Our Commitment to Equity
What
At New Profit, we commit to continued learning with a focus on every person in our community being able to bring their full selves to this work and the world. We also acknowledge and seek to disrupt systems of oppression that are the foundation of inequitable opportunity and outcomes for all. We know that by expanding our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) capabilities and competencies we ensure our ability to develop bolder, better solutions across our sector.
Why
As New Profit works to identify, support, and scale breakthrough leaders and organizations, we understand that to attain the equitable outcomes we seek, those building and designing the solutions we support must have a deep commitment to and understanding of DEI. Consequently, our team must as well. We believe that diversity of perspectives and proximity to the communities we aim to serve will lead to better solutions and improved outcomes. When New Profit centers equity in our work and culture, we are able to be a bridge-builder between proximate leaders and the diverse partners who support their efforts.
How
To that end, we are committed to developing our internal DEI capacity by connecting our personal identities and learning journeys to an organizational strategy that centers those most proximate to the challenges we seek to solve. We will focus on ways to operationalize equity in our grantmaking, leader coaching, people management, and investor engagement. We also utilize our convening power to advance the sector’s understanding of DEI, the critical need to center proximity as expertise, and the ways social entrepreneurs, policymakers, influencers, and funders can partner to advance equity and opportunity in our country.
Our Actions
Put Equity at the Center
Consider how diversity, equity, and inclusion play a role in all of our work: with the team we build, the social entrepreneurs and organizations we invest in, and the initiatives we pursue.
Our Team
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- We seek to increase the diversity of our team at all levels of the organization. We believe this will position us to more fully support our diverse, expanding portfolio and the communities we seek to serve.
- We commit to engaging our full staff in efforts to build our individual and organizational DEI capacity.
- We commit to building our internal DEI capacity through our Diversity and Inclusion Group (DIG) and our Affinity Groups.
- We commit to fostering an equitable and inclusive community by continuously reexamining our culture, policies, practices, and norms.
Our Portfolio
- We have committed to making at least 50% of our investments in organizations led by people of color to help address the funding inequities that hold back our ability to break through on entrenched challenges facing our country.
- Further, our vantage point across the field positions us to synthesize our learnings from and with innovators in DEI practices. These collaborative learnings equip us to support portfolio leaders in building their own DEI capacities, by bringing those lessons to bear through our support model.
Inclusive Impact
- Inclusive Impact serves as a cross-functional effort that undergirds the work of New Profit to center equity in policy, practice, and funding. This comprehensive, systems-change approach centers proximity as expertise and guides our work across the social impact sector. Our primary goal is to increase the flow of capital to leaders of color, with an initial focus on Black, Indigenous, and Latino/a/x social impact leaders. We aim to address the historical and current unequal access to funding, resources, and leadership opportunities for these leaders in the social sector, which we explore in-depth in our Inclusive Impact Concept Paper. By building a broad and diverse coalition of donors, social entrepreneurs, researchers and influencers focused on equity we can expand funding, support for philanthropic leaders of color, the DEI capacity of organizations and DEI-related data collection and analysis in our sector, all with the purpose of expanding impact.
America Forward
- We can secure a future that meaningfully builds inclusive and equitable opportunity if we embrace what’s best about America rather than what’s worst. For us, that means that we support the development of policy that confronts historical injustice while building a culture of equity, empathy, responsibility, ingenuity, innovation, accountability, excellence, and progress. It means we support the many members of our Coalition through engaging in collective advocacy efforts that advance breakthrough solutions.
Want to learn more about New Profit’s DEI work? Contact Candace_Stanciel@newprofit.org.