Equity Resources
Over the past four years, the Maddox Fund has been talking about racial equity, justice and liberation. While we are early in our journey, we are convinced that we can’t walk alone; we need partners so we can learn and change together. This page includes resources that we have found useful and that have guided us as we think critically about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Liberation.
As an organization, we have made a commitment to racial equity. Our learning continues and we invite you to explore these resources and ask that you give us your feedback. If you have other resources, please share them with us so we can learn from one another.
The Center for Nonprofit Management provides training around racial equity. Visit the CNM website and consider how your organization might engage these opportunities.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice Resources
- Whiteness at Work
- Is Your Board Ready to Advance Equity? – article by Rick Moyers on National Comittee for Responsive Philanthropy
- Stanford Social Review: Breaking Through Barriers to Racial Equity
- The Nonprofit Sector’s Board Diversity Problem – article by United Philanthropy Forum
- 8 Ways People of Color are Tokenized in Nonprofits – article by Helen Kim Ho
- Race to Lead: Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap
- 7 Things You Can Do to Improve the Sad, Pathetic State of Nonprofit Board Diversity – article by Vu Le
- The Social Justice Sector has a Problem with Internalized Racism — Itzbeth Menijvar
- Reimagining Compensation – Part 1 & Part 2 – CompassPoint
White Journey to Anti-Racism
- Whiteness at Work
- Anti-Racism for White People – Social Venture Partners Los Angeles
- Seeing White – 14-part podcast with Scene on Radio, Duke University
- From White Racist to White Anti-Racist: The Life-long Journey – article by Tema Okun
- Me and My White Supremacy – 28-day workbook by Layla F Saad
- White Women Doing White Supremacy in Nonprofit Culture – Heather Laine Talley
- “White Fragility” – article by Robin DiAngelo
- White Fragility – video by Robin DiAngelo
- Being Nice is Not Going To End Racism – video by Robin DiAngelo
- YWCA 21-day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack– article by Peggy McIntosh
- How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion – video by Peggy McIntosh
- Can we talk about Whitness – podcast from NPR Codeswitch
- On Empathy – video by Brenee Brown
- The Power of Vulnerability – video by Brenee Brown
- Lecture on the History of Racist Ideas in America – video by Ibram X. Kendi
- Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture – guide by Equity in the Center
- A Letter to White Urbanites – Alicia John-Baptiste, SPUR
Implicit Bias
- Harvard Implicit Bias Test
- Allegories of Race and Racism – video by Dr. Camara Jo
- Immaculate Perception – video by Jerry Kang
Internalized Racism
- What is Internalized Racism? – article by Donna K. Bivens
- 18 Years of Wishing I was White: Internalized Racism in the Asian-American Community – article by Jillian Peihua
Interpersonal Racism
- The 1619 Project – The N.Y. Times
- Seeing White – Podcast Series from Scene on Radio
- YWCA 21-Day Racial Justice and Social Equity Challenge
- History Repeating: Affordable Housing, Public Transit, A mayoral Runoff, Racially Separated Schools, Welcome to Nashville in – in 1971 – article by Ansley T. Erickson
- How Structural Racism Works – lecture by Dr. Tricia Rose
- On the History of Racist Ideas in America – lecture by Ibram X. Kendi
- Stamped from the Beginning – book by Ibram X. Kendi
- Revisionist History – podcast by Malcolm Gladwell
- 20 ways majority-white nonprofits can build authentic partnerships with organizations led by communities of color – article by Vu Le
- The Danger of a Single Story – lecture by Chimamanda Agozi Adichie
- Why LGBT Initialism Keeps Growing – article by Bill Daley
- LGBTQ 101 – video
- LGBTQIA Resource Center Glossary – UC Davis
- The Gender Unicorn – Trans Student Educational Resources
- LGBTQ People of Color Suffer Double Discrimination – Article by Samantha Allen
- A Few Pronoun Best Practices – Safe Zone Project
- Collection of LGBTQIA Ted Talks
- A Queer Vision of Love and Marriage – lecture by Tiq & Kim Katrin Milan
- We Must be in It For the Long Haul:
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Racial Equity in Philanthropy – Bridgespan
- Putting Racism on the Table – Washington Regional Area Grantmakers
- Six Steps Foundations can Take to Advance Racial Equity
- Paying Attention to White Culture and Privilege: The Missing Link to Advancing Racial Equity
- Change Philanthropy Resource Hub
- To Advance Racial Justice, Philanthropists Will Need to Be Courageous – Tinyspark Podcast
- National Center for Responsive Philanthropy
- RespectAbility in Philanthropy
- Diversity and Inclusion in the Foundation Board Room
- Phil Buchanan and Rob Reich: Is Giving by the Wealthy a Good Thing?
- SSIR: Overcoming the Racial Bias in Philanthropic Funding
Foundation Models
- Lumina Foundation’s Equity Imperative
- Bush Foundation: Building An Inclusive Culture
- Collins Family Foundation
- Kellogg Foundation: Business Case for Racial Equity
- NewSchools Venture Fund
- Weingart Foundation: A Full Commitment to Equity
- Ford Foundation
Workbooks and Resources
- Awake, to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture
- Power Moves: Your Essential Philanthropy Assessment for Equity and Justice
- Foundation Facilitate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Nonprofit Diversity Efforts: Current Practices and the Role of Foundations – Center for Effective Philanthropy
- Grantmaking with a Racial Equity Lens, Grantcraft – GrantCraft
- Grantmaking with a Racial Justice Lens, Philanthropic Racial Equity – Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
- RespectAbility: Inclusive Philanthropy – respect Ability
- Re-Tool: Racial Equity in the Panel Process – Jerome Foundation
- Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – D5 Coalition
- State of the Work, Stories from the Movement to Advance DEI – D5 Coalition
- Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
Advocacy & Systems Change
- Philanthropy Advocacy Playbook, Alliance for Justice
- Investing in Change: A Funder’s Guide for Supporting Advocacy
Mission-aligned Investments
- Essentials of Impact Investing: A Guide for Small-Staffed Foundations – Mission Investors Exchange
- Impact Investing Handbook: An Implementation Guide for Practitioners – Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
- Aligning Mission with Investments: Why Are You Stuck? – Stanford Social Innovation Review
- Fiduciary Guide to Investing with Diverse Asset Managers and Firms – Diverse Asset Managers Initiative
Case Studies
- Values Proposition: How and Why We Transformed Our Investment Model to Align Our Capital With Our Mission – Nathan Cummins Foundation
- Redesigning the Wallace Global Fund Endowment
- Phillips Foundation Impact Investing
- Bush Foundation Impact Investment Statement
- AJL Foundation
Other Resources
Doing anti-racist work requires an understanding of how racism is manifested at multiple levels. Check out this video featuring Tribble Consulting to see how Maddox board and staff understands racism from individual to systemic levels.

