Published in Nonprofit Quarterly

By Jeanne Bell and Ruth Mccambridge

Based on outcomes, there can be little doubt that new approaches are needed to address the long-standing and intensifying global and national issues of racial inequity, economic injustice, and environmental disregard that have marked this past decade. Previous approaches have not been decisively effective in turning these tides; and although we might argue about why that is, there is at least a very good argument for trying something different philanthropically to dislodge the powerfully dishonest narratives that continue to exert a grip on our collective consciousness. There is a mounting urgency in the social sector, therefore, to examine our own histories of practice; to uncover and confront any ways in which we have reinforced or benefited from the flaws in our own practices and their supporting narratives; and to take on the necessary work of (finally) operationalizing our long-professed values of democracy and justice.