Giving Compass' Take:
- The Minnesota Black Collective Foundation and its partners commemorate activism for racial justice and lay out how to shift power to Black communities.
- What are you doing as a donor to invest in Black life? How can you stand in solidarity with Black-led movements for racial justice and equity?
- Learn more about how philanthropy can support Black-led change.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
This May of 2023, we commemorate the historic uprising for racial justice that was ignited right here in Minnesota and swiftly spread around the world. While almost three years have passed, we continue to call for transformational change that honors the sacredness and dignity of Black life and advances the full possibilities of our dreams.
The Black Collective Foundation MN has partnered with the Center for Evaluation Innovation with contributions by Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE) on a one-of-a-kind study.
The research asks: What will it take for institutional philanthropy in Minnesota and beyond to move at the speed of courage and invest wholly in Black lives?
Our invitations to power-shifting solidarity with Black people and communities in Minnesota and beyond:
- Trust, defend, and recognize Black leaders.
- Embrace the dual needs for economic development and healing justice.
- Meet Black People at their intersections & acknowledge the force of anti-Blackness.
- Support spaces of respite for Black changemakers in Philanthropy.
- Invest in racial justice at the speed of courage.
Despite its progressive ideals, Minnesota consistently underfunds for racial equity and racial justice initiatives in comparison to the national average.
The chart above demonstrates funding for 2018–2019. During that period of time, foundations awarded about $3.5 billion to all grant recipients in Minnesota. That means that less than 4% of funding for Minnesota nonprofits was focused on racial equity, and only about 0.5% was focused on racial justice. These percentages are even smaller than at the national level, where 6% of all grant dollars were focused on racial equity and 1% was focused on racial justice.
The local and national observance of the three remembrance of the historic and global call for racial justice ignited right here in Minnesota is a critical opportunity to reflect on progress and dig deeper into the opportunities for change – particularly for philanthropic organizations with power and resources to influence progressive change courageously.
Read the full article about supporting and commemorating Black-led change at Minnesota Black Collective Foundation.