Click the image to see more pictures from the event

Last week, I attended the first-ever Reception for Diverse Trustees of Grantmakers here in Chicago that belong to the Donors Forum. It was pretty neat to exchange ideas on how to grow philanthropy’s diversity and inclusion. Many were surprised to hear hard statistics that foundations with diverse boards actually resulted in more dollars from those groups going to diverse organizations and communities. The Donors Forum hopes to begin to create a network of diverse trustees who will work with Donors Forum’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion to promote diversity within philanthropy. 

Also at the reception, I learned more about the work of D5, a five-year coalition to grow philanthropy’s diversity, equity and inclusion. On November 15th, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and D5  are hosting a Midwest Regional Convening for Diverse Donors. In an effort to raise the visibility of diverse donors and build their capacity to contribute to diverse communities, this gathering will connect like-minded givers and provide tools, support, peer-leaning and access to resources to make their philanthropy more effective. Limited to 60-75 donors, the target audience is primarily individual donors, but also “champions” of this work who represent a wide range of giving vehicles, such as giving circles, tribal funds, affiliated structures, or family foundations of LGBT, women and donors of color. Donors should currently be giving, or have the capacity to give, $25,000 or more annually to diverse communities.  President/CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation Luz Vega-Marquis is the keynote speaker.

“We Are Philanthropy”: A Midwest Regional Convening for Diverse Donors
Thursday, November 15, 2012
12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Hotel Palomar
Chicago, Illinois

See the agenda and learn more about attending… 

~Sharmila Rao Thakkar, Senior Program Officer, The Siragusa Foundation

This article originally appeared in the South Asian Philanthropy Project blog on October 31, 2012.