INTRODUCTION TO THE BLUEPRINT FOR IMPACT

The Blueprint for Impact is Seattle Foundation’s guiding framework that outlines a series of bold strategies for advancing racial equity, shared prosperity, and belonging in our region. Our region has undergone unprecedented economic growth while racial and wealth disparities have increased, and the compounding crises of 2020 – from the COVID-19 pandemic to our nation’s racial reckoning – have only accelerated inequities.

The Blueprint for Impact is informed by lessons from our past, bolstered by data revealing stark racial inequities among Black, Indigenous, People of Color and under-resourced communities, and encouraged by the belief that centering equity in our work will lead to a better future for all.

The Blueprint for Impact creates a path toward long-term, systemic change by directing philanthropic dollars to initiatives led by communities most impacted. We understand root causes are due to structural flaws, not individual efforts, and we need to transform the way our systems work to truly work for everyone. Changing systems requires patient, durable capital that will not waver with elections nor business cycles, and philanthropy is uniquely positioned to focus on a problem for decades instead of months or years. Philanthropy as field – and Seattle Foundation – now need to take more and different kinds of risks.

The Blueprint for Impact is our commitment, informed by decades of partnership with local nonprofit organizations. Seattle Foundation’s relationships with diverse communities has enabled candid feedback, and our partners’ deep expertise has profoundly informed our approach to grantmaking and helped us direct resources to communities most impacted. In the past five years, Seattle Foundation has dramatically expanded our core purpose to invest in strengthening community capacity and resilience through organizing and movement building, while growing leadership and power in communities most impacted by persistent inequities.