Dear Colleagues,
Long before the current vacancy on the high court of the United States, we knew that there was a gaping hole in our systems of justice. That’s certainly bad news — especially following a nationally televised debate when a sitting president of the United States not only refused to denounce racism, but seemed to hold the reins of white supremacist groups, calling on them to “stand back and stand by.”
Deeply embedded racism and sexism demand systemic change — and not just within corporate, education, government and judicial structures. Every aspect of our society must look inward and do the hard work of dismantling unfair structures and bias in our communities, in our organizations, and in ourselves.
The Women’s Funding Network recently engaged in a process of reflection to ensure that our mission, vision and values clearly expressed our alliance’s commitment to intersectionality and our justice-driven theory of change.
Our newly relaunched website lifts up the importance of your work and underscores that the interconnectedness of women’s funds and foundations and gender equity funders is pivotal to improving the effectiveness of philanthropic interventions aimed at eradicating unequal and oppressive systems of power. Even more important – we wanted the website to reflect the enthusiasm, energy, and optimism the leaders of this network bring to our collective space.
Easy to navigate, visitors to the website can easily engage, explore, and learn about other members. It is a hub for information and place to cultivate and build our collective field of practice within philanthropy. We look forward to using this platform to support our joint work to develop strategies, mobilize resources, and raise awareness to combat systemic gender and racial inequality.
We don’t know what the rest of 2020 has in store, but we do know that our powerful alliance of women’s funds, foundations and gender equity funders is essential to meet future challenges. Working together, everything is possible.
Yours for equity and justice,
Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO