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This article was originally published on the GEO blog.
“Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.” Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee
As I listened to ALOK speak during the GEO 2024 National Conference in Los Angeles, California, I was deeply moved by what they shared from the center stage about how philanthropy needs to transform from within. ALOK simply asked during the plenary, “How do we center humanity in the work when we lack proximity to injustice and suffering?”
When I heard these words uttered from the stage, I took a deep breath and had a profound moment of recognition where I understood that as philanthropy, we sometimes lose sight of what is most needed during these times – to center humanity in our work and how we engage with and support community. Working in philanthropy affords us tremendous privilege, and with that privilege we sometimes become one or two steps removed from community because of the nature of philanthropy and how it is structured within the sector today.
At its core, philanthropy means love of people and of humankind, and ALOK’s words made me pause and take notice of my own practices serving in this field. I share these reflections as a human being that sat in the audience, listening to another human being who asked to be seen, loved, valued, listened to, and supported within community. This request from ALOK is the moment needed for us amidst the times we are living in, to center humanity in all that we do, and to change our practices to enable love of community to be central in our organizational values and strategies.
I continue to think of ALOK’s plenary discussion because it has changed the way I work in philanthropy. Since the GEO 2024 National Conference, I have made it my purpose to center humanity in philanthropic strategies and in how I am engaging with and supporting organizations. Change begins with me, and ALOK’s words made me take notice, held me accountable, and gave me the spark I needed to transform my own practices.
Many community organizers and movement building leaders are serving communities amidst significant trauma and stress. This is our moment to create necessary change because as ALOK stated in their discussion, philanthropy will need to support communities to brace for what is coming. Philanthropy is a part of movement building and we need to continue protecting the fundamental rights of human beings. What might our world look like Seven Generations from now if we, as people working in philanthropy, were to center humanity in all that we do? How do we create a caring community that seeks to support nonprofit leaders that are experiencing overwhelming stressors from the daily impact of systemic racism? How can philanthropy unite in solidarity to collectively advance racial justice and human rights against a tidal way of inhumanity?
These are the questions that continue to remain with me after listening to the wisdom of another human being on a stage sharing their full humanity with a large philanthropic audience. May we endeavor to step forward in philanthropy and remain proximate to injustice and suffering, to enable us to continue walking in step with community and to not lose sight of centering humanity in our work.
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