Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At MPC, equity is at the center of everything we do. It is a core value and underpins our values of learning, relationships, and leadership. Additionally, equity is the foundation of the informed approach we take as we use data, research, and information to do our work.

Equity Commitment

As part of this foundation and our organization’s ongoing commitment to equity, and to create a legal accountability mechanism, MPC added the requirement for a DEI commitment in our most recent by-law review. The commitments outlined in the MPC Equity Commitment are initial ways in which we are committed to uprooting inequitable policy and practice within our organizational structure and creating an organizational culture that centers equity.

Our commitments include action items in our programming and services, governance and operations, and advocacy and leadership, as well as accountability measures. If you would like to share anonymous feedback of how we are doing with our equity commitment, please fill out this form.

Reduced Cost Memberships

In line with our focus on equity, we hope all organizations are able to take advantage of MPC membership, regardless of their ability to pay membership dues. These funds remain available to new and renewing members for whom full cost membership would be burdensome or prohibitive.

For more information about reduced cost memberships, visit the FAQ.

Data Equity Initiative

In response to national and local conversations around equity, demographic data collection, and disparities in funding for organizations led by, founded by, and primarily serving historically marginalized communities, we have added optional, self-selected fields to all membership forms. These fields will be available as filter options in our public Member Directory. We hope this filter will allow funders to discover nonprofits outside their typical network and support nonprofits in finding similar organizations for collaboration.

We have done much research and collaborated with many community partners to create this system of data collection. However, we welcome your thoughts and ideas to continually improve this process. Please send us feedback or questions about this initiative at mpc@mainephilanthropy.org.

Learn more about this initiative.

Programs and Resources

Scroll down for programs and resources related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Knowledgebase

Nonprofit Diversity Efforts: Current Practices and the Role of Foundations

Nonprofit Diversity Efforts: Current Practices and the Role of Foundations
Publication date: 
July 2018
Based on survey responses of 205 leaders of nonprofit organizations with annual expenses between $100,000 and $100 million, Nonprofit Diversity Efforts: Current Practices and the Role of Foundations provides a collection of data on topics such as how diversity relates to the work of nonprofits and what demographic information nonprofits and funders alike are collecting — and how that information is used. The data in this report can inform foundation leaders and staff as they consider how they can most helpfully engage with their grantees on the topic of diversity.
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Race to Lead: Confronting the Racial Leadership Gap

Publication date: 
June 2017
From the report's executive summary: "The percentage of people of color in nonprofit executive director roles has remained under 20% for the past decade. To increase the number of people of color leading nonprofits, the sector needs a new narrative about the problem and new strategies to address it. Nonprofits have to transfer the responsibility for the racial leadership gap from those who are targeted by it (aspiring leaders of color), to those governing organizations."
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Hiding in Plain Sight: Implicit Bias Presentation

Publication date: 
October 2015
A burgeoning field of scholarship suggests that unequal racial, gender, and other outcomes may be partially explained by the implicit, or unconscious, bias held by many of us, particularly key decision-makers, such as doctors, teachers, judges, and philanthropists. From the 2015 Funders Forum, the presentation on implicit bias by speakers Johanna Wald and Andrew Grant-Thomas.
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Speak Up: Responding to Everyday Bigotry

Publication date: 
January 2015
A toolkit for responding to everyday bigotry. Developed by the Southern Law Poverty Center, the guide (available in pdf and website formats) provides advice and suggestions for responding to everyday bigotry in a variety of settings-- among family, among friends and neighbors, at work, at school, and in public. In the making of this book, the Southern Poverty Law Center gathered hundreds of stories of everyday bigotry from people across the United States. They told their stories through email, personal interviews and at roundtable discussions in four cities: Baltimore, Md.; Columbia, S.C.;...
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