Letter: Transforming Towards Equity

Dear friends and colleagues,

Over the last 30 years Innovation Network has grown its commitment to supporting nonprofits and foundations in evaluating hard-to-measure concepts. In that time, we, like many of our counterparts, have learned just how important a culture of learning and evaluation is for the success of advocacy, equity and social justice work.

In recent years, the pain caused by our own internal inequities began a process of intentional pause and reflection on what equity means for us as individuals, as an organization, and for our evaluation practice. Through this work we began to better understand how the same systemic challenges that appear in the world were also affecting our organization.

Together, we committed to assessing and healing any harmful practices; aligning our values, mission, and vision, and efforts to racial equity and social justice. These last few years have given us first-hand experience in what it takes to engage in courageous conversations, structural change, and deep healing work for equity. While we have learned that there is no quick-fix, and this journey may not always be easy, we remain invested in creating a more equitable world, starting with our own organization.

As we are excited for our future as a more equity-centered practice, we know that we were only able to get here as a result of the courage and commitment of current and former staff and Board members of Innovation Network who engaged us in difficult conversations for critical change. As we reflect on what we have been learning, we are taking steps toward accountability, transparency, and guided-action.

As a reflection of our commitment, the Board members, Innovation Network staff and leadership have each signed onto this letter, re-affirming our collaborative approach to centering equity and social justice.

Over the next few months, we look forward to sharing our learnings and the steps we have taken during our equity transformation and we invite you along for the journey. To get started click here to read more about our re-aligned values and mission and stay tuned for more insights.

Collectively,

 

Innovation Network Consultant Team

Alissa Marchant

Anvi Mridul

Veena Pankaj

Virginia Roncaglione

 

Innovation Network Board

Andrea Anderson

Courtney Bourns

J McCray

Jason Terrell

Teri Behrens