2020: A year of deep learning from our partners for racial equity and more

This year has been a challenge for everyone, in every corner of the world, in every sector. It has also been an exceptional and unusual year that will impact our work for years to come. That’s a good thing. 

At Tableau Foundation, we will end the year nearly 200% over budget, making 50% more grants than we made last year. That makes me incredibly proud of our company, my team, and all the Tableau employees who helped us. 

Halfway through the year, the pandemic had taught us a lot about our grantmaking, what we did well, and what we needed to improve. And then, the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and all of those before them taught us that we have much more work to do to become an equitable funder.

Here are a few things we learned as we’ve worked to figure out what that means for us.

Make unrestricted, responsive grants. We have always made unrestricted, responsive grants. That means instead of using a grant to “hire” a nonprofit to do our bidding, we listen to our nonprofit partners, then craft a grant that meets their needs—not just ours. We also trust our partners, realizing the nonprofits are the experts and know how to use unrestricted funding to meet our shared goals.

Be honest with ourselves. The murders of so many innocent people caused most of us to reflect on how we have failed our Black and Brown communities. I wrote about my reflections in July and noted that we realized we had been investing in issues caused by racism, like educational inequities, but had not done enough to fight racism itself and the systems and institutions that perpetuate racism.

We also had to recognize that we had too few Black or person-of-color-led nonprofits in our portfolio and lacked a robust network of professional peers who were people of color. We had to admit that we couldn’t possibly make a difference in Black and Brown communities until we built relationships with them. 

Listen first. Be humble. When we launched our Racial Justice Data Initiative in July, I asked Channing Nesbitt, Tableau Foundation’s Social Impact Specialist, to co-lead the effort. He and I decided that we needed to listen to our Black employees, allies, and experts outside of Tableau before doing anything. Instead of blasting into the scene with all that high-tech, type-A energy, we sat back, asked questions, and on more than one occasion admitted that we have failed to live up to our standards when working to support communities of color. It’s been so rewarding. 

But, there’s always a but.

Be ready to work hard to build trust. We knew if we were going to make a difference, we had to invest in Black and person-of-color-led nonprofits. And we needed to start by building trust with organizations that, frankly, had no reason to trust us.

Racial justice organizations have a justifiable skepticism about philanthropy’s motives, especially from tech companies that cold-call them during the height of a racial justice crisis. Corporate America hasn't followed through on most, if any, of our racial justice pledges in the past. Need an example? Just look at the “Rebuild L.A.” initiative after the beating of Rodney King nearly 30 years ago. 

Given Corporate America’s track record, why should racial justice groups think we’ll do anything differently this time? It’s really up to us as grantmakers to trust them first, then work to build their trust in us. That means adapting procedures and requirements to meet their needs instead of following traditional grantmaking processes, which, frankly, are typically in place to meet the funder’s needs.

Learn a new dance. As professional grantmakers, we all know that grantmaking has a rhythm and language. The nonprofit leaders who can dance the dance and who speak our language typically end up getting large, sometimes long-term grants. The problem is that philanthropy has mostly been white-led, so, as the data show, the organizations that historically have received the most funding have been white-led.

My team talks openly about what we need to change and how to frame our expectations as we engage with our racial justice community partners. We reflect on what we're learning, the different ways racial justice organizations approach the work, how they think about tackling problems, and what we need to do differently to support them. I often warn my team that we’re about to see a grant proposal that is different from what we’re used to seeing. And that I think it is a good thing.

Then dance even though you’ll feel awkward and anxious. Typically, our grants are a mix of software, training, and financial support. Our in-kind-to-cash ratio is about 3.5 to 1—which means we grant 3.5 times of software value for every dollar we donate.

Our racial justice portfolio will not likely hit a 1:1 ratio. We expect to grant more cash than software because that’s what the community needs right now. Sure, there will be many opportunities to deploy our product’s superpower to help people use data to advocate for change, but it’s not the right time. So we’ll meet the community’s needs today and help them build their data capacity when they are ready in the future.

Remember that you are not the lead. When dancing, the person who leads is the person who faces forward and can see where they are going. We, as grantmakers, are the ones dancing backward. We’re taking our lead from the organizations doing the work on the ground - they know where to go to make change in their community. That’s why unrestricted grants are so important. And because many of us are white, we can’t possibly know how our goals as philanthropic institutions best translate to on-the-ground activities that lead to authentic, lasting change. Let. Them. Lead.

Focus, learn, adjust. Repeat. The pandemic taught all of us about what happens to our “best-laid plans.” We’ve also seen how fluid and interconnected the most pressing issues are. The strategy we have today will have to look different six months from now. That’s OK.

As Channing and I learned from conversations with Black-led organizations and employees at our own company, focus is critical, especially in the midst of chaos. Sure, we want to end all forms of racism everywhere, so all people are afforded equitable justice. But we learned from our listening tour that we had to focus. And be intentional. And specific.

We started our racial justice initiative with a focus on addressing racism. That’s a typical and safe corporate way of engaging. But after listening, learning, and adjusting our vision and strategy several times, we’re now focusing on fighting anti-Black racism in America. We learned that we must focus on fighting the most acute and aggressive form of racism in America if we hope to improve everyone's lives who experience injustice.

Diversity does make you better. The deep listening we engaged in as part of our Racial Justice Data Initiative resulted in the most potent and precise articulation of a portfolio strategy we have ever had. We are so grateful to all the employees and racial justice organizations that helped us along the way. 

The diversity of ideas and strategy we built is now informing strategy development across all our other portfolios. Early in the New Year, you will see that every portfolio will be more focused, intentional, and specific. We have our racial justice work to thank for that.

As we move into 2021, we could not be more excited to deepen relationships with our nonprofit partners, continue to learn from them, and support their innovation and collaboration with data. The New Year will not bring an automatic end to the challenges of 2020. But we are hopeful we will be able to drive for change in a genuine, supportive way and put our nonprofit partners and their expertise in the lead. After all, the person who leads is the person who can see where they are going.