Weekly Reads
"Systemic change requires patient capital, creativity, and commitment. Philanthropic dollars may be less scarce in western Massachusetts than the Delta. But they are a good deal less plentiful than in Boston or New York City. To act effectively, we’ve had to combine our local knowledge and networks with external resources. During COVID-19, such partnerships changed from being 'nice to have' to 'must haves.'" [more]
Katie Allan Zobel, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, in Nonprofit Quarterly
"Right now Black, Brown, Native, and Indigenous leaders are on the frontlines defending our democracy, yet they are forced to fight those battles with far less funding than white-led organizations while tangled in the strings attached to the grants they do receive. This lack of trust perpetuates systemic racism by depriving these organizations of the resources they need to succeed and then demanding they demonstrate success to receive funding. Susan Taylor Batten, CEO of ABFE (the Association of Black Foundation Executives), has rightly called this disinvestment and circular reasoning by its name: 'philanthropic redlining.'" [more]
Julio Marcial, Liberty Hill Foundation, on Center for Effective Philanthropy
"Although many white philanthropists made large gifts to these schools, their support was fraught with prejudice. ... There’s no way to know the full toll endured by HBCUs and the Black community as a whole from long-term underfunding and donor hostility. In my view, it will take decades of Scott-style giving for HBCUs to recover what has been lost in time, compound interest and impact over generations." [more]
Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, for The Conversation
"Members of the philanthropic community have started looking at their organizations and pledged to undertake their own diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) journeys. Unfortunately, much of the conversation has stalled at "diversity," with an over-reliance on touting numbers in a headcount rather than opening deeper conversations into pay equity, internalized white supremacy culture, or decision-making norms." [more]
Donita Volkwijn, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, for Candid
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