EEFC's 2024 Learning Agenda
Overcoming the Racial Bias in Philanthropic Funding
Stanford Social Innovation Review and the Bridgespan Group released a critical study that identified 4 key components in the disparity of funding for Black and Brown led non-profits. This learning track will bring that 2020 work back to the forefront of what our grantmaking looks like in 2024. Where did we make strides, where have we slid into old ways, and what are opportunities to relight the fires of racial justice in the new year?
2023 Learning Agenda: "Navigating the change required to advance job quality"
- How and why should funders advance job quality in Environmental Education and Outdoor Education?
- How can quality jobs advance racial equity and sustain relevant programming?
2022 Learning Agenda: “How can we drive change towards equity across the EE field?”
We will consider how to leverage networks to advance equity, explore how funders can play a role in addressing the most significant challenge facing the field (staffing!), learn about programs that advance equity but may fall outside of our traditional EE portfolios, dive into how funders might continue to consider demographic data without causing harm, and more!
2021 Focus: A New Path Forward with Equity at the Center
We will create and tread a new path- one that is accessible, just, and equitable in good times and bad. How will funders and grantees center equity in the rebuilding process?
This year, we will focus on the convergence of equity and COVID-19 recovery. We will continue to increase our understanding and build the capacity of this collaboration and our member organizations by focusing on philanthropical practices that are more equitable and that result in more accessible and just opportunities for youth across the region.
The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated and exacerbated inequities in the educational system. It also had a devastating impact on many Environmental and Outdoor Education organizations across the region. EEFC is committed to learning from 2020 to rebuild in a new way that rectifies inequities, while strengthening the environmental and outdoor education field in this new more equitable system. We will remain curious and open to new philanthropic practices, as well as the expansion of how we traditionally think about the EE field and its role in the region.
Our meetings will aim to deliver answers these two questions:
1. How can funders continue to develop equitable practices that result in meaningful change?
2. What actionable strategies can funders use to engage grantees in a rebuilding process that centers equity?