for education
- The Promise – Podcast from Nashville Public Radio
- “How, After 60 Years, Brown v. Board of Education Succeeded – and Didn’t” – article by Valerie Strauss
- Miss Buchanan’s Period of Adjustment – podcast by Malcolm Gladwell
- Social Justice Lesson Plans – Teaching Tolerance
- Brown v. Board at 65: A Promise Unfulfilled – video by House Committee on Education & Labor
- By Design – video from NPEF
Websites to Explore

for youth
- History Repeating: Affordable Housing, Public Transit, A mayoral Runoff, Racially Separated Schools, Welcome to Nashville in 1971 – article by Ansley T. Erickson
- Making the Unequal Metropolis – book by Ansley T. Erickson
Websites to Explore

for wildlife conservation
- Seizing Opportunities to Diversify Conservation – paper by Gould, Phukan, Medoza, Ardoin & Panikaar
- Hunting While Black and Questioning Our Own Cultural Competency with Dr. Carolyn Finney – The Hunting Collective Podcast
- Birding While Black
- Relevancy Roadmap – Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
- Black Faces, White Spaces – video by Carolyn Finney
- Hunting While Black – article by Jonathan Hall
- Diversity in Environmental Organizations – article by Dorceta E. Taylor
- Guns, Genocide, and the Stolen Ground You “Own” – Article by Jonathan Hall
Web Sites to Explore
How we're learning...

This year, I’ve dedicated my reading, webinar trainings (so much is available on YouTube) and professional development activities to equity. With each new experience, I’m peeling back layers of white privilege and renewing my core value that we are all interconnected and long for justice and a sense of and belonging in the spirit of Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community.
As a corrective to my biased education in U.S. history, I read Stamped From the Beginning: The History of Racist Thought In America–book, Ibram X. Kendi and A People’s History of the United States–book, Howard Zinn. Ibram X. Kendi narrates his own book if you prefer audio books like I do.
Seeking to learn more about the experience of my neighbors and how I participate in – and have benefited from – biased systems, I’ve read I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown and So You Want to Talk About Race. by Ijeoma Oluo.
As a white person, I’ve been learning more about whiteness and the privileges I enjoy. I commend the podcast Scene on Radio: Seeing White. I also read and “worked” Me and My White Supremacy Workbook by Layla F. Saad with a group of white nonprofit executives striving toward anti-racism. How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi strengthened my commitment to anti-racism.
In The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide for Repairing Our Humanity, Sally Kohn offers a hopeful vision that, while hate is learned and even hard-wired into human nature, through intentional work and connection to one another, we can repair a broken humanity and ourselves at the same time.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Robin Wall Kimmerer beautifully writes about the interconnectedness of human being and nature. She listens for different ways of knowing and understands the longing we share to belong to something greater than ourselves.
Let me know what you are reading so I can further my equity understanding.

I feel like 2021 has gone really fast and really slow at the same time. With the year being halfway through, it’s a bit sad how little reading I’ve been able to get done. Summer’s really here now though, so I finally have some time to catch up on the stuff accumulating on my nightstand.
I’m currently reading Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown. This book was sitting on my bookshelf unread until our equity consultant suggested it and reminded me that I had it. I’ve been struggling with seeing the same old strategies being employed and wanted to find something new, which I think this book does. It suggests a radically different way of conceptualizing how to be in connection to one another, our community, and the planet; presenting a different way to look at change and going about it.
Also on my nightstand is Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements. This is an anthology of short stories inspired by the work of Octavia Butler. adrienne maree brown is also one of the editors. The stories themselves are attempting to envision a new and liberated future. I pick the book up and read one of the pieces whenever I have time, so I’m only halfway through it, but it’s been really enjoyable so far. I think it’s an important reminder that imagination is a requirement in our work towards liberation.
A giant nerd at heart, I spend a lot of reading comic books. The American comic book industry has been a white, male-dominated space for most of its history, so I’ve been intentionally seeking out diverse characters, plots, and writers. For Pride Month, I started reading Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer. It’s a sci-fi story about a “ragtag band of space gays” fighting the patriarchy. To further diversify the stories I’m reading, I picked up the first issue of Shang-chi vs the Marvel Universe, written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Dike Ruan (two Asian men). I’m also revisiting the Black Panther series by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
I’m always interested in book, podcast and comic recommendations so email me if you think there’s anything I’d like or if you just want to talk about some of the works listed here.