Core project understanding
Why It Matters
Organizations pursuing justice and equity can still reproduce the 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
Nonprofit organizations can unintentionally reproduce hierarchical and patriarchal structures, even while working toward justice and equity.
Beyond Barriers examines how power moves through governance, leadership, funding, reporting, and everyday decisions—and whose knowledge is recognized as expertise.
Areas under examination
The systems around the work
- 01Funding structures
- 02Reporting requirements
- 03Governance models
- 04Hierarchy
- 05Power imbalance
- 06Decision-making
- 07Leadership
- 08Whose knowledge is treated as expertise
From intention to structure
Equity must be reflected in how an organization operates
The project is interested not only in describing inequitable systems, but in actively exploring how nonprofit organizations can operate differently.
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