READI is READY: Promoting & Defending Race Explicit Grantmaking

In this episode, Kristine Michie welcomes the Racial Equity Advancement and Defense Initiative (READI) Group—represented by Jazmin Chavez, E. Bomani Johnson, Lyle Matthew Kan, and Erik Stegman—for a powerful discussion on defending racial equity in philanthropy. They explore how foundations and nonprofits can navigate legal, financial, and reputational risks while continuing to prioritize race-explicit funding. The conversation underscores the strategies, tools, and solidarity needed to face today’s challenges, while affirming the importance of joy, culture, and resilience in sustaining justice work.

Key Takeaways:

• Hold philanthropic institutions accountable for maintaining race-explicit grantmaking despite legal and political pressures.
• Use tools like risk assessments and legal landscape analyses to guide courageous, compliant decisions.
• Support organizations under attack through defense funds and collective resilience strategies.
• Normalize conversations about risk appetite so decisions align with values and legacy, not fear.
• Persistent funding inequities affecting Native, Black, Latinx, and AAPI communities call for intentional, lasting corrective action.
• Build collaborative coalitions across philanthropic-serving organizations to withstand hostile legal and political environments.
• Protect joy, play, and cultural celebration as practices of resistance that sustain movements and community connection. 

"Joy and play are absolute acts of resistance, because if not, we're going to be burnt out, we're going to be hopeless." — Jazmin Chavez

"What we wanted to help the field [philanthropic sector] do was to move from this kind of space of being risk-averse to having more of a tolerance or an appetite for risk, and that's what the risk assessment tool is looking at" — E. Bomani Johnson

"You cannot create a better world while ignoring the inequities that exist in our community." — Lyle Matthew Kan

"We're obviously trying to get to specific outcomes and specific kinds of influence, but it's also about making sure that we all really understand each other's communities." — Erik Stegman

.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}