A majority of foundations report making changes to better support racial equity and communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy finds.

Based on survey responses from two hundred and thirty-six foundations — including a hundred and seventy signatories to a pledge hosted by the Council on Foundations to act with "fierce urgency to support our nonprofit partners, as well as the people and communities hit hardest by the impacts of COVID-19" — as well as interviews with forty-one foundation leaders, the report, Foundations respond to crisis: Toward equity? (36 pages, PDF), found that nearly 90 percent of philanthropies had increased funding for organizations serving people who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, including Black (75 percent), Latinx (63 percent), and lower-income communities (71 percent), and that 39 percent of those foundations reported doing so across all program areas. In addition, 59 percent of respondents said they were giving a higher percentage of their grant dollars to organizations created and led by CEOs from communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Funded by the Ford Foundation, the report — the second in a three-part series issued by CEP — also found that nearly 90 percent of foundation leaders interviewed said they planned to focus more on racial equity in the future, with some specifying particular areas for improvement, including increasing staff and board diversity; doing more to integrate equity into their strategy and grantmaking approaches; reducing barriers to funding; and doing more and better outreach and relationship building in the community. According to the report, more than 80 percent of leaders said they were making changes that incorporate racial equity into their grantmaking or programmatic strategies, while a similar percentage said philanthropy had an important role to play in advancing systems change and policy reform.

Read the full article about foundation movement on racial equity at Philanthropy News Digest.