Learning from Disability Inclusion Fund: Participatory Grantmaking is the Future
"For those of us who have participated in a half-century of powerful activism by people with disabilities, a familiar slogan summarizes our call to action: Nothing about us without us." Nikki Brown-Booker writes in the Winter 2022 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review.
In her piece, Brown-Booker discusses the Disability Inclusion Fund (DIF) at Borealis Philanthropy. She writes, "If we want to serve people with disabilities, our work must be directly informed by them. Most of the grantmaking advocates I work with...are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) with disabilities."
"As a woman of color with a disability and the former executive director of a nonprofit organization serving people with disabilities, I have seen the disconnect between funder strategies and the needs of community-based nonprofits," Brown-Booker shares from her professional and personal expertise. "Quite often, funding does not come with a cultural understanding of the disability community, and this ignorance can impede direct and efficient service."