CoNCLuSioN

This publication contextualizes the concept of relational humanization within the field of social impact and acknowledges the Indigenous political and Black Feminist theoretical legacies from which we draw heavily. This is critical because we cannot bring the work of humanizing social impact to fruition without recognizing and centering minoritized, gendered, and racialized voices, as well as other underrepresented and overlooked identities.

For far too long, actors within the field of social impact have invasively injected themselves into social challenges without proper trust and relationship building, assumed solutions to local concerns without seeing the full humanity of local communities, and deemed themselves authorities and decision-makers leading to unhealthy or violent outcomes, ultimately dehumanizing those they seek to serve. Additionally, toxic perfectionism culture

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and dogmatic approaches to social impact work continue to alienate individuals who seek to be a part of social advocacy and systems change work, when instead their efforts and intentions should be embraced and refined through compassionate relationship building.

Humanizing social impact demands that a deep, shared relationship be in place prior to any social impact intervention. It requires a careful navigation of the complex challenges in building trust with minoritized and vulnerable communities and seeks collaborative resolutions, even if that means withdrawing and respecting the self-determination of these communities. Additionally, we acknowledge that concepts of relationality also extend into challenging anthropocentrism or solely human-centered ethics, particularly when they are informed by Indigenous political thought. All things exist in relation to one another. To consider the humanization of each other also requires a consideration of plants, animals, land, and water, because impact is interconnected and cyclical.

We call upon the reader to join us in committing to humanizing social impact through three main values: compassionate relationality, maintaining humanity for others, and maintaining humanity for ourselves. Each of these informs our strategies towards effective, sustainable, and just praxis within the field of social impact, and a commitment to growth which never truly ends. Indeed, abolitionist Mariame Kaba states that to see a world where all have what they need requires constant experimentation and a revolutionary hope that we can continue to redesign systems to that end. This publication is one attempt in a field that is just beginning to own its problematic history and assert new futures informed by the past, and we cannot think of anything more human and relational than that.