Health equity defined
We embrace a definition of health equity adapted from work by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:
Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care. Our commitment to health equity requires us to recognize the specific histories, cultures, and circumstances of the communities we serve, and to engage the strength, supports, and successes that exist within each of those communities.
A community-driven approach
Communities can more freely move toward balance and abundance if the work we support is:
- Community driven
- Centering historically disadvantaged communities, especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) communities
- Enhancing the use of these communities’ cultures
- Led by trusted folks who are a part of the communities served
- Removing barriers (power, money, information) to communities’ authorities
Transitioning to more equitable philanthropy
Like most philanthropic organizations, Waters Meet began with a focus on what we funded while largely overlooking how we funded. This attitude allowed us to operate with a presumption that controlling and dispensing financial resources made us experts, and that hewing to program areas was the only relevant measure of whether we were effective as a funding organization.
Over months of deep conversation, reflection, and refinement, drawing on input and insights from those we serve, our Board, community members, and our own serious reflections, we have identified a new approach to our work that focuses on the how, re-centering power in traditionally marginalized communities.
Using data to learn what communities need
Philanthropic organizations frequently use data collected from their initiatives and programs to validate outcomes and success. A more equitable approach for the communities we work with is using data to help and support those who do the work.