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Funders for Justice: Six Ways To Support Black Lives

Funders For Justice May 29, 2020
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Funders for Justice: Six Ways To Support Black Lives Giving Compass
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We say their names: Breonna Taylor in Louisville, KY, George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN, Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County, GA, Tony McDade in Tallahassee, FL.

Black Lives Matter, today and every day.  

We Stand in Solidarity: Funders for Justice stands in solidarity with protestors in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and in cities across the country, fighting for the lives and freedom for all Black people. We know that communities are powerful, and will dream and fight for the transformative justice in which together we create the new world we all need. As funders, our mandate is to fund communities rising up against state violence, and to continue to fund as communities build the power and momentum for long-term change.

We Must Continue to Challenge White Supremacy: While police killed unarmed Black people over and over again, we witnessed no police response to armed white nationalist posted in front of state capital buildings and yelling in the faces of security guards, demanding an end to shelter in place because they wanted to get a haircut and go out in public without a mask.

Stand with Black Women Essential Workers: Breonna Taylor was a young Black woman who was an EMT – an essential worker already risking her life during a pandemic. Yet we repeatedly witness evidence that the state does not protect or respect the people, especially Black women, risking their lives to save others. Essential workers are already facing dangerous conditions, with extremely limited protection equipment, low pay, often dangerous commutes to work, and then in turn endangering their families. That Breonna was one of the latest casualties of state violence is profoundly painful.

How to Support Protestors: We encourage you to fund communities directly, including at times when groups are not able to fill out even a short proposal or form because they are leading protests in the streets. We encourage you to give now however your foundation is able – including getting creative in mobilizing resources – perhaps to use your foundation’s expense account to send money for needed supplies like water and food. And, we encourage everyone to make a personal donation, because as FFJ members we all come to the work we do as the full people that we are: part of communities fighting in resistance, part of communities fighting for survival, part of communities taking action in solidarity.

Invest/ Divest Now: While millions of local dollars are cut from city budgets – in youth programs, health services, and education, among others – due to shortfalls, the police unions/associations continue to push for more money and more police. Yet police are not saving people in this pandemic – they are policing, fining, and sending people to jail – mostly Black people. The federal administration has refused to send more supplies and funding to medical workers and other frontline workers, while increasing funding to police-related spending and private security guards.

We All Have A Mandate: Philanthropy’s mandate to support communities in living healthy and free lives means funding both the public infrastructure that keeps communities safe – like health care, housing, and education –  and funding the people, organizations, and the movements rising up against police violence and building power to defund the police, prisons, ICE, and detention centers. Philanthropy must support divest/invest campaigns and other abolitionist strategies, because nothing the police do is meant to ever keep communities of color safe. Now is the time to divest from the police, when cities are cutting budgets and need the funding for community wellness more than any other time. (Check out FFJ’s divest/invest resource for funders and consider how you want to support community safety and justice.)

Organizations that are supporting protestors and Black folks organizing for Black Lives in Minneapolis:

Black Visions Collective

Minnesota Freedom Fund

Reclaim the Block

North Star Health Collective

Black Immigrant Collective

Racial Justice Network

Black Lives Matter Minneapolis

Black Lives Matter Twin Cities

Communities United Against Police Brutality

___

By the Funders for Justice Co-Chairs and Staff.

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If you are looking for more articles and resources for Race and Ethnicity, take a look at these Giving Compass selections related to impact giving and Race and Ethnicity.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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    Disparities in Funding for Leaders of Color Leave Impact on the Table

    Echoing Green and Bridgespan collaborated to research the depth of racial inequities in philanthropic funding. Based on what we see in our work as intermediaries in the sector, two of the biggest factors holding back philanthropy’s efforts to help advance social change are rooted in race: Understanding the role of race in the problems philanthropists are trying to solve; The significance of race when it comes to how philanthropists identify leaders and find solutions. Race is one of the most reliable predictors of life outcomes across several areas, including life expectancy, academic achievement, income, wealth, physical and mental health, and maternal mortality. If socioeconomic difference explained these inequities, then controlling for socioeconomic status would eliminate them. But it does not. This means that donors who care about supporting social change must think more intentionally and proactively about race and racial equity. Funding leaders of color is a significant piece of this puzzle, because these leaders often bring strategies that intimately understand the racialized experiences of communities of color and the issues these communities face. Unfortunately by and large that is not happening today. Take Echoing Green’s applicant pool, a group that is considered among the sector’s most promising early-stage organizations. Looking just at its highest qualified applicants (i.e., those who progressed to its semifinalist stage and beyond), revenues of the Black-led organizations are 24 percent smaller than the revenues of their white-led counterparts, and the unrestricted net assets of the Black-led organizations are 76 percent smaller than their white-led counterparts. Disparities by the race of the leader repeatedly persist even when taking into account factors like issue area and education levels. For example, among organizations in Echoing Green’s Black Male Achievement fellowship, which focuses on improving the life outcomes of Black men and boys in the United States, the revenues of the Black-led organizations are 45 percent smaller than those of the white-led organizations, and the unrestricted net assets of the Black-led organizations are 91 percent smaller than the white-led organizations—despite focusing on the same work. Read the full article about racial equity and philanthropy by Cheryl Dorsey, Jeff Bradach, and Peter Kim at The Bridgespan Group or download the full PDF below. 


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