2020’s parallel crises of COVID-19 and the nation’s reckoning with long-standing racial injustice required each of us to take stock of the failures of systems (including the role of philanthropy) that got us here. Moving forward, we must create a path that ensures equitable opportunities for those currently living on the margins and who are far too often left out of the decision-making that defines policies. We reflect back on this year in philanthropy and look ahead to a, hopefully, brighter 2021. 

2020 Reflections

Community foundations respond to COVID-19 with a flurry of disaster response funds, yet the communities historically least well-served were rarely centered. 

COVID-19 exacerbated the systemic inequities that existed long before the pandemic. Businesses are shuttering, frontline workers -- often women and people of color -- continue to face higher risk of exposure and death from the virus, and schools struggle to get remote-learning resources to students. When the pandemic reached U.S. shores in March, community foundations across the country set up COVID-19 response funds to address the urgent needs in their communities. However, a Giving Compass analysis of over 600 community-based funds found that less than 16% of funds were focused on addressing the root causes of inequity and only 14% of the funds analyzed even mentioned Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC)in their framing of the crises.

Philanthropy pivots to a new willingness for self-examination, learning, and adjusting in response to the Movement for Black Lives protests.

This year, we’ve seen foundations increase their giving to organizations created for and led by BIPOC and lower-income communities. The events this summer have also led institutions to abandon restrictive and biased funding practices, and instead, they’re moving general operating dollars out the door quickly and providing multi-year capacity to nonprofits. 

We’ve also witnessed an awakening by some individual donors who are recognizing their privilege and changing their giving strategy to center racial equity and include multi-year funding. Giving Compass provides an evergreen resource to support individual donors in showing solidarity with Black communities and advancing systems change.

Donors want to support a strong democracy and increased civic engagement.

Women donors were a critical fundraising group for the Biden-Harris campaign during the 2020 election cycle. Donations from women increased in August, after President-elect Biden named Kamala Harris as his running mate. 

Here at Giving Compass, we saw steady engagement from July through November on our Election 2020 page where we highlighted the work of nonprofits who were working to get out the vote in marginalized communities, remove barriers to voter registration, and strengthen our democracy through power building in communities of color. This year’s historic voter turnout is a direct result of long-term investments in communities of color.

2021 Predictions

Combating anti-black and anti-brown racism through philanthropy will be essential to rebuilding the economy.

Black and Brown communities have experienced even greater disparities in health, employment, financial sustainability and education due to COVID-19. In 2021 and beyond, it will be imperative that philanthropy step in to address these dramatic inequities across the various stages of recovery. The delay in additional federal stimulus dollars coupled with the contraction of tax dollars as a result of stay-at-home orders and state-mandated closures of businesses will require increased and continuous support to Black and Brown communities to stimulate economic opportunity both in the short and long-term. 

Rebounding and restructuring will require philanthropic experimentation.

Restructuring our systems for a more just world will require increased philanthropic experimentation and investing in the leadership of BIPOC- and LGBTQIA-led organizations. The “experiment” will be ceding power and decision-making that regularly sits with white people to the communities most impacted by the long-standing systemic oppression of people of color -- and doing so at scale while also supporting urgent needs and long-term solutions that impact policy over time.

When we return to schools, we’ll need to be prepared for long-haul student support and family engagement.

Families of color and living in poverty have long grappled with the lack of access to education resources which perpetuates achievement gaps. COVID-19 has simply exacerbated these disparities. To support students and families next year, donors will have to focus on intermediate supports like broadband as a utility, tablets for all families, and family engagement efforts that center families’ cultural and physical needs. In the long-term, donors must continue to support advocacy efforts led by communities of color to allot funding for school and home support of students and Pre-K to K-12 activities. A focus on workforce development efforts that are pivoting to a post-COVID economy will also be needed. 

As we look to the future, we have an opportunity to rebuild a society that truly aligns with the spirit of our nation’s values of an abundance of potential and realized prosperity for all.
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Original contribution by Afi Tengue, VP of Philanthropy and Impact at Giving Compass.