Today, on Canada Day as we celebrate our country, we are taking time to recognize our colonial history and herstory and honour Indigenous peoples. This day of reflection marks the first day of the Equality Fund’s two-month reset as we build a feminist, intersectional, anti-oppressive organization.
What we accomplish in 2020 is important. HOW we do it is equally as important. So we have decided to go quiet, go deep, reflect, ask questions, prioritize big projects, and change our pace. We are calling this phase “Feminists @ Work”.
Recent weeks have reminded us all how important it is to do internal work. The Equality Fund has been reflecting on this for a while. We have a big job—building the Equality Fund and bringing together investment, grantmaking, and philanthropy under one roof.
Feminists have long recognized the need for rest and self-care, but so many get burned out. Especially now when facing racism, violence, rollback of rights, and a pandemic, to name a few. Exhaustion is a form of oppression too. But there is important, hard, innovative work to do.
What does this mean? We’ll take care of ourselves and reserve our best energy for the most transformative work. We commit to taking less meetings, blocking time for “deep work”, focusing on our most urgent priorities, being curious, learning and growing, and supporting one another.
During our “Feminists @ Work” phase we will learn and create—but we will also rest, stabilize, and recover.
What are our priorities? Organizational development and culture, our theory of change, building our first investment product, designing our first call for proposals, ensuring our financial sustainability given new realities, and digging deep on our communications.
We are looking forward to this deep, reflective work—and taking care of ourselves and each other. We will be sharing updates and progress as we live out “Feminists @ Work”, and look forward to sharing results of this crucial work when we emerge in the fall.
Wishing you peace and rest, Equality Fund.
