Speaker: Kathryn Firmin-Sellers, Executive Vice President & Chief Impact Officer, United Way of Greater Charlotte
Introduce yourself by sharing your name, organization, and title.
Kathryn Firmin-Sellers: I'm Kathryn Firmin-Sellers. I'm the Executive Vice President and Chief Impact Officer with the United Way of Greater Charlotte.
Why did you engage Tracey and Indigo Innovation Group, and what were the critical areas that I helped you focus on?
Kathryn Firmin-Sellers: United Way convenes the funder collaborative. It's a group of philanthropic funders here in the Umberick County, and in 2022 the group decided that they wanted to learn more about how systemic racism shows up in philanthropy, and what we as funders can do to dismantle racism in philanthropy, but also in the other systems within, with which we engage. We connected with Tracey to lead us through this very important work, and over the course of six months, she educated us, she pushed us to engage one another authentically and most importantly, positioned us to carry the work forward when her six months with us was done. Beyond subject matter expertise, Tracey challenged each of us to consider what power we had, and she taught us the concept of SMURF. We all have social, moral, intellectual, relational and financial capital, and we can use that capital to move towards a new and more just and equitable practice of philanthropy.
What expertise did I bring, and what was unique about working with me?
Kathryn Firmin-Sellers: Tracey's extensive experience in the nonprofit sector made her the ideal trainer for United Way and the Thunder Collaborative. She came to us with a deep knowledge of how philanthropy traditionally works, and more importantly, a vision for what can and should be possible if philanthropy really lived into what the meaning of the word is, which is a love of mankind. Tracey has a deep commitment to co-creation. If you're looking for a trainer who's going to come in and drop pearls of wisdom for your organization and then leave again, she's not the trainer for you. But, if you're looking for someone who will push you to articulate your goals and then partner with you to co-create the learning experience to help you achieve those goals, you can't find better than Tracey. Tracey's approach is one of constant dialogue, iteration and continuous learning. It's time consuming, but the result is priceless. If you partner with Tracey to create the experience that you and your organization need, then you'll leave with the confidence, the knowledge and the skills to continue a learning journey after you've stopped working with Tracey.
Highlight specific achievements, challenges overcome, and our collaboration's value to you and your organization.
Kathryn Firmin-Sellers: Tracey's work with the funder collaborative continues to reverberate. The group needs my monthly, and we devote each session to learning more about initiatives that are intended to advance racial equity and what we as philanthropists can do to support those initiatives. Members of the funder collaborative have conducted racial equity audits of their own grant making, they funded community organizing and social justice in other social justice investments, they've co-invested in research into how to ensure that our place based investments result in equitable growth rather than displacement, and they've hosted educational forum on equitable evaluation and trust based philanthropy. The Urban Institute has invited five members of the collaborative to join a mobility action learning network, and together we'll see technical assistance to ensure that we are advancing programs and policies that boost upward mobility and racial equity.
Provide inspirational words you would like to share to invite others to work with me and Indigo Innovation Group.
Kathryn Firmin-Sellers: Professionally, Tracey has taught me so much about racial equity and philanthropy. She's introduced me to national leaders in both fields, she's exposed me to best practices adopted by other philanthropic funders, and just watching her work has strengthened my own meeting facilitation skills. What I value most, however, is the personal relationship I've had with Tracey. I've been privileged to get to know her. She is genuine, authentic and warm, and as a racial equity coach, she pushes me, gently but insistently, to take care of myself when I need to, to push harder when the work is challenging and to remain stead- fast and focused on a better future for us all.
