Literary icon, activist and educator Nikki Giovanni and I have something in common—a love of author J. California Cooper. Giovanni sums it up this way, “Whenever I want to relax I make cup of good Egyptian coffee…and read or reread something by J. California.” Though I prefer tea, I whole heartedly agree with the rest.

Cooper’s work—three novels, seven collections of stories (all of which I’ve read at LEAST twice) and 17 plays—has been lauded by Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker, compared to that of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and honored with the American Book Award, the James Baldwin Writing Award and the Literary Lion Award from the American Library Association.

The Council on Foundations played a special part in my relationship with Cooper. One of my closest friends, former Council Research Coordinator Deidre Ferron—currently a sociology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago—gave me my first Cooper book, Homemade Love, a little more than ten years ago. I was hooked immediately.

The day we went to press on this issue, I finished reading Cooper’s new novel, Some People, Some Other Place. It tells a multi-generational tale of the interlocking lives of the residents of Dream Street in a small town named Place, set within a wider context of American social and economic history. It’s both a commentary on diversity and sameness. The neighbors—people of all colors and backgrounds—are united in their struggle to create a better life.

What I enjoy most about Cooper’s direct, honest writing is that it’s simple to the point of being deceptive. In its closing pages, Place gave me what I was looking for to wrap up this issue focusing on diversity: “Humans are too much alike to find so many reasons to hate each other, to kill each other. . . . Life is a matter of human beings. All humanity alike.” No matter our differences, we’re all human, sharing common dreams of a better life for ourselves and our communities—however we define them.

Cover subject Rodger McFarlane (p. 20), executive director of the Denver-based Gill Foundation, drove a point home for me when FN&C asked him about diversity. His response: “Just the word diversity strikes me as the euphemism of the season. You mean not white, right?” I had felt conflicted about putting him on the cover of an issue that focused on diversity, even though his interview was one of the strongest I recall appearing in our pages. But, with characteristic bluntness, he said, “I’m a white guy, but I’ve got the gay perspective going.”

McFarlane reminisces about how every foundation officer he met 20 years ago was a “white, straight man in his 60s or 70s from Harvard or Yale,” how much that has changed, but how much is still left to be done in the top levels of foundation management.

Curious, I took a stroll along what I’ve dubbed the COF Walk of Fame in our conference center, looking at all the pictures of past board chairs. Of the 20 people who have served the Council on Foundations and the field in that capacity, only six were not white men, and only two of those six were people of color—current board chair Emmett D. Carson, president and CEO of The Minneapolis Foundation, and Anna Faith Jones, former president and CEO of the Boston Foundation.

And, according to Carson (“Making the Case for Diversity in Philanthropy,” page 26), the case for diversity boils down to “the two M’s: morality and market.” On one hand, says Carson, “there’s the moral argument—having an open process that results in a diverse staff, board and grantmaking profile is the right thing to do. It’s consistent with American values. But there’s also the market. [Y]ou get better grants when you pay attention to diversity. . . . When you expand the staff or board of your organization, the breadth of grants and opportunities increases exponentially.” Isn’t that what’s most important?

I hope you see this issue as fodder for a continuous discussion of philanthropy helping to not only change society for the better, but also to reflect that changing society within its own ranks. Inside, there is information on foundation-sponsored programs for emerging leaders, diverse donor bases, new wealth in communities of color, gay grantmakers, girl grantmakers and identity-based affinity groups—all striving toward making life better for humankind in all its diverse glory.

Happy reading and happy holidays!