Together SC Board adopts Racial & Social Equity Commitment

In the time since the 2020 SC Nonprofit Summit, "Facing Race Together", Together SC's own Board of Directors took stock of their policies and determined that they needed to articulate their own commitment to Racial and Social Equity.

Working with the staff and other experts to craft the Commitment, the Board officially adopted Policy 3.A.2. - "Racial and Social Equity Commitment" at its June 30, 2020 meeting. 

UPDATE 10/27/2020:  In August, the Board appointed a Race Equity Task Force to assess Together SC's policies and practices and make further recommendations. The Task Force's first recommendation was to strengthen and clarify the recntly adopted policy. The Board adopted those recommendations at its October 27th meeting.

POLICY CATEGORY:    3.         MISSION & STRATEGIC DIRECTION

POLICY TYPE:               3.A.      MISSION, VISION, & VALUES

POLICY TITLE:              3.A.2.   Racial & Social Equity Commitment

                                    Approved by Board of Directors – 10-27-20

Purpose: We the members of the Together SC Board of Directors, as leaders within South Carolina’s philanthropic, community, and charitable nonprofit organizations, commit this organization to building policies and demonstrating actions that support justice and inclusion for Black people, indigenous people, and people of color in South Carolina, who have historically been, and continue to be, disadvantaged and disenfranchised by systems of institutional racism.

Policy: Together SC is a committed partner in the work of dismantling systems of oppression, so that we may achieve racial and social equity, defined as “the condition that would be achieved if one's racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares”.¹

Together SC, through its board and staff, and through those with whom we engage, is committed to developing and applying practices that make our organizations work more equitable. Together SC will apply a Race Equity Lens to its decisions, practices and policies and collect necessary data to guide decision-making in the composition of its leadership, membership, programming, and relationships with funders, sponsors, and vendors.

Specifically, we will set organizational goals and measure our efforts to:

1. Identify, acknowledge, and remove racial and social equity barriers in our own programs, services, funding, policies, and practices,
2. Increase cultural competency training for ourselves and our membership,
3. Increase diversity in Together SC’s professional and volunteer leadership to reflect our larger community and the people we serve,
4. Be forthright on tough issues related to race and work to identify and change policies, practices, and investment decisions to advance equity for people of color, and
5. Engage with or serving as a convener of diverse stakeholders, including those with lived experience, and actively participate in conversations and partnerships that develop equitable solutions to address community needs and injustices.

Each member of Together SC’s Board and staff pledges to lead by example, individually² and collectively. Through these intentional and systemic efforts, we will model and create transformative nonprofit-community partnerships that contribute to an equitable South Carolina.

¹ Center for Assessment and Policy Development (http://www.capd.org/white-privilege)

² See Policy 2.A.3. – Individual Board Member Responsibilities