Nonprofits are grappling with new questions about how to harness the scale of giving in support of the Black community by donors of color and funders dedicated to race-conscious giving to create changes in Black philanthropy’s visibility and proliferation. What do foundations need to do to advance the needs of the Black community? What do Black-led nonprofits recommend regarding those needs? How does racial equity play a part in the current giving landscape? And what is the long-term outlook for Black philanthropy?
In recent years, Black philanthropy has drawn significant attention, especially in the wake of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings. And although Black philanthropy has existed for generations, disparities in revenues and assets between white-led and Black-led organizations—the “giving gap”—remain, the product of the wealth and societal oppression faced by Black people throughout history.
In 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood District of predominantly Black Americans, flourished. “Black Wall Street,” as it was called, was one of the country’s most affluent Black American communities. Due to racism and its legal and social counterparts, Jim Crow, white supremacy, and the rise of land-lust among white residents, the ensuing race massacre that occurred on May 31 and June 1, 1921, would undo the district’s prosperity in 24 hours of violence that saw 35 city blocks left in charred ruin, a death toll as high as 300, and at least $1.5 million (equivalent to nearly $25 million today) in economic damages.
The massacre and destruction of the Greenwood District is a prime example of how the Black community has demonstrated its ability to create wealth but was robbed of the opportunity to accumulate and pass it on to their descendants. In the four generations since the race massacre, the effect on generational wealth still lingers.
Decades of economic stagnation in Black communities aren’t unique to Tulsa. As outlined by the Brookings Institution, centuries of federal, state, and local policies have prevented Black American families from acquiring generational wealth—including 246 years of chattel slavery, congressional mismanagement, massacres like the one that occurred in Tulsa, the Jim Crow era’s “Black Codes,” and redlining.
Nearly 30 percent of white families reported receiving an inheritance or gift, compared with about 10 percent of Black families, and the median net worth of white families was eight times that of Black families, a 2019 survey by the Federal Reserve found. This type of wealth could shield a family from setbacks due to a loss of income. Those with accumulated family wealth were able to procure better housing and education for their children, which enhanced the prospect of success for the family overall and over time.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative recently announced the launch of the Black Wealth Data Center to ensure that data on Black wealth is tracked in a way that helps leaders and organizations assess what is and isn’t working. The data center reports that between 2010 and 2020, Black full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 34 made, on average, $39,820.00. Conversely, White workers made, on average, $52,750.00, and as of 2019, the total assets of Black households averaged $206,965.65 compared to white households, whose total average was $1,101,411.85. In addition, between 2011 and 2019, only 26.3 percent of Black Americans attained a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to their white counterparts, whose attainment was 40.1 percent.
Earlier this year, Garnesha Ezediaro, who leads the Greenwood Initiative, told Philanthropy News Digest, “Moving toward racial equity requires that we increase the pace of wealth accumulation for Black families while simultaneously disrupting the extraction of wealth from Black communities and institutions.”
As Black families are less likely than their white counterparts to pass on wealth through inheritance or gifts, they have had to rely on other resources to extend support to one another.
Analysis by the Brookings Institution also found that high- and middle-income Black families were more likely than their white counterparts to be called upon to assist family members and neighbors.
“Black Americans have had to step in and fill the gaps created both by centuries of inequality and a lack of access to programs such as the G.I. Bill that have systematically deprived Black families of the opportunity to accrue and pass down generational wealth,” said T.D. Jakes Foundation president and CEO Hattie Hill.
A legacy of Black giving
The tradition of giving by those of African descent dates back to the West African culture of giving and sharing before colonialism. Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland, founder, president, and CEO of Black Philanthropy Month and founder and CEO of the Wise Fund, has long highlighted the African concept of Ubuntu. While Ubuntu has various framings, at its core, the pan-African idea of I am because you are, and No me without you defines the human relationships that drive society, history, and the future.
“Black philanthropy emerged and existed for millennia before Black people even [set] foot in America, and that’s important to recognize because it is a form of culture, a socio-economic structure that emerged throughout Africa,” said Copeland. “There were certain African orientations that survived the transatlantic slave trade and became the backbone, the conceptual and structural framework, for what we call Black American philanthropy. That concept [of Ubuntu] was retained in the United States, and we call it collective giving. But there is a greater whole history, including our ancestors, and a future that transcends all of us as individuals, and we have a responsibility to pay it forward.”
