535. Liberatory Leadership: Centering Equity and Justice in Nonprofit Work - April Walker

Listen to this episode

Overview

Meet April. She’s the Founder and CEO of Philanthropy for the People, an equity-centered consulting firm that equips donors, foundations, and nonprofits to embrace fundraising and grantmaking that centers racial equity and social justice. April challenges us to reimagine who holds power and how we can radically redistribute it to serve the communities that need it most. The way April approaches this work is a gift to the sector and we’re thrilled to share this conversation with you🎁 This episode is as much about philanthropy as it is about the art of self-compassion💖 - don’t miss it!

💡 Learn

What Liberatory Leadership is
How to center the sector on racial equity + social justice
Case Study: Healthy Lakewood Foundation

Today’s Guest

April Walker, Founder + CEO, Philanthropy for the People

“You need to develop a thirst for knowledge.”

— April Walker, Founder + CEO, Philanthropy for the People

Episode Transcript

Download Full Episode Transcript Here

Episode Highlights

April’s story and journey to where she is today (3:00)
April’s mindset and approach to her work (6:00)
Liberatory leadership + how listeners can embrace it (8:00)
What is scarcity costing us? (12:00)
Power of inclusive decision-making, centering marginalized voices, and driving transformative action and advocacy (19:00)
Behaviors or structures that are causing frustration so we can address and overcome them (26:00)
Case Study example (34:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in April’s life (39:00)
April’s One Good Thing: Be gentle with yourself. (44:00)

Impactful Quotes

“You need to develop a thirst for knowledge.” -April

“While we facilitate this flow of money, people's lives are at stake.” -April

“Where is harm being perpetuated?” -April

“I want everyone to be able to show up peacefully and well compensated and supported because otherwise, we're just pretending and that's a very expensive decision to make.” -April

“I can't reconcile how we can look at the lack of wealth distribution in this country, the growing resources of donor-advised funds, the money in foundation endowments, and then claim there's not enough. I cannot reconcile that.” -April

“Scarcity is not the issue. Ego is the issue. Apathy is the issue. Ignorance is the issue. Racism is the issue. The lack of care and concern is the issue.” -April

“Are resources scarce in this country? No, not when you have 150 new billionaires between 2023 and 2024. There's no scarcity. There's not going to be in a society based on capitalism. But we limit ourselves and to some degree are limited to a narrative that says, you can't have it.” -April

“Just because you govern an institution doesn't mean you have to make all the decisions.” -April

“Let us be experts in the things that we are experts in.” -April

“If we're prioritizing relationships based on power and money, and not on community, then that's where we're going to get tripped up. “ Becky

“If you want to build community, it's going to take you having these conversations.” -April