…means closing gaps and centering marginalized perspectives — not only for communities of color, but for every group that’s been marginalized, disenfranchised, or overlooked in our societies.
It’s time for “making social impact” to mean taking on this work.
The Racial Equity Impact Practice at Purpose works to advance equity-centered social impact, supporting our partners in using their platforms to action their equity commitments and improve outcomes for oppressed people however they can.
By being inclusive and considerate of how different communities are affected by systems and social dynamics — and working constructively across sectors and diverse perspectives — we can expand impact possibilities, reduce harms, and foster restoration for underserved groups around the world. The result will not only uplift those who have directly suffered injustice, but advance all of us in the fight for an open, just, and habitable world.
If you can see possibilities for your impact work to advance equity, let us support you in realizing a bold vision. Contact us at weare@purpose.com.
The Racial Equity Impact Practice combines impact experience with an intersectional equity, diversity, and inclusion lens. Our approach builds on Purpose’s 13 years of campaigning for human rights and dignity across a range of issues.
Our skills and experience, brought to bear within Purpose’s global network of campaigners, creatives, strategists, and impact evaluation specialists, include:
Equity Diversity and Inclusivity strategy and innovation • impact-centered brand and narrative strategy • issue content ideation and production • corporate purpose strategy and messaging • community-based participatory action research and programming • coalition building • community assessments • equity-centered systems analysis and design
We’ve had the privilege of helping nonprofit, business, and philanthropic partners discover their potential for equity-centered social impact for years. Our Foundational Equity Impact Offerings package what we’ve learned in buildable configurations.
See descriptions below and select samples under ‘Relevant work.’
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Systemic Issue Storytelling
A close revisit of your organization’s issue space through an equity lens. Together, we uncover systemic causes, effects, barriers, and opportunities in your issue space that may not have been uplifted in past manifestations of your mission. You walk away with new inspiration to drive your storytelling and advocacy.
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Ethical Storytelling Refresh
An audit and update of your organization’s approach to issue storytelling and content creation. We help your team use an equity lens to identify opportunities to make systemic concepts accessible and center appropriate perspectives as you raise awareness and spark action among your audiences.
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Equity-Centered Branding
A new or refreshed organizational brand that clearly and authentically captures your commitment to equitable impact. We layer our purposeful branding process with a thoughtful equity lens to make your identity a platform for systemic storytelling, equity-driving action, and community relationship-building.
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Community Listening Experience
A community-based participatory research approach that helps you map impact possibilities with first-person perspectives in mind. Our efforts combine qualitative research and relational organizing tactics to produce a unique and actionable set of insights into a given audience, community, or ecosystem.
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Digital Movement-Making Sprint
A capacity-building sprint designed to help frontline justice organizations mobilize its audiences, based on what the moment calls for. From real-time activation, to long-term learning and list growth, we workshop your real-world advocacy scenario and equip you to optimize your efforts online.
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Equity Action Platform
Our engagement-driving digital design and campaigning approach, built to guide your audiences through nuanced issue spaces and their equity implications. Together, we’ll look for ways to creatively manifest systemic stories, and to drive your audiences toward appropriate advocacy actions that advance your equity goals.
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Equitable Purpose Activation
An equity-centered brand purpose process. As with our Equity-Centered Branding, we’ll help you develop and launch an action-oriented purpose area for your organization that serves as an organic platform for equitable impact, while staying true to your core identity and mission.
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Employee Equity Activation
An empowering platform for your employee population to participate in your equity impact plans. We’ll spend time with your employee community to bridge where their perspective meets yours, and work with you to develop action opportunities for the entire organization to drive equitable outcomes where you live and work.
Partner case study: KABOOM! Equity-Centered Branding
Purpose partner KABOOM! shares how Equity-Centered Branding helped the organization position its work as action against systemic inequity in an authentic, brand-appropriate way — unlocking new credibility and resources to scale its impact as a result.
Don’t see yourself in our Foundational Equity Impact Offerings? We work directly with partners to design and launch bespoke projects responding to their unique opportunities and needs.
We publish open-access guides, frameworks, and ideas as self-serve entry points to thoughtful equity action-planning.
Our 2021 piece, Exploring Racial Equity Impact, was recognized by The Indigo Awards with a Gold award in Website Design for Design for Social Change and an Anthem Award with a Silver award in Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion – Research Projects/Publications.
Explore our published digital guides below:
We curate conversations and organize events to connect a range of equity actors across sectors in thought partnership and community.
2022 Events:
October | Narrative Power Against Extremism Braintrust (event for partners)
To work with us, please send an email to weare@purpose.com. Follow our work across Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter through the @Purpose handle and the #reipatpurpose hashtag.
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Our global outlook
We recognize that marginalization manifests in different ways. Race, anti-Blackness, and colorism are far from the only means used to cause harm. In many places, race isn’t the aspect of identity that resonates with most people. From caste to gender to religion to ethnicity, there are other harms used to drive wedges within global societies.
We believe it’s important to acknowledge these distinctions, and to invest in understanding, representation, and global frameworks whenever global impact is a stated goal within an equity initiative.
The core Racial Equity Impact Practice team and its closest collaborators have lived and worked in the United States, across the African and European continents, and in Australia. We work in partnership with a Global Braintrust of Purpose team members in Brazil, the UK, India, and Australia; and seek to maximize opportunities to collaborate across Purpose’s global network as this work takes us to different geographies and communities.
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Purpose's equity commitment
Purpose builds and supports movements to advance the fight for an open, just & habitable world. We believe that racial equity, both within our company and integrated into the work we do with clients and partners, is key to achieving this mission.
We are humbled to be committed to equity work ourselves. In 2017, our organization committed to intentionally centering equity in our team’s education, culture, and approach—unapologetically naming race, being unafraid of issue and identity intersections, and with the vision of putting our values into action.
From our internal practice, we intentionally extended our equity commitment into our work for external movements. As a result, we’ve been able to support change-makers around the world in driving equitable outcomes on behalf of nonprofits, businesses, and philanthropy.
Our experience has been humbling and our work is never done. The Racial Equity Impact Practice is proud to be the latest bridge between Purpose’s commitment to equity and its impact footprint around the world.
The Purpose portfolio includes work whose pilots and prototypes have shaped our Racial Equity Impact Practice offerings today. For case studies and inspiration, see:
for Equity & Evidence