We have touched on the dark side of philanthropy on this podcast before, but Jake and I take a deep dive here. How did we get here and how do we do these jobs with the knowledge that our daily lives are surrounded by privilege? And what does it look like to work with us? Our organizations have many parallels, but we are at different phases in our process creation.

The Opportunity Fund was established upon the death of Gerri Kay to continue her life’s work. Opportunity Fund awards grants to small to midsize arts organizations, and  organizations and initiatives that advance social and economic justice. They have a two-step application and the they grant in two cycles each year. They try their best to be as transparent as possible. Their grant application process is steeped in humanity, and the way they operate as neighborhood partners has won the hearts of funders and grant applicants alike.

What is social justice? For Jake in the case of philanthropy, in each area they fund there is also a status quo and it is benefiting some and leaving out others. We mention the latest report on  Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race and we agree that the work being done by organizations like New Voices Pittsburgh. When organizations meet with us to educate us, their perspective becomes part of the lens we use to determine which programs will be effective. I explain to Jake that since they took time away from their day to educate me, so I felt the need to try to come up with an hourly rate.

Join us for the second half of this interview on 11/25 where we talk about navigating imposter syndrome.