Educational Philanthropy’s “Racial Reckoning” in the Wake of 2020: Understanding Grantmakers’ Responses to Racialized Crises

Abstract

The intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Black violence prompted talk of racial reckoning among educational grantmakers in 2020 to 2021. This study examines the nature and extent of this reckoning, offering insights into policy actors’ responses to racialized crises. Through an analysis of grantmakers’ professed policy repertoires—consisting of administrative practices, sites of intervention, and sources of expertise—we delineate the mechanisms shaping grantmaker responses to sociopolitical crises. While some grantmakers temporarily shifted administrative practices in response to COVID-19, deeper changes remained elusive. The study highlights how institutionalized white-centered norms and practices persist within educational policymaking, constraining material progress toward racial equity. Moreover, it underscores the pivotal role of proximity to racial injustice in motivating substantive changes to policy repertoires. We conclude with an appeal to grantmakers and other policy actors to shift from performative reckoning to tangible reparative actions that can weaken racialized structures.