In the 18th century, especially in the northern U.S., groups of free Black Americans pooled their resources into mutual aid societies to offer social services in their communities before the Civil War, through Reconstruction and the Jim Crow eras, and up to the modern day.
“There is this idea around the love of humanity and the giving of time, talent, and treasure,” said E. Bomani Johnson, executive director of the Moriah Group’s Nafasi Fund. “When we talk about Black philanthropy, we also think about how mutual aid has gotten a lot of attention over the last three years because of the pandemic, but it’s something that we’ve been doing for centuries.”
These cooperative organizations helped to finance medical care, life insurance, banking and financial services, and purchases of land and livestock.
“Even in pre-colonial times, giving existed in indigenous forms such as cooperatives, savings clubs, communal collective efforts, and different rituals that came with enslaved Blacks to the United States,” said Ciciley Moore, a senior program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “And that kind of love and generosity has continued to carry Black communities through much of what we have faced in the U.S. through [the] Civil Rights [movement]. And in advocating for those rights, the Black community comes with its own set of traditional knowledge and ways of giving that we continue to see throughout the United States today.”
The Black church also has served as a significant source of giving within the community. As such, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recently announced a three-year, $20 million commitment from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment to launch the Preserving Black Churches Project to help save historic Black churches.
“We created the Black church. It may not have even had a building, but we created this social structure that we used as our financial institution to empower ourselves through,” said Copeland. “We tithed. We gave money. But it wasn’t just to support the church; it was to support our freedom. It helped to fund the Underground Railroad and an escape of slaves and resettlement. In states and countries that did not have slavery, it also supported our communities in times of emergency. It funded not just our community needs and emergencies; it also funded the formation of Black businesses. So many of our earliest economic institutions in the U.S. were funded by the philanthropic institution called the Black church.”
Black American survival also relied on entities like social organizations, fraternal organizations, educational institutions, and giving circles as they assisted in the proliferation of Black livelihood.
“Black communities have always organized to take care of their own and have some of the oldest and most deeply entrenched identity-based funds (e.g., Black United Funds, foundations affiliated with civic and fraternal organizations, and giving circles) that are created, led, and supported by community members,” said Tyeshia Wilson, director of engagement for Philanthropy Together and founding member of the HERitage Giving Fund. “In that respect, giving circles…work by pooling together solicited donations and contributions from community donors and then redistributing those funds (through grants) to individuals or organizations doing work in that community to promote social change.”
Black giving’s ‘urgency of now’
Today, despite income inequality and the wealth gap, Black Americans give at higher rates than ever. A 2018 study by the Urban Institute found that among all racial or ethnic groups in the data set, “Black families had contributed the largest proportion of their wealth—which can include savings, used cars, land, and investment accounts—to charity since 2010,” though racial funding gaps still exist.
Instead of giving methods centered mainly on wealthy individuals or families who have established traditional foundations, Black Americans often must circumvent historical and structural barriers by remaining flexible, innovative, and creative in their giving, with no singular model that represents all Black philanthropy.
“Despite the lack of institutional giving for Black communities, throughout American history, communities have banded together to provide relief and support for the causes and people in need,” said Ford Foundation president Darren Walker. “For over 200 years, well before Carnegie and Rockefeller, Black philanthropy was being carried out in places like churches, community organizations, and through informal networks.”
Over time, the diversification of Black philanthropy has included more traditional forms of individual or community-based giving. According to a 2013 report from the Kellogg Foundation, “Black households give 25 percent more of their income annually than white households, and nearly two-thirds of African American households donate to organizations and causes.”
“We have [Black] ‘Philanthropy’ with a capital P,” said Copeland. “We have a growing number of Black family foundations and businesses engaged in community foundation community giving. We even have a national black community foundation called the Poise Foundation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We have black donor-advised funds. There’s a whole Black giving ecosystem with institutional and community philanthropies in philanthropy, and we need them all. We need them all collaborating together.”
According to Candid, as of October 12, 2,147 funders have awarded 13,241 grants totaling $11.9 billion to 4,316 nonprofits serving people of Black descent since 2020, which speaks to the fortitude of Black philanthropy, but not always its consistency, sustainability, or visibility, for historically fewer philanthropic dollars go to organizations led by people of color.
