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Setting the Table: Internal Equity Work

22Sep2021
When: 
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
2:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
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Where: 
Video Conference
Zoom link will be provided to registrants 24-hours prior to the event
Network Members: 
$0.00

NOTE: Philanthropy Network members who would like to sign-up for this event on/after September 21st, please contact us directly to request login details for the video conference.

Setting the Table is a webinar series inviting guests to the proverbial table to explore ideas at the intersection of philanthropy, racial equity, and social justice, with co-hosts from Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO.

This series will grapple with racial constructs, work to unpack them and reimagine a system that centers and promotes racial equity. In each conversation, speakers will explore the impact of systemic inequity on people and communities and envision a more just and equitable path forward for philanthropy, the social impact sector and the world.

In this conversation on September 22, GEO’s President & CEO, Marcus Walton and Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia Director and At-Large Member of the Executive Committee Omar Woodard, will be joined by Jason Murray and TeQuion Brookins to discuss the complexity of advancing equity internally through operations, tech, processes, and internal structures. This includes how executive searches and hiring practices have historically reinforced inequities and how grantmakers can ensure that their internal operations match the values of their external giving.

Join this conversation to be inspired and challenged along with a community of peers.

Recording

Resources

Co-Hosts

Marcus Walton (he/him/his)
President & CEO, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

Marcus F. Walton joins GEO with over a decade of practice in both nonprofit management and the ontological learning model. He specializes in operationalizing conceptual frameworks; racial equity facilitation and training; leadership and management strategy; stakeholder engagement; program development and navigating philanthropy.
 

In his previous role as Director of Racial Equity Initiatives for Borealis Philanthropy, Marcus lead the Racial Equity Initiatives team and worked in partnership with 18 nationally-networked, philanthropy-serving grantee organizations to move past the “transactional” nature of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to a unified movement which prioritizes strategies that close gaps in access to opportunity, resources and well-being (across all categories of gender, identity, sexual orientation, class and ability).

Before that, Marcus served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE), where he oversaw its operations, HR and staff development functions, including the overall strategy, conceptualization and administration of racial equity programming. Prior to ABFE, he combined his organizing experience and passion for public service in the role of Program Officer of Community Responsive Grantmaking with the Cleveland Foundation and Sr. Program Officer with Neighborhood Progress, Inc.

Marcus is a Newfield Network-trained ontological coach, with additional training in the Action Learning systems coaching model. He promotes coaching as a tool for personal mastery, racial equity & systems change, social sector excellence and transformation within marginalized communities.

Marcus received a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Bowling Green State University and has continued graduate studies in public administration at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Public Policy as well as Rutgers University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration.
 

Omar Woodard (he/him/his)
Vice President, Solutions, Results for America
Director and At-Large Member of the Executive Committee, Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia

Omar Woodard is Vice President of Solutions with Results for America. Previously, he spent eight years as a social impact investor focused on accelerating economic mobility through community-led partnerships in cities across the U.S., including five years as executive director of GreenLight Fund Philadelphia, and as a principal at Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP). Earlier in his career, Omar specialized in government affairs – from global to local – as a registered federal lobbyist, policy director to the PA State Senate minority whip, and policy director to a Philadelphia mayoral campaign. He started his career on Capitol Hill as an urban policy aide to a U.S. Congressman and appropriator.
 

Omar serves on the boards of: Compass Working Capital, Independence Public Media Foundation, Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technology (PACT). He is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and held fellowships with the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. Omar received a B.A. in International Affairs (Economics, Arabic) with a minor in public policy, and a M.P.A. in Nonprofit Management, both from the George Washington University where he was a Presidential Fellow. He completed executive education in nonprofit governance from Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania.

Read more in Generocity about Omar’s “superpower” – helping communities find solutions to help children and families struggling with poverty.

Guests

TeQuion M. Brookins (she/her/hers)
Director of Operations, McGregor Fund

TeQuion M. Brookins has held four positions in eight years at the McGregor Fund, a private grantmaking foundation located in Downtown Detroit that funds charitable organizations committed to alleviating chronic homelessness and unemployment in the City. In 2018, promoted to be McGregor’s first director of operations, she became the 94 year old foundation's only African American employee to ever hold a director-level position.
 

