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.