“Black philanthropy has survived because there has always been a need for it, but as the community’s needs evolve, we need to assert our vision of philanthropy, crystalizing it by building strong, dynamic networks that will grow and stand the test of time,” said Walker.
The creation and celebration of events like Black Philanthropy Month, which takes place during August, has become critical to fundraising efforts. It’s been likened to the philanthropic sector’s Giving Tuesday. This year’s theme, “Fierce Urgency of Now: From Dream to Action,” was about developing new strategies to advance lasting funding and racial equity in Black communities worldwide. In effect, the question is: How do we change the trajectory of a significant funding gap that’s existed for decades?
“I think the urgent action needed is for folks in institutional philanthropy to listen to what Black folks have been saying for centuries and do it. I don’t know if there’s anything more important right now than giving unrestricted multiyear grants,” said the Nafasi Fund’s Johnson.
Some funders have heard this call and responded in their grantmaking. In July, the Ally Charitable Foundation announced a total of $3.4 million in grants to Black-led organizations by putting unrestricted grants in the hands of organizations. In June, Salesforce announced the inaugural grants of its Catalyst Fund, which will provide unrestricted funding to nonprofits led by people of color and other underrepresented groups.
In a post on the Candid blog, “Reframe, commit, and expand: How to meaningfully invest in Black leaders,” Tiffany Thompson, senior director for global partnerships and equity thought leadership at Echoing Green, argued that there is a clear and present need for a significant shift in how the philanthropic sector supports Black leaders since long-term commitments to funding Black leaders and communities are episodic at best.
In an interview with PND, Thompson elaborated: “Echoing Green’s president, Cheryl Dorsey, often says we can’t fix what we can’t measure. A big part of what we have to fix is the ways in which the philanthropic sector is transparent. How do we report how much of the funding is going to racial equity work? What types of funding are being given that are unrestricted and flexible? Ultimately, when we talk about investing from a race equity standpoint, the philanthropic norms, the mindsets, and the cultures within those organizations really have to shift from a practice of accountability to trust. And a big part of what we talk about in our Black Voices, Black Spaces: The Power of Black Innovation report is if you had been trusting and listening to black leaders for decades, you would have known what is really needed in our communities.”
According to the Black Nonprofit Fundraising Guide, created in partnership between the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE), Meta, and the Young, Black, & Giving Back Institute, “racial bias in philanthropic giving has resulted in an underfunding of Black communities by $2 billion. Additionally, Black-led organizations have 45 percent less revenue and 91 percent less unrestricted net assets than white-led organizations.”
“For too long, philanthropy has been a select few deciding the impact on many: who should and shouldn’t get funding, what is and isn’t considered impactful,” said Wilson of Philanthropy Together. “But [for instance] the giving circle model takes people and issues from the margins and puts them in the center. As part of the Black community, Black philanthropists have a first-hand glimpse of our communities’ unique needs. This insight allows us to be successful in funding grassroots organizations that larger donors overlook.”
“We need to first change the culture of philanthropy itself, and that starts with seeing ourselves as philanthropists,” Wilson added. “Growing up, I wasn’t exposed to traditional ideas of philanthropy, nor did my family refer to ourselves as philanthropists. But even giving a small amount of your time, treasure, talent, or testimony—as my family did—makes you a philanthropist. We need to own the narrative of who we are as philanthropists and we also need the larger sector to recognize that in Black communities, philanthropy is expressed in a multitude of ways that are not always recognized, counted, or valued as philanthropy. Nor are they acknowledged as philanthropy by the communities themselves.”
The Black Nonprofit Fundraising Guide also found that “white supremacy had an active role in the inequitable distribution of funds and as a result, Black organizations have been underfunded and under-resourced compared to other groups, especially white-led organizations.”
“It’s not just about the giving. It’s not just about giving money. This is about societal change. This is about making changes,” said Johnson. “We’re talking about institutional philanthropy, giving more to Black efforts, or being more engaged to make a change that’s long-term.” But for it to be long-term, Johnson suggested, white people need to interrogate, investigate, and address what he calls their “addiction” to white supremacy.
