Giving Compass' Take:

• Catherine Crystal Foster discusses how local philanthropy can help address the disparities happening in communities due to COVID-19. 

• One suggestion is to boldly fund frontline workers in your local context. How are you making decisions about relief funding right now?

• Read more about coronavirus resources for donors. 

The virus that’s stalking us is doing more than sickening and killing unimaginable numbers of people. It’s cracking open and laying bare the deep inequities in our communities that were present before the pandemic and now dictate with heartbreaking predictability who bears the brunt of the pain. There are few places where that is more clear than in Silicon Valley. But local philanthropy can and should play a role in ameliorating that pain, and helping support efforts to alter the structures of that inequity.

In just the past weeks, a remarkable number of reports and events have underscored the depth and breadth of these challenges, but also paths to potential solutions. In just the past weeks, a remarkable number of reports and events have underscored the depth and breadth of these challenges, but also paths to potential solutions.

In the midst of this disorienting and demoralizing crisis, what can donors do — now and in the months and even years to come?

First, give relief now to help the most vulnerable today. Unleash the powerful generosity we know exists in this community to fund the frontline (food, shelter, and health), the systems that enable our families and economy to function (child care, workforce, and education), and the institutions that will help us heal and cohere as a community (arts and culture — particularly community institutions that have less access to capital).

Second, take great care to give in a way that is inclusive and equitable. Recognize the value of all kinds of knowledge and leadership, including lived experience and cultural understanding.

Third, don’t walk away after the initial relief phase ends. Very soon, we’ll need to dig deeply again not just to help our community recover, but to truly reimagine and rejuvenate the Valley and the nonprofit sector that plays such a crucial and unsung role in our ability to thrive.

Read the full article about donors addressing disparities  by Catherine Crystal Foster at Medium.