Search Results
For many philanthropic donors, examining the intersection of social impact and racial diversity of the organizations they fund has become important, particularly to ensure organizations reflect the communities they aim to serve. Unfortunately, efforts to collect this data have resulted in a dizzying array of requests, with different questions and categories, that only increases demands on already overburdened nonprofits. This data is often squirreled away in individual funder silos and not widely accessible, standardized or shared, hindering the sector’s ability to gain a clear understanding of the broader landscape.
The Census is one of the cornerstones of our American democracy. Mandated by the United States Constitution, it is conducted every 10 years and is the largest peacetime effort of the federal government. Census data is used for a variety of purposes from allocation of billions of dollars of federal funding to political representation apportionment to enforcement of civil rights laws. When census information is not accurate, it threatens to muffle the voices of undercounted groups and regions, and undermine the basic political equality that is central to our democracy. Institutions across the country - including local and state governments, businesses, nonprofits and foundations - routinely rely on data from the census to allocate funding, define where services are delivered and promote economic development.
California’s Central San Joaquin Valley is a vast region with 8 counties. It is home to rural, agricultural, poor and working-class communities of color and contains the majority of the state’s prisons. Despite its rich history of organizing and the undeniable impacts of the state’s investment in carceral infrastructure, the Central Valley is overlooked by philanthropy. This region receives the least amount of philanthropic resources for community organizing in the state.
The Tax Equity Funders Network, Northern California Grantmakers, the Asset Funders Network of the Bay Area, and the League of California Community Foundations are hosting a three-part virtual learning and discussion series for California funders on improving economic security, wealth-building opportunities, and equity for low-income Californians through the tax code. This series, sponsored by Blue Shield of California Foundation, is informed by our recent scan of the CA tax credit ecosystem, and responds to California charitable foundations’ interest in learning about and addressing the challenges faced by low-income Californians at tax time and the potential to use tax systems to improve equity.
Last week we celebrated Black futures and explored how we achieve a multiracial democracy that centers Black people. Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) and California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) have been scheming to bring something to philanthropy for a while. More than 200 folks joined us to have some challenging conversations about the legacy of systemic racism, how it impacts today, and how we turn the corner and build a democracy that serves us all.
Anti-Black racism and white supremacy are embedded in philanthropy and in our institutions, often invisible to the majority of us, even as we work with intention towards equity and justice. As change agents within philanthropy, we are stretching to become our best selves, rise to the moment, and progress toward racial equity.
I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I’ve arrived as NCG’s CEO on the shoulders of many others that came before me. Two of the strongest shoulders belong to my first professional mentor and a heavyweight in philanthropic circles, Joe Brooks. During my seventeen years as a work partner and friend at The San Francisco Foundation and then PolicyLink, I learned more from him than I could ever adequately describe. He had a habit of saying things that were increasingly profound the more you thought about them. One of those sayings was, “how much do you need to know to act?”, often dropped in a setting surrounded by other foundation colleagues where he was about to propose bold action to engage some of the Bay Area’s most vexing social challenges