We believe that all people deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and fairness. This belief is at the heart of our vision for social justice. The term “social justice” has different meanings in our various jurisdictions, so we believe it’s important to explain what we mean.
Our social justice approach:
Asks why groups are disadvantaged. Since the beginning of our grantmaking, we have focused on increasing resources and opportunities for people who are systematically disadvantaged. We now also work to address why those groups are disadvantaged — by their economic situation, race, nationality, gender, age, disabilities, immigration status, sexual orientation, political affiliation or religion. Without analysis and a clear understanding of the obstacles preventing change, it is difficult to make a lasting impact. - Gives voice to the people most affected by injustice. We believe that people most affected by problems and issues must be involved in solving those problems and gaining their full political, social and economic rights. Social justice puts a premium on building vibrant and engaged communities through the support of grassroots mobilisation and civic engagement.
- Seeks lasting and systemic change. We seek institutional or systemic change to eliminate the sources of continuing inequities, including changes to public policies.
We believe in supporting lasting change by:
- Addressing the root causes of inequity rather than symptoms
- Focusing on advocacy for change rather than filling gaps in services
- Funding efforts to challenge policies and institutions that systematically exclude or disadvantage people
- Building on the strengths of individuals, organisations, communities and movements to advocate on their own behalf and on behalf of others
- Supporting institutions and investing in leaders who can work for progressive change over decades
- Working in partnership with government whenever it can advance our goals and those of the organisations we support
- Supporting selected capital projects where the physical environment is a critical element of furthering our social justice mission.
Social justice knits together the work of our four programmes in the seven countries in which we are active, and this lens has caused us to sharpen our programmatic approaches. For example:
- Our Ageing Programme in the United States identified more clearly the underlying causes of serious, chronic health problems that disadvantage older adults, particularly people of colour, women and the poor, and is targeting our resources on advocacy for better treatment programmes.
- Our Reconciliation & Human Rights Programme in South Africa has moved to support a citizens' movement to protect the democratic Constitution from potential attacks on freedom and equality, which is important to South Africa and the rest of the world.
- In Northern Ireland, the application of a social justice framework leads our Children & Youth Programme to see all of our work through the lens of whether it serves to perpetuate peace, and a key focus has been the integration of schools for Catholic and Protestant students.
- Our Population Health Programme works in the poorer provinces in Viet Nam to rebuild the primary health system infrastructure.
In keeping with the Giving While Living philosophy of our founder, Charles “Chuck” Feeney, we believe in making large investments to help solve urgent social problems now, so they are less likely to become larger, more entrenched and more expensive challenges later. To that end, we will become the largest foundation in history to spend down our endowment, and will close our doors by 2020.
