Dispatch from Georgia: Reflections on the State’s First Equity Fund Summit
By Avery Kaplan and Harrison Wallace
At the end of August, leaders and organizers representing ten grantee organizations in Georgia gathered for two days in downtown Atlanta for the Equity Fund’s first grantee partner summit in the state. The Equity Fund’s hosts annual state summits to support relationship building, explore areas of alignment between organizations, and provide space for organizations to self-determine collaborative strategies that allow them to punch above their weight at the state policy level and beyond.
Takeaways From The Summit
At the opening session of the Georgia Summit, folks introduced themselves (in-person and over video) and presented on their organizations' history. When asked to sum up the road ahead based on reflections from the last two years, folks shared the following: “hopeful,” “curious,” “ready,” “determined,” “encouraged,” “optimistic,” “motivated,” “intentional.” This spirit permeated the summit, and, based on a synthesis of what emerged at the gathering, we recap three key takeaways that will aid the growth of the climate equity movement in Georgia:
Support for mid- to long-term planning around shared goals: The existing paradigm of short-term rapid response grants make it difficult for organizations to plan long-term. Second, competition between organizations for limited funding makes it difficult to collaborate and find a north star. Third, there is a mismatch between funders’ and grantees’ timelines for policy formation. Summit participants shared that sometimes funders force partnerships that might already be happening organically, and put pressure on pushing policy progress faster than is feasible. Grantees and funders will need to work collaboratively to remove these challenges in order for grassroots groups in Georgia to strategically align around mid- to long-term shared goals.
More strategic use of time, division of labor, and partnerships to build a strong foundation for follow-through: Several organizations identified many overlapping collaborations, partnerships, and shared resources that lead to meeting fatigue, packed schedules, and an unclear sense of direction. Currently spread too thin, summit participants expressed the need for more effective, streamlined convening spaces to better build a community-grounded policy agenda. Summit participants also lifted up existing common resources that can reduce overlap, such as communication support, consultants, facilitators, tool kits, equity maps, and trainings.
An investment in long-term capacity building: A lack of steady capacity building, along with staff turnover, burnout, and short-term funding, makes it more difficult for partners to execute deep organizing, build multi-year policy campaigns, and retain institutional memory. Summit participants also identified future growth opportunities to work with institutions such as local think tanks and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). More general support funding over multiple years, and minimizing unreasonable funder demands, will also allow grantees to build more robust capacity long-term.
Overall, Georgia summit participants expressed appreciation for two-days to step outside the day-to-day and strategize with other organizations, without feeling pressure to conform to a funder-driven plan. These takeaways also serve as good reminders for the funder community that our role in the climate equity movement is not to exploit the time and energy of frontline organizations. Rather, our role is to grant them all the resources they need: time, space, agency, and long-term funding.
“These takeaways serve as good reminders for the funder community that our role... is not to exploit the time and energy of frontline organizations, but rather, grant them all the resources they need: time, space, agency, and long-term funding.“
Reflections on How To Gather Effectively
With the fast current of organizing and politics and too often back-to-back Zoom meetings, multi-day conferences – if not planned thoughtfully – can easily become another burden for grassroots organizations. As our first in-person event (with a virtual option) since March 2020, the Georgia state summit was a valuable opportunity for the Equity Fund to critically rethink how we gather most effectively. We offer some reflections:
Virtual facilitation and easy-to-use technology are key to a well-run hybrid event. With a conference agenda that uniquely engaged participants depending on whether they joined virtually or in-person, and support from the venue's AV team running the microphone and motion tracking camera, all attendees were able to participate and connect with each other seamlessly.
Be aware of power dynamics in the room, and work with a third party facilitator. Equity Fund staff left the room for select sessions to allow grantee partners to speak openly about needs and challenges. It is critical to the climate equity movement that funders understand the challenges that can arise from being present for uncomfortable conversations. Providing safe spaces for candor and strategic planning is one way to make philanthropy less extractive.
Connecting in person deepens relationships and expands the work. Although virtual meetings increase accessibility, they still create exhaustion and an eerie sense of surveillance that makes candid conversations difficult. At an in-person summit, there is time and space to mingle before sessions, debrief after sessions, break bread and connect on a personal level. All of these spaces “outside” the summit aid trust building, knowledge sharing, and relationship building, that combine with programmatic content to strengthen our work and move us forward together.
Avery Kaplan is an operations assistant at the Equity Fund. Harrison Wallace is a program officer for the southeast at the Equity Fund.
