Today’s cultural and political moment demands action from all of us, in whatever spheres of influence we may have. Our responsibility in this moment is to move from talking to action, to tackle the inequities we see in our professional world—arts philanthropy.

In our blog post last spring, we shared the results of a report from Yancey Consulting that outlines what it would take for New York’s African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) arts groups to thrive, not just survive. We urged our colleagues in philanthropy to join us to address the funding inequities that perpetuate precarious conditions for these groups, leaving many continually undercapitalized.

PEAK Grantmaking recently released a report on how funders are collecting and using demographic data. In our conversations with members, we learned that only about half of grantmakers are collecting this data. Of that half, almost all of them are collecting information on the communities that nonprofits serve, and less than half of them are collecting information on the board and staff leadership of the nonprofits.