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DOI

10.9707/1944-5660.1715

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Key Points

Equity-focused foundations have generally sought to change institutions, systems, and structures through advocacy, policy change, and community organizing — either on their own or by supporting activist organizations. This article examines an alternative philanthropic strategy: directly engaging and supporting the institutions that need to become more diverse, inclusive, and responsive to the communities they should be serving.

The Colorado Health Foundation has “enticed institutions” as one element of its Locally Focused Work effort, launched in four Colorado communities in 2017. With LFW, program officers actively seek to build supportive relationships with a wide range of community-based organizations and actors who are aligned, or potentially aligned, with the foundation’s interest in health equity.

Across the nine LFW communities, program officers have reached out to many of the local elected officials and the leaders of more than 70 government agencies, large nonprofit service providers, local funders, and established coalitions. They have encountered varying levels of receptivity; fewer than half submitted equity-related proposals, most of which were funded. The actual level of institutional change varied considerably across projects.

We conclude that the “enticing institutions” strategy can be one important strand in a foundation’s strategy to advance equity, but it needs to be complemented by more activist approaches that raise the heat on institutions to take action.

We also describe how LFW has promoted the foundation’s own journey from health equity to racial justice.

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