Nov 01, 2020

Mid-South Philanthropy Network;

Developed by the Mid-South Philanthropy Network as a self audit, the purpose of the Memphis Funders' Racial Equity Audit is to measure the extent of local equitable grantmaking, uncover shortfalls, and reflect on and put into action ways to create more racially equitable grantmaking. Twelve of the 21 Mid-South Philanthropy members participated, most by filling out a survey and completing a video conference interview with consultants. Three additional local intermediary funders also participated, resulting in a total of 15 participating funders. This report provides anonymized data that summarizes the findings of the surveys and interviews.

Nov 01, 2020

Community Wealth Partners;

Community foundations can play a powerful role in connecting high-net-worth donors with local organizations working to advance community needs—especially organizations led by people of color. Connecting donors to organizations that are providing leadership and meeting critical needs in the community is one way community foundations can help donors ensure their giving is having local impact and can help strengthen the value proposition for donors to work with community foundations. Recognizing that many community foundations are already playing this role, we wanted to learn more about how they are doing so.We interviewed staff members from 13 community foundations, representing a range of geographies and asset sizes. We prioritized reaching out to community foundations who already had a point of view on racial equity because we thought other community foundations might be able to learn from their practices to connect donors and nonprofits. The staff members we spoke to primarily led donor services for their foundation, and we spoke to a few CEOs as well. In addition, we reached out to four philanthropic intermediary organizations that are structured differently from community foundations and have an emphasis on funding social justice organizations, grassroots organizations, and/or organizations led by people of color. These interviews yielded insight into how community foundations might think differently about their role and practices they could consider to deepen engagement with communities and donors.This report distills highlights and themes from our interviews with community foundations and other funding intermediaries. The findings are organized around three big questions:WHY Does This Matter? Forming a point of view on racial equityHOW Do We Direct Resources to Meet Critical Community Needs? Ways communityfoundations are connecting donors and nonprofitsWHAT Difference Are We Making? Evolving thinking about assessing impact

Oct 28, 2020

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation;

In 2020, the Mott Foundation commissioned philanthropic researcher, Dr. Larry McGill, to examine how U.S. community foundations can use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to lead local revitalization efforts, advance racial equity and recover from the complex effects of the pandemic. The subsequent report aims to help community foundations unpack the SDG framework and use it to create an organized approach to their work toward systemic change.

Aug 25, 2020

ABFE - A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities; Bridgespan Group;

This memo offers funders potential paths to invest in organizations and movements within the Black-led racial justice ecosystem. It provides principles for giving and highlights priority investment areas and example organizations within those areas.

Aug 01, 2020

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy;

In light of the national uprising sparked by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (and building on other recent tragic movement moments going back to the 2014 murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri), NCRP is analyzing grantmaking by community foundations across the country to find out exactly how much they are – or are not – investing in Black communities.We started by looking at the latest available grantmaking data (2016-2018) of 25 community foundations (CFs) – from Los Angeles to New Orleans to New York City to St. Paul. These foundations represent a cross section of some of the country's largest community foundations as well as foundations in communities where NCRP has Black-led nonprofit allies.

Jul 01, 2020

American Institutes for Research; Forum for Youth Investment; National Urban League;

This new conceptualization of youth success draws from more than 180 sources and makes an argument for new definitions to propel practice and policy that addresses educational and racial equity. The paper:Introduces a formula and a rationale for addressing thriving, equity, and learning and development together that helps us better focus on actionable social factors;Summarizes prevailing definitions of thriving, equity, and learning and development (and related terms);Takes a deeper dive into the dimensions that contribute to individual and collective thriving;Offers powerful and aligned conceptualizations of thriving, equity, and learning and development;Describes the opportunities and conditions required to ensure that efforts to create "equitable educational outcomes" or "equitable learning and development opportunities" are as powerful and inclusive as possible.

May 01, 2020

Bridgespan Group; Echoing Green;

Echoing Green and Bridgespan collaborated to research the depth of racial inequities in philanthropic funding. Based on what we see in our work as intermediaries in the sector, two of the biggest factors holding back philanthropy's efforts to help advance social change are rooted in race:Understanding the role of race in the problems philanthropists are trying to solve;The significance of race when it comes to how philanthropists identify leaders and find solutions.Color-blind grantmaking, even when grounded in a well-meaning attempt at equity, is the crux of the problem. Philanthropist Jeff Raikes shares: "Tricia and I recognize that we come into this work with blind spots, as did many of our staff. Over the past few years we have challenged ourselves to better understand the ways a race-conscious approach leads to better results for the communities we want to support."Race is one of the most reliable predictors of life outcomes across several areas, including life expectancy, academic achievement, income, wealth, physical and mental health, and maternal mortality. If socioeconomic difference explained these inequities, then controlling for socioeconomic status would eliminate them. But it does not. This means that donors who care about supporting social change must think more intentionally and proactively about race and racial equity.