Walker shared sentiments about those with privilege, which can be integral to ushering in change. “For those of us who occupy a space of privilege, we must ask ourselves how are we using that to help others who don’t have our privilege or access? Are we using that privilege to call attention to injustice and seek systemic changes to the institutions that have contributed to the racial wealth and opportunity gap? Are we building pathways for the betterment of society and our communities?” he said. “These are all questions that need to be asked of philanthropists if we’re truly going to make long-lasting impacts; the more momentum there is in this area, the more likely we are to be heard and our issues to be genuinely understood.”
Giving Black through the racial equity lens
Despite an outpouring of support for racial justice in the wake of the George Floyd murder, which ignited nationwide and international protests and copious statements from corporate America about confronting racism, after more than a year, those commitments were short-lived, episodic, and limited in their reach.
America’s biggest public companies and their foundations collectively committed at least $49.5 billion to address racial inequality, but when further reviewed, more than 90 percent, or $45.2 billion, were allocated as loans or investments that the companies could profit from. Only $4.2 billion of the total pledged went to grants; of that, just $70 million went to organizations focused on criminal justice reform, according to a report from the Washington Post.
According to Candid, as of October 12, 41,407 funders have awarded grants in support of racial equity since 2011. Some foundations, like the Ford Foundation, have led the way and stepped up their support for racial justice since 2020.
“At the Ford Foundation, we know that there is no way to address inequality without addressing its root causes in areas like racial equity, gender equity, poverty, and disability justice,” said Walker. “At the height of the pandemic, amidst the concurrent crises of COVID-19 and the racial reckoning that was launched into the headlines with the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others, the Ford Foundation doubled its funding support for U.S.-based racial justice and civil rights groups to ensure they had the resilience and resources necessary to help realize a just and equitable future.”
A 2021 report by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy found that 13 percent of Americans donated to racial or social justice issues in 2019. In 2020, that number grew to 16 percent who donated to causes related to these issues.
According to Wilson, Philanthropy Together also has made social justice a priority. “In traditional giving in the U.S., communities of color receive just 8 percent of philanthropy. However, in collective giving, nearly all of the giving circles trained through our Racial Equity Community of Practice are funding racial equity and social justice. Our Racial Equity Community of Practice launched in 2020, in partnership with Community Investment Network and CommunityBuild Ventures, convening giving circle leaders looking to deepen their commitment and practice of racial equity through webinars and small group discussions.”
“This year-round series offers circle members training and resources to help embed racial equity within their culture, leadership, grantmaking, and connection to community. This program also focuses on how giving circles can be used as vehicles to drive policies, programs, and services that advance equity and social justice,” Wilson added.
The challenge is to ensure that giving for racial equity and social justice is not seen as temporary acts and to move the needle toward sustained giving from not only the corporate world but also from foundations that may have had origins in colonialism but have ceased utilizing the types of barriers, conditions, and requirements that have impeded Black nonprofits from receiving funds in the past.
“Over the past two years, [the Ford Foundation has] committed over $360 million for racial justice advocacy work in the U.S., providing resources that frontline advocacy organizations and movements needed to be strong and resilient, particularly in the face of several shocks to the nonprofit sector during the global pandemic,” said Walker. “But this is the work of generations, and we can’t do it alone. There needs to be more widespread support for the grassroots efforts led by people of color that are spearheading calls for lasting change. We know that given the appropriate resources, these leaders are ushering in movements that bring together millions of allies to fight for justice, like #MeToo, which was launched by women of color and began as a ripple that evolved into a tidal wave that swept the globe.”
According to Candid’s racial equity data, as of October 12, the top funders giving to racial equity efforts since 2011 include MacKenzie Scott (175 grants, $3.3 billion), the Ford Foundation (5,975 grants, $3.2 billion), Silicon Valley Community Foundation (14,533 grants, $1.5 billion), the Kellogg Foundation (2,603 grants, $1.2 billion), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (885 grants, $1.2 billion) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (1,784, $1.1 billion).
“The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has been on a journey to advance racial equity for several decades and began to really focus on supporting identity-based philanthropy over 26 years ago,” said Moore. “We do this both internally and externally. One of our most recent publications called One Journey: Racial Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, tells a story about how the W.K. Kellogg Foundation became an anti-racist organization and what each of us has the power to do from where we are to advance racial equity within our circles, within our workplaces, and within our communities.”
