Living our Commitment to Learners and Families

We recently reflected on our

journey. We invite you to listen to our conversation below about what we’ve learned, and how we have explored, learned from missteps, found new opportunities and made adjustments to make forward progress.

Like many sectors, philanthropy and the organizations we partner with experienced a tectonic shift in the last several years. The pandemics that occurred in tandem—COVID and a global racial reckoning—forced us to look inwards and reflect on how we might be perpetuating values of white supremacy and causing harm to the same communities we aim to support. Out of this “awakening” came a wave of organizations that committed to “DEI” and issued statements— ourselves included. We are working hard to ensure these aren’t just words on our website, but is a practice that’s woven across our company culture. Our team has done a lot of learning and unlearning ways that enable us to show up differently for ourselves and our partners.

To build towards a more equitable future that we imagine for learners, families and communities, we must work together to foster well-being and dismantle systemic barriers. Our journey with JEDI is one that does not end, and is not a singular path that gets from one point to another, but is a practice that strengthens our capacity to do more. Thank you for being here with us, along the journey.

Additional Resources and Reading

To learn more about our JEDI journey, we invite you to read the following:

• Our STOPS framework for JEDI: Starting from the inside out, early on, we made plans to activate across all five domains of our “STOPS”framework: Self, Team, Our Network, Portfolio and Systems. Read more.
• Efforts to be proximate to those closest to the work: We rolled out changes grantmaking practice aimed at moving decision-making closer to those most proximate to the challenges; and worked to define ‘community-centered’ and ‘local’ means. Read more.
• Community partnerships: We prioritize solutions and approaches that are driven by and for those most impacted by the issues. This has led to community-centered partnerships including the Raising Child Care Fund in the US, Firelight Foundation in Africa, and Fundo Baobá in Brazil.
• Deep listening practices: Practicing our value of authentic communications, we’re listening to learners, families, young people and communities to understand how we can help systemic change for learners Read more.
• IF learning facilitators: To ensure that we are thinking about systems from multiple perspectives, we are institutionalizing internal processes that support systems-thinking practices. We transitioned some of our team members to take on the role of learning facilitators. Read more here and here.
• Engaging with funders: We regularly connect with partner funders and the broader philanthropic sector, sharing our learnings on how deeply listening to and aligning with the communities we serve makes philanthropic work more effective. We saw this play out when we hosted the a forum to explore how more funders could support locally-led African research. Read more.