Social Justice and Peace in Philanthropy

Working Group on Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace The Ford Foundation funded a small global group of leaders from grantmaking foundations and philanthropic support organizations to come together with IISC to deepen the practice of philanthropy for social justice and peace. In the first year, the Working Group also helped IISC design an interactive and provocative convening of social justice and peace funders from around the globe. The convening, held in February 2009 in Cairo, Egypt, was attended by nearly 100 people from around the world who were deeply interested in exploring the meaning and methods of philanthropy that challenge injustice in varied contexts. IISC designed and facilitated sessions to build connections and relationships between and among the participants and to provoke their thinking about ways to move this important work forward. IISC continues to support the Working Group as it builds a global network of people working to develop better social justice and peace grantmaking practices, demonstrate the impact of grantmaking with a social justice approach, influence the mainstream narrative in philanthropy, and connect to share knowledge and practices from different regions of the world.


  • Thanks so much for participating in the Collective Impact webinar this week. I appreciate how much time you put into preparing and thoroughly enjoyed your engaging talk… So glad we’re connected with the Chesapeake work. Look forward to continuing to learn from you.

    Anne Parker
    Collective Impact

  • I was at NESAWG [Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group] this weekend and happened to attend both of your workshops: Making the Invisible Visible and Theory of Change. You are someone who really stuck out to me at the Conference because of how passionate and articulate you are and I just wanted to say Thank You! 

    The questions posed and the “levels of systematic oppression” diagram in the first workshop were illuminating in terms of my personal understanding of how I move through society and by providing a common framework for identifying racial inequities at play. I really resonated with your call to “normalize the discussion about race and inequity” because simply going there still feels taboo in many spaces. 

    I just looked over the Interaction Institute for Social Change website and am even more inspired. I am new to Boston and was so energized this weekend to learn about the active, creative and diverse organizations in the area. I hope to find an opportunity to interact with your organization again in the future. Thank you for the work you do! 

    Tessa Salzman
    Master's Student in Urban Planning & Policy and Agriculture, Food & Environment, Tufts University, School of Arts & Sciences and Friedman School