Editorial Principles

The SCG team firmly believes that culture change is essential to systems change work. As communicators, we believe we must challenge dominant narratives and redefine our collective values and priorities.

To help interested writers contribute an article that aligns with SCG's mission, vision, and values, our team has established SCG's Editorial Principles. The seven Principles below reflect our approach to producing editorial content for our philanthropic network and recommendations on how to center equity and justice in your writing. 

Center racial equity and justice

SoCal Grantmakers is committed to becoming an anti-racist, multicultural organization, and all of our efforts must push our organization, members, and sectors in a more equitable direction. We hold this same expectation for all editorial submissions. While your contribution does not have to deal explicitly (or exclusively) with equity, we ask that it operates within the reality of systemic injustice. 

Speak to our philanthropic community

SCG's readership is not a monolith. Our audience comprises individuals working in family, private, public, independent, community, and corporate foundations, across eight Southern California counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. We don't require your submission to speak to our entire readership — in fact, we discourage articles that are too broad and try to appeal to everyone. However, your submission will primarily be read by grantmakers and philanthropy-adjacent audiences. We strongly advise that your piece speaks directly to the philanthropic sector's experiences, work, and priorities. 

Elevate New Voices 

Part of enacting narrative change is decentering the voices and experiences that have and continue to dominate our cultural landscapes. To this end, we seek to elevate the knowledge and experiences of BIPOC leaders in the philanthropic space and staff members who hold less power in institutional spaces. We want to hear from folks who are not often given the opportunity to share their stories and perspectives of our work. While we will continue to accept submissions from CEOs and other folks in leadership positions, we ask that you share your platform with other folks on your teams. Moreover, we also encourage you to bring your grantees and community partners into the conversation (see our compensation section for more information on co-authoring with your grantees). 

Recognize your positional privilege as funders

As members of the philanthropic sector, it is crucial to acknowledge that most of us operate from some level of privilege and institutional power. Philanthropy has access to resources (financial, operational, social, etc.) that many folks working in and with communities often don't have. As you write your piece, we encourage you to reflect on your position, your argument, and the intended outcome of your article. Are you addressing a problem within philanthropy to make our sector a more equitable place? Does your piece ultimately support the work of grantees, movement leaders, and communities working to advance equity and justice? 

We ask that your pieces are mindful of the following: enforcing traditional grantmakers/grantee dynamics, reinforcing bureaucracy or systems of operation rooted in white professionalism, operating from a compliance framework, and any other mindsets that maintain the status quo. Strive to partner with communities and movement leaders and challenge practices that enforce traditional power funder/grantee power dynamics.

Be Accessible and Equitable in Your Writing 

When possible, choose simplicity in your writing. Your contribution will, of course, contain terms or ideas that are specific to philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. However, we advise that you keep the industry terms and jargon to a minimum. Your piece should be broadly accessible to anyone who wants to read it, regardless of their time or experience in the sector. Unless it is vital to your argument or research, we recommend that you don't dive deep into semantics or make a simple concept abstract. Our sector can often get lost in overly intellectual conversations that fail to have a meaningful impact on the communities we are serving. We advise you to be straightforward and concise in your writing. Moreover, we encourage you to review this guide on using equity-focused language in your writing. 

Tell Your Authentic Story 

We encourage you to speak from a place of experience, not theory or hypotheticals. There is power in sharing your individual story, whether it's about your personal, professional, or metaphysical life. We believe that our unique stories can reflect our larger systems and ideologies and that there is infinite wisdom to be shared in how we navigate these challenges. Dig into the "whys" of your experiences — don't get lost in discovering a solution to systemic problems. 

Don't Be Afraid to Imagine New Possibilities 

Lastly, we invite you to dream big. We want to create space for radically new ideas that push our imaginations and sector forward. You never know — an idea you share here might spark a new connection, conversation, or movement.