Core project understanding
Why It Matters
Non-profit organizations pursuing justice and equity can still unintentionally reproduce the hierarchical and patriarchal structures they seek to challenge
Building equitable communities also asks us to consider how equitable organizations are built.
Structure shapes practice
Good intentions do not remove power imbalances
Most organizations working towards justice and equity were built inside systems that were not designed with equity in mind. Even those with strong values can end up replicating patriarchal structures and power imbalances without intending to, marginalizing the people these organizations aim to serve. Beyond Barriers examines how power shows up across an organization, and asks what it would look like to do things differently.
Where the Barriers Live
The systems around the work
- 01Funding structures
- 02Reporting requirements
- 03Governance models
- 04Hierarchy
- 05Power Imbalance
- 06Decision Making
- 07Leadership
- 08Knowledge and Expertise
From intention to structure
Equity must be reflected in how an organization operates
This project is interested not only in examining inequitable systems, but in actively exploring how non-profits can operate differently at the organizational level. That means building governance structures that reflect the communities we work with, centering ways of knowing that are often pushed to the margins and treating community-led change as both a value and a practice.
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