In addition to her work at McGregor, Brookins has also founded several social enterprises including a business consulting firm specializing in start-up assistance for small, women and minority owned entities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has developed several new businesses including a sanitizing company to help make indoor spaces safer for schools, government and small businesses.

In 2019 Brookins founded the Minority Freedom Community Fund(MFCF), a nonprofit providing pathways to philanthropy for people of color, through financial support, education, and provision of technical business assistance to minority communities nationwide. Detroit’s entrepreneurial hub TechTown and the Rocket Community Fund featured Brookins and the MFCF in its Innovator Series 2020, which “shines the spotlight” on those who responded creatively and quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to being named a Comcast Newsmaker.

An active participant in philanthropic circles and the Detroit business community, Brookins also served on two international boards, including Global Executive Business Consultants, and A Child for All. Brookins was recently elected to serve on the leadership committee of Connect 313, a citywide, data-driven digital inclusion strategy to make Detroit a national model for digital inclusion and ensure all Detroiters can access the digital world and the opportunity it brings. She is a 2020 recipient of Crain’s Detroit Business’ “20 in Their 20s” award, a 2021 recipient of Acquisition International’s Influential Businesswoman awards, and was nominated for Corp! Magazine Michigan’s Most Valuable Millennial.

Brookins is involved in a myriad of philanthropic and civic organizations and initiatives including: Global Executive Business Consultants, which promotes the professional development and strategic positioning of women -- professionals, executives, business owners and leaders -- in achieving gender parity in the C-Suite of Fortune 500 companies; The Michigan Nonprofit Association, a statewide membership organization dedicated to serving the diverse nonprofit sector; PEAK Grantmaking a nonprofit transforming philanthropy by advancing equitable, effective grantmaking practices; the National Black MBA Association creating educational opportunities and economic growth for African Americans, including partnerships to provide access to graduate management education programs and career opportunities; the Association for Black Foundation Executives to promote effective and responsive philanthropy in Black communities; the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce; the Detroit Chamber of Commerce; the National Small Business Association’s Leadership Advisory Council; the Council of Michigan Foundations which has announced a statewide Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) initiative in four cities funded by the Kellogg Foundation; the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network focused on building a diverse and powerful social sector; and the Technology Affinity Group, a membership association of foundations promoting use of information and communications technology to further philanthropic goals.

Brookins earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the College of Wooster with a minor in Africana Studies in 2012. She received dual master’s degrees in Finance and in Business Administration from Walsh College of Business and Accountancy in 2018.

Brookins currently lives in Metro Detroit with her partner and two dogs, Choco and Baby.
 

Jason Murray (he/him/his)
President and Managing Partner, BIPOC Executive Search Inc.

Over the course of his career, Jason has worked on 300+ executive searches as well as a range of EDI services in partnership with client companies. Prior to founding BIPOC Executive Search Inc., Jason worked at a multinational executive search firm as well as a boutique search firm before that. For part of his career, he worked in the Consulting Division of Deloitte & Touche as the Human Capital and Strategy & Operations Supervisor. In this position he provided organizational management and HR services to the 994 individuals in the division, and was a respected voice around matters of equity, diversity, and inclusion and increasing representation throughout the organization.
 

Jason has a community-facing orientation, and currently serves as Chair of the Board for the Toronto Fringe Festival. He has done work with a number of organizations that have a deep and abiding commitment to representation in the workforce, including the Canadian Board Diversity Council, G(irls)20, and Pride at Work Canada. He has facilitated EDI workshops and talks for a number of organizations and initiatives, including the African Canadian Women in the Public Service Network (ACWPS), Business for the Arts, Innovators Alliance, National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities, Supply Chain Canada, Social Value Matters, and The Walrus. He has been a roundtable panelist with the likes of the Hon. Kathleen Wynne, CNN’s Van Jones, and so forth.

Jason holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, and a Master's degree in Management from Boston University (also the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). He is certified in unconscious-bias decision making and iOS app development, and has completed courses on predicative data analytics and the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment and retention.