Building Cultures of Belonging

We believe diverse societies thrive by making room for all to belong.

The United States holds multitudes. Our communities large and small, online and off, are a kaleidoscope of cultures, identities, and beliefs. 

To forge a more equal and connected society where everyone is treated with respect, we see a need to reimagine systems shaping our daily lives around the human need to belong. To belong is to feel safe, be seen, and have your voice matter. But today a toxic playbook of pitting people against one another threatens the promise of our diverse democracy.   

That’s why Omidyar Network is making strategic investments in the people and organizations moving us toward healthy relations with one another and the natural world. A major focus of our work in this area is to strengthen civic and cultural infrastructure for inspiring Americans to build belonging, practice repair, and pursue healing into the 21st century.   

What We're Working On

Our New Belonging strategy seeds the next generation of leaders, earlier-stage ideas, and the civic infrastructure necessary for creating a society where everyone belongs. 

Under this strategy, we are supporting U.S. initiatives that connect musicians, rural communities, immigrants and refugees, faith leaders, entrepreneurs, students, TV writers, suburban women, policymakers, and global networks as part of a bigger current moving Americans to build belonging.   

We also know that this work looks different across communities and cultures. That’s why we are embracing a more participatory, place-based approach to investing in promising solutions alongside local field leaders and other funders.  

Imagine a world that has embraced repair — the loving practice of mending what’s broken and restoring wholeness. Today we see a growing number of communities taking courageous steps toward that world. 

Cultivating Repair supports a growing network spanning advocacy and the arts, to heal past and present-day harms stemming from the legacy of colonialism and slavery in the United States. 

Our work contributes to: (1) Stronger infrastructure connecting organizations and communities that are practicing repair across multiple dimensions: cultural, spiritual, relational, and material; (2) Creative pathways for more Americans to experience how it looks and feels when healing follows harm; (3) Collaborations to expand funding so a culture of repair can thrive over the long term.

"Belonging is realized fully when groups have more than a voice — they are actually able to reshape the institution together with existing stakeholders….This kind of agency — co-creation — is the most radical and potentially transformative aspect of true belonging."

— john a. powell, Othering & Belonging Institute