Five Ways to Support Diversity in Philanthropy: Webinar Recap
8/28/2023
By Chantias Ford
In 2020, philanthropy came together in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, making pledges to create a more collective effort around supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Three years later, what is philanthropy actively doing to support and build trust with BIPOC communities? How are grantmakers listening and supporting the efforts of organizers, donors, board members, and community grantees that represent Black and Brown communities?
In response, Chantias Ford, Director of Programs at the Trust Based Philanthropy Project, joined a discussion with Catchafire to explore how philanthropy can provide more opportunities and inclusion for women of color. Catchafire facilitates connections between grantmakers and corporations who seek to equip nonprofits with capacity-building resources, and professionals who want to donate their time and talent through virtual volunteering with nonprofits who need their skills.
The discussion was moderated by Emily Castro, Catchafire’s Nonprofit Engagement Manager, and included additional guest speaker Tyeshia Wilson, Director of Engagement at Philanthropy Together.
Here are our top five takeaway recommendations from our conversation on how grantmakers can improve their practices to more effectively include BIPOC staff and serve community needs:
1. Collectivism starts from within. Implement wellness and rest within your organization so that you can more effectively work on your mission, and shift your culture to be more collective, participatory, and most of all–human.
Chantias: It’s important to reflect on questions internally. What is the culture that you’ve established and how can you start to shift it and make it more human-centric? A big thing is also around shifting your organization culture to a learning culture, redefining and reframing risk and a fearful approach to failure. A perfectionistic culture trickles down and permeates the funder-grantee relationship. If you take a mistake you've made and lift it up, and say this was a learning opportunity, that’s a small step you can make to shift the culture and make people more comfortable with sharing. Of course you need grantee feedback, but also have space and opportunity for internal folks to be able to give that feedback as well, that will help create a more collective, participatory, and human approach.
2. The data tells us that there are inequities in philanthropy. We're still funding in the same way even though the data is telling us how we need to do better. Consider ways to increase funding to BIPOC-led and BIPOC-serving organizations, and consider ways to reduce the harm philanthropy perpetuates to those most marginalized.
Chantias: I think about the big picture and why philanthropy even has to exist and the societal issues that we're still facing. It is disappointing to see how little the needle moves forward over the years. There are a lot of shifts that have happened, but it's still just disappointing to see the harm and hurt that's been perpetuated by the sector.
I'm talking about harm to grantees and communities that are seeking funding that don't get it. I'm talking about those that get funding and they have to jump through hoops and hurdles and redirect their focus and their mission to please funders. I'm talking about funders that have bullied and harassed and done all sorts of harm to the grantees and the communities they're aiming to serve. I'm talking about funders that didn't select communities for biased reasons.
I think about the harm that we have in prioritizing money over people and impact and improving things. And how we can spend all of our time and energy looking at dollars and focusing on that rather than really building strong, transparent relationships with each other and partnering in this spirit of service, to really support one another, and seeing this as something that's a mutually accountable relationship.
3. Work on reframing the narrative and consider an asset-based approach when it comes to BIPOC participation and engagement in philanthropy.
Chantias: I do think this narrative needs to be reframed. That we're not involved, that we're not givers, that we're not deep in this work, that we're not influencing and shifting the field, that we're always the ones just taking, or we're always the ones receiving and not giving.
4. Relationship building remains crucial to community impact. Grantmakers need to prioritize the funder-grantee relationship.
Chantias: We should start off with the humanistic approach. We stop and look at all the systems and structures that we've implemented and ask why we are doing this? How can we be grantee-centric? How can we be relationship-centric? How can we be in community with them, in connection with them, and see this as a mutually beneficial relationship. It’s really stepping back and saying from a funder's perspective, how can I build relationships with grantees? How can I be in community with them?
How can I pick up the phone, have conversations with them, how can I show up at their events? How can I support them beyond just writing this check? How can I hear their pains and what can I do in my positions of privilege to support and address their pains? There are so many different ways to really build those relationships with grantees so that you can start to address some of that scarcity mindset, some of those power imbalances and really build those stronger transparent relationships.
5. Think big: Consider where this sector and where society could go if we all operated in a trust-based, human-centric approach.
Chantias: I'm having conversations every day with funders that are making the shifts. But I would love to see more. I would love for it to be the norm that funders just jump into relationships with communities and just give the money away and call, and say, what do you need?
‘All right, I'm there. Here's the check. In fact, I'll be in the front row cheering your students on, cheering your community on, giving money, giving time, giving effort.' I would love to see philanthropy shift the way we are operating and make it community-centric to the point that we don't need it.
We should be working ourselves out of a job. We should be eradicating homelessness, we should be eradicating poverty, that's what these foundations are for. That's what we're trying to work towards. We spend all this time doing impact statements and evaluations and reporting and monitoring and learning and all this kind of stuff. And we're slowly inching towards it.
I do want to acknowledge social change is very complex and does take time. But I think we also overcomplicate things. And so that's the shift I would love to see.
Trust-based philanthropy is a helpful practice and tool for funders looking to reduce the harm conventional philanthropy can perpetuate. Trust-based philanthropy practices and recommendations– implemented with a racial equity lens– will help our sector and society become more just and equitable. Learn more about trust-based philanthropy on our website.
About the Speakers
Chantias Ford, Guest Speaker
Director of Programs, Trust Based Philanthropy Project
Chantias leads in the development, execution, and evaluation of Trust-Based Philanthropy Project’s educational programming, webinars, and cohorts. In this highly collaborative role, she delivers action-oriented, transformative learning opportunities to philanthropy professionals looking to uplift trust-based philanthropy values and practices.
Tyeshia Wilson, Guest Speaker
Director of Engagement, Philanthropy Together
Tyeshia “Ty” Wilson is a community organizer, trainer, consultant and a sought-after speaker on equity in philanthropy, politics, community engagement and leadership. As Director of Engagement at Philanthropy Together, Ty leads the engagement strategy, connecting with giving circle leaders and members around the world in person and virtually. She also provides 1:1 and group coaching through Launchpad For You and Launchpad For Hosts, Philanthropy Together’s flagship giving circle training program.
Emily Castro, Moderator
Nonprofit Engagement Manager
Emily’s goal is to always lead through authenticity and honor all experiences as learnings. She’s worked in the nonprofit sector for the past 10 years, both in the U.S. and Latin America. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador, and now serves as the Board President of the New York City Peace Corps Association. Emily attended SUNY Binghamton and earned a Masters in Organizational Change Management at The New School.
More on the Catchafire Community
Catchafire is committed to creating learning moments for partners and thought leaders in philanthropic work to further the impact for all communities. There are a number of ways that Catchafire supports BIPOC leaders, including their BIPOC leadership group, which is led by Emily. If you’re a grantmaker and would like to learn more about equipping nonprofits in your community with responsive, high-quality capacity building support, reach out to Catchafire via email.
Chantias Ford is the Director of Programs at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project.
