Latest News at NCG

My partner and I recently engaged in the annual ritual that is paying U.S. income tax.

This past week, Joe Brooks joined the ancestors, bringing to a close a powerful life and career whose impact extended deep into Bay Area philanthropy, and well beyond. Joe’s legacy in this field is vital and active through the dozens of leaders whose lives he touched in more than five decades of public service – including my own. 

Drumroll please, for our newest team member Huong Nguyen-Yap, who as the Northern California Grantmakers’ first Vice President of Equity and Justice will be accelerating racial equity efforts not only for NCG but for the philanthropic field. 

One of the things I love about being President of NCG is how powerfully I am reminded of the privilege and responsibility of the position. Leading the organization whose charge it is to strengthen philanthropic practice in Northern California has never had more meaning than it does today.

Our team recently returned from a Summer refresh, where we pumped the brakes on the remarkable array of activities we are cooking up and allowed the team to recharge in anticipation of the second half of the year. It’s part of our commitment to centering wellness in racial equity, and while time off alone can’t address all the challenges facing workers in these existential times, it’s a good start.

The 2023 edition of the NCG Annual Conference was powerful on so many levels. We had 411 folks represent the complete diversity of philanthropy and their nonprofit allies. The theme – mapping a collective future – held deep resonance with participants, and the content received high marks throughout the day.

First, let’s get honest about the historical context we are operating in. Philanthropy exists as a result of capitalism and was formed through centuries of slavery, colonization, and displacement. The systems are designed to extract resources, privatize wealth, and centralize power and control of said resources. The systems are successfully doing exactly what they have been designed to do. 

If you know me, you know how central my mother was in my life. I often say I do what I do because of my father, but I am what I am because of her. So when her birthday rolled around recently and my sister Nadine mentioned she’d unearthed some more papers of hers, I was naturally interested. In particular, Nadine found notes my mother had made on a 1948 article titled Health Problems of Negroes in Richmond.