PREPARING PHILANTHROPY TO PROMOTE EQUITY

For change to occur in the Mid South, it will require people of courage and vision to take strategic, responsible, and sustained action. Specifically, philanthropy and its leadership can and should play an important role in facilitating and promoting equity to effect fundamental change.

Foundations possess both the legitimacy and authority to convene leaders from the corporate, policy, and nonprofit sectors to discuss cross-sector solutions to issues ranging from educational reform to sustainable development to delivery of health and social services. These organizations also have the capacity—when they work collectively with other philanthropic and nonprofit organizations—to effect changes in public policy, raise public awareness, and stimulate public action on social issues.

While philanthropy does, indeed, play a vital role in social change, it will require willingness and commitment from the region's philanthropic leaders to work together. Foundations cannot afford to operate in isolation when the demands and challenges they face are so significant. To this end, the following pages will describe some existing obstacles and recommendations to help prepare philanthropy in the Mid South to become a more effective change agent to promote equity and social justice in the region.