For Philanthropy to Succeed, All Strategies Must Address Disability

Addressing issues related to disability and access are often cordoned off within the social sector and philanthropy. Disability is often deemed as “separate” from issue-specific systems change work, such as education, climate, economic mobility, or health equity. Funders supporting causes like these may think that their focus does not require including disability, or that addressing disability may make things “too complex” and “out of scope” for their issue-focused grantmaking efforts.This exclusion of disability from the wide spectrum of grantmaking has its own reverse multiplier effect. Instead of scaling change to reduce inequity and create the conditions for more people to thrive, excluding disability means that change only addresses a subset of people while overlooking communities deeply affected by systemic inequity. In this episode, we talk with a group of philanthropic leaders who are each dedicated to advancing disability justice. We discuss why addressing disability is imperative for all grantmaking to be successful, and how funders can embed disability across all of their philanthropic work.Featuring:- Miya Cain, Associate Director, FSG (Moderator)Rebecca Cokley, Program Officer of U.S. Disability Rights, Ford FoundationRyan Easterly, Executive Director, WITH FoundationSandy Ho, formerly Program Director, Disability Inclusion Fund, Borealis Philanthropy, and currently Executive Director, Disability and Philanthropy ForumResources and FootnotesDisability Rights at Ford FoundationDisability Inclusion Fund at Borealis PhilanthropyWITH FoundationDisability and Philanthropy ForumSins InvalidDisability Visibility ProjectRamp Your VoiceThe Curb-Cut EffectImani Barbarin: Creating Accessible Spaces for BelongingMore on Collective ImpactInfographic: What is Collective Impact?Resource List: Getting Started in Collective ImpactThe Intro music, entitled “Running,” was composed by Rafael Krux, and can be found here and is licensed under CC: By 4.0.The outro music, entitled “Deliberate Thought,” was composed by Kevin Macleod. Licensed under CC: By.Have a question related to collaborative work that you'd like to have discussed on the podcast? Contact us at: https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/contact-us/