in upending inequities.
- Build community among education grantmakers interested in implementing more equitable grantmaking practices.
- Create a peer learning space for funders to share challenges, work through ideas and provide feedback to one another.
- Explore strategies for shifting the way we fund, who we fund and how we engage and partner with the organizations and leaders we fund.
- Drive an equity agenda through our grantmaking, acknowledging that these ideas intersect and impact one another.
- Develop a set of grantmaking principles and practical guidelines for education equity and justice.
If you are interested in learning more, you can reach us at impactgroups@edfunders.org.
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