Racial Equity in Philanthropic Practice
When grantmakers genuinely center racial equity, they acknowledge and remain grounded in history, applying an intersectional racial equity lens to all aspects of grantmaking practices and organizational culture, structures and policies. Centering racial equity requires grantmakers to interrogate power dynamics, examine how historical inequities have shaped current systems, and actively work to redistribute resources and decision-making authority to communities that have not been granted access to essential opportunities and resources. Through these practices grantmakers become more capable of disrupting systemic inequities and pursuing deep structural change.
The 2025 survey asked about DEI commitments to be able to better draw connections between previous survey findings, but survey language and approaches have evolved over the intervening time. The original wording is used when citing survey data and a broader intersectional racial equity context is considered throughout the interpretation of the findings.
Equity remains a stated priority for grantmaking organizations, with many institutions expressing a commitment to shift their practices to better align with their stated values. Some grantmakers have been incorporating racial equity into their grantmaking for decades, and the last decade shows a notable sector-wide increase in applying equity within grantmaking practices and in philanthropic pledges to fund racial equity. As with all journeys from stated commitment to transformed practice, progress is not linear but instead is winding and unpredictable. As noted in a 2021 report from the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity, many of the initial pledges announced in 2020 never materialized into actual funding,2 and grantmakers across the sector continue to identify significant gaps between their organizations’ declared values and their day-to-day grantmaking practices. As the sector faces federal government attacks on equity work, philanthropy must remain committed to these values and continue to work alongside nonprofits and communities to advance racial equity.
This disconnect between declared values and everyday practices raises the question: When an organization declares that DEI is central to its mission and values, how does it operationalize those beliefs in concrete, measurable ways? How do grantmakers ensure that their actions consistently match their statements, and that their practices actually advance racial equity?
Defining Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The definitions used for this study are based on the work of D5, a five-year coalition to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in philanthropy.
Diversity
Bringing those with different perspectives or life experiences to the decision-making table, especially those who have historically been and continue to be underrepresented in grantmaking and grantmaking decisions.
Equity
Promoting justice, impartiality, and fairness within institutions or systems, as well as in the distribution of resources.
Inclusion
Ensuring that diverse individuals can fully participate in the decision-making processes of an organization.
Source: D5, “What is DEI?” Accessed August 20, 2025. Available at https://www.d5coalition.org/tools/dei/.
GEO’s study findings illuminate both the progress made and the challenges that remain as grantmakers work to bridge the gap between stated commitments and implemented practices.
Figure 1 shows that most grantmakers maintain that DEI is central to their organization’s current strategy, with 48 percent indicating that DEI is “very much” central and another 26 percent indicating that it is “somewhat” central to their organization’s current strategy. This demonstrates an increase in organizations centering DEI since GEO’s 2017 field study, the first in the series to ask grantmakers to reflect on DEI in relation to their work — which found that only 14 percent reported that DEI was “central” to their work, with another 31 percent reporting it was “essential.”3
In considering how this commitment is operationalized in practice, the study revealed that organizations indicating DEI as “somewhat” or “very much” central to their organization’s strategy are more likely to engage in practices that reflect that commitment such as requiring staff and board members to attend DEI training, conducting staff pay equity analysis, requesting or requiring leadership demographic data from grantees and reckoning with their source of funding, as shown in Figures 2 – 5 and Figure 7. However, there is still important progress that must be made to realize expanded offerings in DEI training (especially for board members), increased pay equity analysis and improved collection of leadership demographics.
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Reckoning with Funding Sources
Centering equity requires more than understanding and analyzing an organization’s current practices; it also requires interrogating the source of the institution’s wealth, analyzing how acquiring those funds may have affected communities and exploring how those impacts may be addressed. Therefore, the survey asked grantmakers about their practices regarding exploring, discussing and addressing their funding source.
As Figure 6 illustrates, a plurality of grantmakers reported reckoning with funding sources through board and staff discussions, with 49 percent of grantmakers stating that their staff have discussed the importance of understanding their funding source and 44 percent stating that their boards have discussed this. Twenty-two percent of grantmaking organizations have begun exploring their funding sources.
However, few have committed to taking action such as aligning their funding strategy to disrupt or repair the effects of historical harm (18 percent), acknowledging sources of funds and harm (12 percent) and establishing grants or scholarships to address historical harm (10 percent). This indicates that more work is needed to put these values into practice.
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All practices for reckoning with the source of funds were more prevalent for organizations with a greater commitment to DEI, as illustrated in Figure 7. Yet significant progress is still needed for philanthropy to acknowledge the source of funds and take action to address historical harm within communities. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy’s “Cracks in the Foundation: Philanthropy’s Role in Reparations for Black People in the DMV”4 offers a framework for grantmakers to consider as they embark on their own journeys of reckoning.
2Malkia Devich Cyril, Lyle Matthew Kan, Ben Francisco Maulbeck, and Lori Villarosa. “Mismatched: Philanthropy’s Response to the Call for Racial Justice,” Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity. September 2021. https://racialequity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/PRE_Mismatched_PR_141.pdf
3In 2017, grantmakers were asked how relevant DEI was to their organization’s mission. Response options included: not relevant, relevant, essential, central. In 2025, this question was reworded slightly to ask, “To what extent is DEI central to the grantmaking organization’s current strategy?” Response options included: not at all, a little bit, somewhat, very much.
4National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, “Cracks in the Foundation: Philanthropy’s Role in Reparations for Black People in the DMV.” January 2024. Available at https://ncrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NCRP-reckoning-launch.pdf