PFS Staff Spotlight: Avani Patel

10 Questions for Avani Patel, VP of DEI & Strategic Priorities at Pacific Foundation Services

1. You’re VP of DEI & Strategic Priorities at Pacific Foundation Services. What inspired you to get into philanthropy? 

I’m an educator by training and I worked exclusively in Title I schools in California for more than six years. There was a lot of potential in those communities and I felt like families and students weren’t afforded the opportunities or access that were readily available at more resourced schools. I made the leap to philanthropy because I realized it was a space that had the power and resources to make decisions that impacted schools, families, and students, and I wanted to have an educator voice around the decision-making table. I thought that if I could be a liaison to get people with resources and people without resources more proximate to one another, there could be a lot more reason for some of that power and money to shift—where there are still plenty of opportunities and potential. I was at a school that had access to mental health services and the school down the street didn’t, and so I thought, ‘Okay, if I applied my experiences to philanthropic work, could that be an opportunity to take more of a bird’s eye view of what’s happening throughout an entire community and think about the system, the ecosystem, and could we provide additional funding for all schools to get access to that?’ That’s kind of how I first started and why I ended up making the jump from education to philanthropy: to expand access and opportunities to all within a system by leveraging the flexibility of private philanthropy.

2. Is there a topic or trend in philanthropy that is top of mind for you?

I think in general right now, philanthropy as a field is facing a lot of backlash for not being willing to cede some of its power and release more dollars to communities. A clear example is the IRS rule of a 5 percent annual payout and staying laser-focused on that and perpetuity instead of leaning into the foundation’s mission and prioritizing it. The measure of success for a foundation shouldn’t be around how its assets have grown—it should be more about how much it’s given. Over a longer period of time, the ROI on assets and endowments is more than 5 percent. Sometimes there is hesitancy about making larger investments because of the mentality that ‘We don’t know what the future is going to hold and we need to be prepared for rainy days ahead.’ I think those of us in the field who have been proximate to communities or represent the communities foundations aim to support, say that the rainy day is today. We don’t need to wait for the fire—the fire is literally happening now—there’s a blaze around our globe right now. 

Some of the positive trends I’m seeing are moving towards introspection or self-reflection on the part of philanthropists and donors. Their openness to actually see another way. How do we diversify our boards? How do we get perspectives on our staff that are from the communities that we’re hoping to support? How do we create structures and processes that activate those new voices instead of just a ‘check off the list’? A board member from the Atkinson Foundation attended a White Consciousness training through Northern California Grantmakers, and came back inspired to give more, which they did and continue to do. Those are some of the really exciting things happening in philanthropy where donors and philanthropists themselves, along with staff, are asking the hard questions and wanting honest systems change within the sector. We talk about systems change in education and health, but the system itself in philanthropy needs to change. I think there’s finally some kind of awareness of that in a more broad sense versus very small grassroots philanthropic efforts.

3. How does equity show up in your work at PFS?

I think the way that equity shows up in our work at PFS is that we think about who we are as an organization. Who are we hiring? Why are we hiring those people? What does that do in terms of pushing the way that we work internally as a team? Equity and DEI work is not only about the individuals we hire; it’s about how our organization changes the way we work and how our policies and practices are updated as a result. It’s about who we are and how we do the work as individuals and collectively. As a team, we’re learning about ways to challenge traditional dominant culture that is pervasive in US workplaces. For example, recognizing the traps of perfectionism and defensiveness and instead developing ways to give authentic feedback to one another and be in a place to receive it. These things help us to learn and grow from each other and together.  We’re also beginning to track data across all of our clients around multi-year giving and unrestricted giving because over and over again we hear that this is what nonprofits need. With this, we’re posing questions like “Is our website transparent? Do our listed criteria reflect the way decisions are actually made in boardrooms?” We’re using Vu Le’s Equitable Grantmaking Continuum to unearth practices that we can improve to lessen the burden on nonprofit partners. Those are some of the things that we’re internally working on at PFS; who we are as a team, how that changes the way we do things, and how we’re directly working with clients to make decisions and stay better aligned.

4. In the Bay Area, the region is changing rapidly in both positive and challenging ways. As you consider the changes, what is your greatest hope for the Bay Area?

I’m a native of the Bay Area and haven’t gone far. When I was young, we would all hang out and play with the neighborhood kids. Now, we’ve become an area where people think about their work and their family and that’s it. My hope for the Bay Area is to return back to its roots—to be more neighborly, to be community-driven. When I think about individuals and individual family units, I wonder how we can be better and more prosperous if everybody’s involved and what that could look like. It happens in places all over, and sometimes when I leave the Bay Area, I feel refreshed. I want it to be the other way—I want to come home and feel refreshed again, be rooted in my community, and that rootedness is a possibility for everyone.

