PHILANTHROPY IS STARVING US

BY: DAWN HILTON-WILLIAMS

2% is the share of U.S. foundation funding explicitly designated for Black communities and 4% is the share of growth-stage funding that reaches Black and Latinx-led organizations, even though we’re about 10% of nonprofit leadership.

These aren’t harmless statistics, they’re the receipts of yet another system that starves us. The same systemic inequities we fight in housing, healthcare, education and employment are alive and well in philanthropy. Numbers this shameful should be met with a public outcry powerful enough to shake philanthropy to its core and force it to rebuild with equity at the foundation.

This is why Black Philanthropy Month matters. Founded in 2011 by Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland, it celebrates a legacy of Black giving that’s older than America itself while exposing the inequities that have starved our work for generations. Our reality in America is unique because the challenges we face are rooted in a specific history of systemic oppression that continues today. That’s why funding for Black communities must be named, measured and addressed directly.

The 2% Problem

Candid’s data shows that in 2020, during the so-called “racial reckoning,” funding to Black communities peaked at about 1.9%. By 2022 it fell to roughly 1.3%. NCRP, citing PRE and ABFE, has tracked this reality for years, showing philanthropic support for Black communities hovering near 1.8% with no meaningful change.

This funding isn’t for “diverse” work in general and it’s time to stop lumping us in that way. The lived reality of Black people in America is unique, shaped by a history and present of systemic inequities that no other group has experienced in the same way. Those realities demand specific attention, not a pooled category.

Funding only counts when grants explicitly name Black or African American communities. If we’re not named, we’re not measured and if we’re not measured, we’re not funded.

The 4% Choke Point

When Black and Latinx-led organizations try to grow, Bridgespan and Echoing Green found that only 4% of growth-stage funding reaches us, despite being about 10% of nonprofit leaders.

Translation: we’re allowed to pilot, but we’re not funded to scale. We’re called “risky” while other organizations running the same models are considered safe investments.

Our Organizational Reality

Formed in 2011, officially founded in South Carolina in 2016 and operating in Charlotte, NC since 2023, Power is Giving directly reaches approximately 1,000 people each year, running up to 10 program activities and as many as three core programs, yet we’ve never scaled, mainly because 1) we’re consistently underfunded and 2) experienced board members who could help us grow often overlook Black-led, Black-serving grassroots organizations in favor of larger, well-funded nonprofits, without realizing that their expertise could be transformative in the grassroots spaces fighting to survive and scale.

Year-over-year general operating support is even harder to secure, leaving us in a constant scramble to keep proven, high-quality, impactful programs alive. You can’t scale scarcity or build infrastructure for long-term impact when the pipeline is built to run dry just as you’re ready to grow.

This mirrors the philanthropic chokehold at the mezzanine level, which is the point when an organization is ready to expand but not yet “big” enough for large-scale investment. Bridgespan and Echoing Green found that at this stage only 4% of funding reaches Black and Latinx-led organizations.

Power is Giving and organizations like ours are advised to collaborate or merge with other Black-led and Black-serving organizations to survive the current political climate. However, the reality is that the systemic underfunding of our organizations existed long before today’s politics and that root cause continues to be ignored.

It’s time to stop ignoring the elephant in the philanthropy room, address this topic and push for it to lead to real change. This Black Philanthropy Month is the time to name it, call for it, and refuse its perpetual normalization.

Funders Call to Action

• Name Black communities in your grants and report the share publicly

• Move multi-year general operating dollars, not one-year project crumbs

• Fund scale, not just pilots

• Convene a meeting with small groups of Black-led, Black serving leaders

• Stop labeling Black-led work “risky” while underwriting similar models elsewhere

Community Call to Action

• ·Support and share the work of trusted, impactful, Black-led/serving grassroots organizations

• Demand transparency and accountability from funders you donate money to disperse equitably on your behalf

• Refuse to quietly accept 2% and 4% as normal

Equity is neither a tagline or a slogan. If your values say equity, your giving and service on boards should reflect it in ways that are loud, clear and powerful enough to rebuild philanthropy from its roots. 2% and 4% are clear recipes for erasure, not equity-know that and take action because the cost of your silence is paid by our communities every day.

Power is Giving images above.

• Text FUEL2SHIFT to 53-555 or visit powerisgiving.org to fuel our movement for optimal wellness and equity.

  
  

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