“Racial equity is part of what we call our DNA, and we are walking that talk, showing up in our HR practices, to our grantmaking practices, and our investment and decision-making practices,” she said. Internally we have affinity groups to promote and honor the wisdom and experiences, and histories of people of color. We’ve been committed to supporting identity-based philanthropy, and we were one of the founding foundations to really support this work and have invested over $40 million dollars to advance the field of identity-based philanthropy today.”
Black giving’s expansion going forward
The Stanford Social Innovation Review, in a podcast, noted that it has been customary to refer to Black Americans as a new and emerging demographic in charitable giving despite participating in charitable giving in the U.S. for decades.
Since Black households have outpaced giving from white households, the growing number of Black donors should give nonprofits reason to be optimistic about the future of giving, although more can be done to cultivate them.
“So, the future is bright in terms of philanthropy. The problem is that big corporations as well as traditional philanthropy tend to give to the same places,” said Hill of the T.D. Jakes Foundation. “To ensure that Black-led nonprofits are getting a larger share of the giving pool, we encourage donors to do their research. Don’t just blindly give to the same large nonprofits. Ultimately, large nonprofits must also commit to diversity, equity, and inclusion, so that they can further diversify their donor base.”
According to Racial Equity and Philanthropy: Disparities in Funding for Leaders of Color Leave Impact on the Table, a report produced by Echoing Green and the Bridgespan Group, philanthropic efforts that don’t consider race also run the risk of exacerbating existing racial disparities or even creating new ones.
“Colorblind giving hasn’t worked. It has helped to perpetuate long-standing structures of inequality, like deliberately putting on a blindfold and thinking that you can navigate your way through the dark,” said Copeland. “When I see a MacKenzie Scott, and I hear there’s a grant from her, I’m encouraged. I think she’s establishing a model of giving that is not just race-conscious but social justice oriented. We have to get at root causes, or we’ll be dealing with the same challenges in the next generation.”
A paper commissioned by ABFE from LM Strategies indicated that being isolated in grantmaking institutions and not being valued in grantmaking conversations are among the barriers Black nonprofit executives face that could result in them leaving the sector. However, foundations recognize this challenge, and some have taken steps to address the issue.
“Last year, more than half of [Ford Foundation] grants over $1 million went to organizations led by a person of color, giving them substantial support to carry out their work in communities throughout the world,” said Walker. “The foundation also renewed and expanded its efforts to support our nonprofit partners with flexible, multiyear funding—allocating another $1 billion over the next five years through our BUILD program.”
Recently HOPE Credit Union, a community development financial institution in Jackson, Mississippi, pledged to provide $1 billion in financing to improve lives and close the racial and gender opportunity gaps in the Deep South—an indication that some are taking notice of the need for guided philanthropy in marginalized communities.
“One of the reasons why financial institutions are beginning to provide a greater share of funding to Black-, minority-, and women-led startups is because it’s smart business,” said Hill. “These enterprises are serving an overlooked part of the market, and the financial services industry is now recognizing that inclusivity is good for the bottom line. Ideally, financial firms should look for ways to pair philanthropy with capital.”
Obstacles ranging from a shortage of partnerships with Black donors, to a lack of investment in Black-led organizations, to gaps in Black leadership in philanthropy remain.
Echoing Green, which has recently called for long-term support for Black innovators, also believes race-conscious giving is tantamount to success.
“[A] big part of what we talk about and what Echoing Green is trying to push is funders need to continue to see race as a key indicator for outcomes—recognize that through that approach, everyone wins,” said Thompson. “When we approach things from a race-based outcome…it will be better for all of us, and I think until white and Black, Indigenous, and people of color see that their liberation is tied [together], and that none of us are free until all of us are free, we really have to view [race] through a key lens on how it plays a critical role in how we invest in folks.”
The outlook for Black philanthropy also depends on a sum of all its parts pulling together in the same direction, and that includes the men and women who are equally doing the pulling.
“I call myself a changemaker, but I also call myself a philanthropist because I want the world to know that you can give money and other resources to change your condition in the world, even if you’re not a rich white man,” said Copeland. “I’m saying that my giving is as good as your giving. And I know for a fact my giving collectively, even though it is a lot smaller in terms of individual donations than yours over millions of determined people, over decades and eons, it has changed the course of human history, and that is power.”
Lauren Brathwaite is content editor at Philanthropy News Digest.
(Photo credit: Shutterstock/Rocketclips, Inc.)
