Marcelo Bonta, one of Meyer's three Philanthropy NW Momentum Fellows, knows a lot about the intersection of equity and environmental movements, organizations, funders and advocacy.
If you haven't checked out his latest blog for Philanthropy NW, it's worth your time.
Marcelo doesn't bury his lede:
Environmental philanthropy has a big problem.
It’s not our lack of racial diversity, especially at the executive and trustee level. It’s not the lack of funding directed towards organizations led by people of color. It’s not the lack of funding for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, despite many foundations now talking about it. It’s not the lack of investment in established leaders of color and a professional pipeline for emerging leaders of color. It’s not the underfunding of general support and capacity-building. It’s not the assumption that people of color don’t care about the environment; it’s not the lack of acknowledgement that people of color support environmental issues at higher rates than whites. It’s not the hiring of average white men instead of overqualified people of color.
All those are simply the byproducts of the big problem: White privilege.
To read the whole piece, click here.