The data are clear: those who were trusted to make decisions (and those whom the nonprofits most generously funded) reflect the majority-White foundation leadership. In fact, our own InDEEP initiative-a professional development series for foundation staff committed to racial equity and social justice-calculated a whopping $2.7 billion funding gap between White-led and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color-led conservation organizations between 2014 and 2018.
Philanthropy seemed like a difficult place for a Black woman to advance institutional racial equity. I had already launched my firm in 1999, so I followed my curiosities as an outside contributor. Over the past 25 years, we've worked with scores of foundations representing over $300 billion in assets, with a North Star of reallocating money, power, and influence to the groundswell of brilliant, tenacious, and compassionate leaders of color.
Over time, however, I have become loud, proud, and more authentic about addressing and resolving the systemic, cultural, and societal trauma of institutional racism in philanthropy. This is part of being 21st-century anchored. It is, simply, good.
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]