A Time to Be Steadfast

The turn of a calendar year often stirs expressions of hope, optimism, and ambition. Yet, the dawn of 2024 just feels different. With all we’re contending with, and what we can see barreling towards us, 2024 already feels daunting: a presidential election poised to enflame polarization and consume our bandwidth; an accelerating climate crisis with remedies too few in number and too small in scale; continuing assaults on efforts to address the legacy of racism in our country. The list could go on.

This leads me to feeling some trepidation as we enter the year, especially for our partners and the significant challenges that may be in store for them. That has also led me to reflect on how Barr must show up with and for our partners this year.

The word I keep gravitating to is steadfast.

Despite these profound challenges, Barr’s mission, values, and aims demand that we – and our partners - remain steadfast. The word can mean fixed or immovable, but it also means “firm in belief, determination, or adherence. Loyal.” It’s this latter definition that resonates most for me.

Barr’s mission, values, and aims demand that we – and our partners - remain steadfast.

When the context shifts, when standing still or stepping back are not options we’re willing to entertain, what do we stand firm in? What are we determined about? What do we adhere to?

For the Barr Foundation in 2024, three answers rise to the fore: we remain steadfast in our commitment to center racial equity; steadfast in sustaining a long-term view; and steadfast in our gratitude to those we are privileged to serve.

A steadfast commitment to center racial equity

One of the early and unfortunate consequences of last June’s Supreme Court decision related to higher education admissions is that it has created a chilling effect. Many who previously took concrete action to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to expand opportunities, have now paused, reconsidered, or even taken steps back.

Our position at Barr in the face of these potential challenges is to track what is changing (and what isn’t), to remain in close dialogue with our partners, and above all, to stay steadfast in our commitment to center racial equity. Indeed, that work remains even more critical today, and in a board discussion of this subject at our December meeting, our trustees vigorously reaffirmed this core commitment.

It’s one that we’ve been talking about in detail on our blog – including recent posts related to centering racial equity in our climate program, to outlining effective strategies to support equitable school transformation efforts, and to describing what it looks like to prioritize racial equity in arts organizations. In the next few months, we will also share a refined strategy for the next phase of our work to advance racial wealth equity.

As an organization committed to centering racial equity in its work, Barr will not—and cannot—retreat.

Steadfast in sustaining a long-term view

Barr’s mission to invest in potential requires adopting a long-term perspective. Our efforts to expand opportunity, remove barriers, foster healing, and advance a more equitable world are the work of generations, and progress is rarely in a straight line.

This coming May will mark my tenth year as Barr’s president, and one of the many things that has sustained and emboldened me as Barr’s leader has been the unwavering commitment our board has demonstrated to Barr’s core focus areas - which we reaffirmed soon after I arrived.

This consistency ensures we can be a better, more reliable, and constructive partner. And we hope it conveys our firm belief that change takes time. Still, we can’t ever become stagnant or unresponsive to a shifting environment. This past year, we shared a strategy update for our work to advance equitable transportation and community planning and development, and we announced the expansion of one of our arts initiatives focused on the role of community foundations to serve as civic leaders and catalysts. These are just two examples of Barr’s commitment to adapt and refine, while sustaining core commitments.

Steadfast for us means holding tightly to mission, values and goals, but loosely to the strategies, tactics and approaches of any particular moment in time, always in partnership with others and informed by their perspectives.

Steadfast for us means holding tightly to mission, values and goals, but loosely to the strategies, tactics and approaches of any particular moment.

Precisely how we work to advance opportunities for people of color will inevitably evolve over time – but continuing this work is beyond question. Indeed, in 2024, we will have the opportunity to hear directly from our grantees as we undertake our next Grantee Perception Report, in partnership with the Center for Effective Philanthropy. We are eager to learn from this experience and committed to sharing the results, and our actions based on those findings, with you later this year.

Steadfast in our gratitude

Working in a philanthropic organization is an immense privilege; our role at its best is to facilitate, enable, support, and champion the work of those outside our walls. Those of us who staff foundations must strive ever to be humble, curious, and focused on serving others.

Those of us who staff foundations must strive ever to be humble, curious, and focused on serving others.

One of my mentors often observed that a philanthropic organization does nothing by itself. We are like “one hand clapping,” he would add.

That is why we remain steadfast in our gratitude to our many partners: the ones who do the hard work, who are engaged on the front lines of social change, and who enrich us with their wisdom, experience, and partnership.

I conclude here where I began: this is going to be a challenging year. It’s why—more than ever—we will rely upon our partners to help us navigate these choppy waters and confront the challenges head-on, at the same time as we celebrate achievements and mark progress together.

My colleagues and I remain ever grateful for the dedication, commitment, and passion that our partners bring to their work each and every day. And we fully recognize that institutions like ours are only effective when serving others to do their best work.

That is indeed our steadfast commitment to you.

Published 01.03.2024