Earlier this summer, Mackenzie Scott made a massive $2.7 billion investment in support of 286 organizations working to spark change and empower individuals. My organization, the Center for Cultural Power, was one of them. We received a gift of $11 million — $3 million to build our long-term capacity and $8 million for the Constellations Culture Change Fund, which is developing a multiracial field at the intersection of arts and social justice. Now, two months later, the impact of the donation is visible in the acceleration of our implementation plans to provide funds to communities still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The water that Scott's gift pours on the deep roots many local arts organizations have grown in our cultural ecosystem is a lifeline. She relied on the principles of Trust-Based Philanthropy to surface trusted movement leaders and organizations that are underresourced. If other philanthropists were to follow her lead, they could nourish a nascent field that would not only disrupt inequities in the arts but accelerate a cultural shift toward justice.

Redistribution of wealth can be as simple as trusting leaders of color who have spent decades learning just what our communities need — because we live in and confront inequity every day — and then writing a check. By providing unrestricted funds to BIPOC-led organizations with no strings attached, Ms. Scott showcased a critical model for philanthropists to study. By providing unrestricted funds to BIPOC-led organizations with no strings attached, she followed the principles of Trust-Based Philanthropy, in particular that the funder should "do the homework," showing trust by requiring just one phone call, a few emails, and the nonprofits' own materials stating their vision for change in their own words — instead of requiring them to go through a lengthy, labor-intensive application process designed by and for the funder.

Read the full article about funding this cultural moment by Favianna Rodriguez at PhilanTopic.