5. How has your work changed your outlook?

My own assumptions have been challenged and challenged in really great ways. I think that when you truly come from a place of wanting to listen and understand, that’s the best. Like I’m really here to listen to communities, to families, and now to staff and to clients to understand what they’re trying to do and how I can help. 
I do think change is possible. Whether it’s big companies, small companies, nonprofits, or foundations, we have a tendency of making these lofty statements and they can be performative in nature. To me, equity work is actions–it’s accountability. I think my outlook has changed because the work is really hard, and there isn’t, unlike trying to develop a product, an end product or clean goal, it’s ever-changing and it’s ever lasting. Trying to infuse equity in every facet of an organization takes intention, it takes resources, it takes patience, because it takes a long time. We also have a lot of catching up to do since we grew so much over the last few years – our infrastructure is trying to keep up. This year, we’re going through so much change at PFS and it’s hard, but it’s great. So how do we slow down, allow ourselves to take a breath and celebrate, while at the same time still work on how we can do better for our clients and our nonprofit partners. I think my outlook is generally positive and I do believe that change is possible (because I’m seeing it happen!).

6. Our world has benefitted from the leadership of so many change-makers, past and present. Who do you especially admire?

There are so many people. When I look back historically—other than the giants that are still living in my life in terms of family members and friends—I think about Jo Ann Robinson. She was a woman that galvanized the civil rights movement in a way that made sense for her at the time. She held a teaching position and was actually one of the few Black women that had a role at Alabama State College in the 1950s and 60s. After being verbally attacked on a bus for sitting in the “whites only” section of a bus, she took action by filing a complaint to the city, which took no action. She and others organized a one-day boycott that was extremely successful and laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement. As boycotts and peaceful protests grew in numbers, she felt like she couldn’t take too much of a risk because she still needed to provide for her family, so she took a very calculated risk and asked herself, ‘What do I have access to and what am I willing to put on the line?’ She realized she had access to copiers and printers, so she used her position and that relative power to print hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of flyers to advertise boycotts, protests, and marches. The success of these tactics was because of her work and others. She declined leadership positions at more public-facing organizations for fear of losing her job, yet she took on other risks. There are so many ways for people to engage, and people might not agree with the ways I want to engage or might not feel comfortable engaging a certain way, but I think if we all can see the role that each of us plays then it’s going to be so much easier… and that change can accelerate. I think oftentimes you’re presented with Option A and Option B when there’s really C through Z. You have to get creative and you have to be willing to put in that time and take some calculated risks. I really just admire her for doing what she felt like she could and stepping into her power.

7. Which PFS organizational value would you say shows up in your day to day work the most? (generosity, respect, integrity, inclusion, commitment, humility).

All of them. I think given my title you would think inclusion, but for me, in order to be truly inclusive, you have to be respectful. So I take respect really seriously. Because, like I said, this work is hard work—particularly DEI work as it can be uncomfortable for a lot of different people. 

We have to be able to respect each other as humans, especially when our viewpoints and worldviews differ and that’s okay. How do we respectfully disagree? How do we have conversations where we can be honest—internally and externally? So respect and then also integrity. When we don’t act with integrity that undermines everything. I feel like I have to show and give respect in order to be respected—that’s kind of how I see it.

8. What’s something unexpected that you like to do outside of work?

It’s no secret here at PFS, but I’m a super super fanatic of professional football. I love the San Francisco 49ers and I’ve been repping them since I was four-years-old. But I’m also just a Bay Area sports fan in general. I’m a sports junkie—tennis, soccer, anything. I play sports, too, but I’ll just say I’m past my prime.

9. As you look to the future, what issue in our society feels especially urgent?

If you asked me 20 years ago, I’d say taking care of Mother Earth. In many ways, we are too late, but some interventions can still help. What I think is prominent and urgent is taking care of our children. And what I mean by that is we shouldn’t have young people in our society who are unhoused or unfed at a minimum. And we shouldn’t have some kids who have access to an engaging education and others who don’t. We shouldn’t have young people who have massive mental health issues who don’t have access to the resources that they need. If given access to opportunity and resources, Black and Brown kids and students from lower-income households could all be thriving, we know this to be true, and we don’t (yet) have the collective will to change this. Nelson Mandela said it best, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treated its children.” All children. Not just some children sometimes in some places. All children, all the time, everywhere.

The other thing is that a lot of equity work has been misguided by just having people of color all of a sudden in certain places. But in order to get to the best products, to the best solutions, to the best philanthropy, you have to have a diverse group of people that have not just a voice and a seat, but also who have real authority to make decisions. As our country has changed demographically, the decision-makers, the people who have power currently are trying to make solutions and decisions for groups of people and there’s a major disconnect there. So I’d say first definitely supporting children and meeting their needs, because if we’re not doing that, then it becomes a future public liability (and it’s the right thing to do). Then, really being actionable and accountable with equity efforts, which is underestimated. I feel like we could have progressed so much more and been a better nation and a better country if we had a more representative group of people that is taking care of all of us.

10. And lastly, what are you reading or listening to?

I always listen to The Daily. As a team, we’re reading Lily Zheng’s book DEI deconstructed: Your no-nonsense Guide to Doing the work and Doing it Right. It’s pushing our own thinking, calling out how DEI efforts over the last decade have failed because they lacked accountability or placed responsibility solely on individuals instead of also systems and institutions. For fun, I occasionally listen to Smartless, a podcast that’s totally ridiculous where three white guys interview random celebrities and they just crack up the whole time. So much of my work is so serious and that’s just funny to listen to.