Deadline: 31-Jul-2020
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation – Environment Program has launched a new initiative to support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) capacity building in U.S. conservation organizations.
Their support of these efforts is grounded in a fundamental belief that a conservation field that values and integrates a diversity of voices, perspectives and approaches will lead to more positive outcomes for wildlife, the environment and people. They also recognize conservation’s history of racism and inequitable practices and the need to center equity, particularly racial equity, in order for the field to be more responsive to disparities and inequities now and into the future.
Through this program, they seek to develop a more inclusive and transparent grantmaking process that can also inform the way the Environment Program makes grants in its other portfolio areas.
They seek to support DEI change at the organizational level and believe DEI learning and growth is important for all types of organizations — from white-led to Black, Indigenous and people of color-led, small to large, and community-based to nationally focused. They understand, however, that DEI change may look different across these different organizational contexts and will be flexible in supporting the needs organizations articulate for themselves.
Program Goals
The DEI Capacity Building Program has multiple goals:
- Organizational Level Goals
- Advance DEI learning and growth within grantees funded by this program.
- Support grantees in meeting their own DEI goals Cohort Level Goals.
- Support a diverse portfolio of organizations (e.g., budget/staff size, demographics and geography) to provide examples of what DEI looks like in different contexts.
- Support a learning community of grantees organizations.
- Field Level Goals
- Advance learning and growth across the conservation, environment and philanthropic fields by sharing learnings/best practices from grantees through case studies and other communications efforts.
- Through an open RFP process and other communications efforts, articulate the importance of advancing DEI organizational change efforts in challenging times.
- Coordinate with other funders supporting DEI capacity building.
- DDCF Goals
- DDCF engages in its own DEI learning alongside grantees and the Advisory Community.
- Experiences from this program will inform the Environment Program’s grantmaking and grantmaking process/practice more broadly.
Award Information
- A total of $700,000 will be awarded for DEI capacity building in U.S. conservation organizations who have already demonstrated commitment to and action on DEI organizational change.
- Grants of up to $60,000 over two years will be awarded to approximately 11-12 organizations.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for funding, organizations must:
- Be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization or be a project that has an existing fiscal sponsorship by an 501(c)(3) organization.
- Be based in the United States or its territories.
- Have a minimum of five staff members (full-time or part-time).
- Spend a significant portion of its resources (staff, financial, time) on conservation issues in the United States and its territories (see text box below for further explanation).
- Demonstrate prior commitment to and action on DEI organizational change.
Scoring Criteria
The following criteria will be used in the review of grant proposals:
- Organizational commitment to DEI change – the organization has embraced DEI change
- Demonstrated DEI action – the organization has advanced DEI change internally
- Learning/growth mindset – the organization demonstrates an ability to learn and grow from its previous DEI change efforts
- Role of a DDCF grant – the organization demonstrates that a DDCF grant will help accelerate or sustain DEI organizational change.
For more information, visit https://www.ddcf.org/what-we-fund/environment/goals-and-strategies/strengthening-the-conservation-field/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-capacity-building/