BOSTON—December 5, 2024—The Bridgespan Group today released Building a More Equitable Future: Tools and Inspiration for Philanthropists, Nonprofits, and Others Working Toward Racial Equity, a multi-media compendium that shares a vision of how to build a more equitable and better society for all.  It focuses on the importance of the work, provides examples of what equity looks like in practice, and showcases examples of “what is working.” 

According to Jeff Bradach, Bridgespan’s co-founder, “Bridgespan believes the ambitious work of building an inclusive and more equitable world where everyone can thrive deserves immense attention. That is true always, but especially during challenging times.”

Bridgespan partner Darren Isom, one of the collection’s authors and co-lead of Bridgespan’s equitable philanthropy initiative says, “The anti-equity headwinds we are facing serve as both a sign of the great progress made and a reminder that there is still much more to be done. Fellow travelers should consider this collection as fuel and inspiration for the journey ahead.” 

Bridgespan Senior Editorial Director Cora Daniels, who spearheaded the creation of the collection, says that the mix of content and platforms selected for sharing the content reflects the complexity of the issues involved, the range of viewpoints captured, and a desire to reach people where they are. It includes:

• An article published in Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Future of Equitable Philanthropy, which, among other things, points out that “the danger when we only focus on the pushback and not the success that inspired such pushback is we rob ourselves of the opportunity to continue to grow by building upon the wins.”  
• A bonus episode of Bridgespan’s Dreaming in Color podcast, “Dreaming of Joy: Finding Light As We Reimagine Power and Possibility,” a roundtable discussion hosted by Bridgespan Partner Darren Isom with members of the new vanguard of philanthropy on the more equitable world they are trying to build. 
• A Q&A with Bridgespan Co-founder Jeff Bradach and Cheryl Dorsey, Bridgespan Board co-chair and president of Echoing Green, titled Navigating this Moment: What Does Allyship Require? It explores evolving ideas around the role of allyship in equity work.  
• An entry from Bridgespan’s philanthropy practice, The Impact Case for Equity, offers learnings from key Bridgespan research, demonstrating that giving strategies that lead to the ambitious impact that most donors seek have something in common: they embrace equity.  
• A personal essay by Bridgespan’s head of Equity, Raël Nelson James, The Work of DEI is to Make Organizations Better Than Society. Starting with the premise that most interactions across race tend to happen at work, mission-driven organizations can seize that opportunity to do things better than does society at large. 
• A slide presentation, Advancing Racial Equity in Your Work and Organization, that Bridgespan has used with nonprofit clients to help them achieve greater impact by embedding racial equity into their work. 
• In January, Bridgespan will publish the last piece in the collection, Building a Multiracial Organization: Notes from The Bridgespan Group’s Racial Equity Journey, where Bridgespan will share the development of its own equity strategy, including challenges and struggles, both past and present.  

The Bridgespan authors acknowledge that no collection could address everything that the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors are grappling with around equity. “At the very least,” says Daniels, “regardless of your issue area or region, whether you are a nonprofit leader or philanthropist, and no matter what your organization’s commitment to equity currently looks like, our hope is that you find something in this variety of content that helps you and your organization push forward.” 

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About The Bridgespan Group 

The Bridgespan Group (www.bridgespan.org) is a global nonprofit that collaborates with social change organizations, philanthropists, and impact investors to make the world more equitable and just. Bridgespan’s services include strategy consulting and advising, sourcing and diligence, and leadership team support. We take what we learn from this work and build on it with original research, identifying best practices and innovative ideas to share with the social sector. We work from locations in Boston, Delhi, Johannesburg, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington, DC.