Every year, MCF ally the Charities Review Council invites philanthropic, nonprofit, business and community leaders to come together to discuss issues of ethics and accountability, and how to promote an improved sector at its Annual Forum. This year on June 19, CRC will welcome grantmaker Luz Vega-Marquis to keynote the luncheon discussion.
Luz Vega-Marquis, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, is a national spokesperson for racial equity, and she pioneers the role funders play in cultivating effective partnerships to build the capacity of community-based organizations to address and achieve societal change. For example, the Marguerite Casey Foundation has developed a nation-wide movement to give voice to low-income families through its highly respected Equal Voice for America’s Families Campaign and Equal Voice Youth Empowerment Project.
Recently, Independent Sector’s Diana Aviv featured Ms. Vega-Marquis in her monthly blog calling her “spectacular” and “inspiring.” In the post, Ms. Vega-Marquis answers questions on a range of topics, but perhaps most poignant are her thoughts on the role of diversity within our philanthropic sector. Ms. Vega-Marquis writes, “By not reflecting diversity across America, philanthropy is missing the opportunity to build authentic relationships with diverse communities.” She summarizes her thoughts with the exclamation mark that funders’ lack of diversity is “philanthropy’s Achilles’ heel.”
Beyond leading the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Luz Vega-Marquis is a founder of Hispanics in Philanthropy and current board member to Independent Sector and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
With the theme “Building a Foundation for Social Change,” the Charities Review Council’s Annual Forum invites Minnesota and regional grantmakers to consider what role effective partnerships and capacity building play in philanthropy to create social change—making this luncheon a great precursor to the MCF & MCN Joint Annual Conference “Allied for Action: Bridging Differences for the Greater Good” this November.
Register for the luncheon now! Registration is open until June 13.
