Susan Taylor Batten took the job as President of the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) after years at Annie E. Casey Foundation working on their Race Matters program. She didn’t leave the issue, she just changed her seat to stand up for black communities. As ABFE Board Member Wenda Weekes Moore would agree, that this is an exciting time to be in philanthropy as it relates to African Americans:
On the last day of the ABFE pre-conference meeting, Susan outlined goals for the affinity group with one overall outcome: that people in philanthropy will know about the issues of black communities. This knowledge will influence the way people think and behave – so that philanthropy can make better decisions related to grantmaking in our communities. Susan said that we need to broaden our movement of blacks in philanthropy and become better organized in order to contribute to national policy conversations. We have to show up in the national dialogue and at the same time build the diversity pipeline for more blacks in CEO, trustee positions, etc. in philanthropy. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors released a report last year called Philanthropy in a Changing Society highlighting the underrepresentation of people of color in philanthropy. The research showed growth in racially diverse leaders at some points in time but not others. One hypothesis is that more diverse leaders were, in fact, put into place only when strong affinity groups in philanthropy were pushing for diversity. So how can we ensure continued growth? ABFE Board Member Phillip Thomas talks about the importance of Blacks in Philanthropy groups (BIPs) around the country:
Susan outlines several ways that affinity groups for black philanthropy can push for change:
- Build a database of promising strategies for what works in black communities. What does it take to build strong black communities?
- Partner with Congressional Black Caucus. Make ourselves known to the larger, national policy conversations.
- Build a high-level diversity pipeline. Who’s up next? How do we organize that bench and get more people of color in these seats. We have to scan the landscape for opportunities.
- Pursue stronger relationships with executive search firms. We pay them to produce diverse pools of candidates, if they can’t help us we shouldn’t be paying them to do this search work.
- Money should keep flowing to groups to keep track of what’s going on in our communities. 2010 census needs to accurately count communities of color. We can put the data out in a different way to change the conversation about philanthropy.
One way that ABFE is promoting a diversity pipeline of new black leaders in philanthropy is through their Connecting Leaders Fellows Program. Chad Jones, a 2007-2008 Fellow talks about how it impacted his career:
We also have to continually stay connected to one another. Towalame Austin, President of the Magic Johnson Foundation talks about the importance of being connected to other black leaders in philanthropy:
The last session at ABFE’s meeting was on Economic Recovery Funding and the Future of Federal Policy featuring Dr. john a. powell, Director of the Kirwan Institute. John’s message to us was that the universal programs that President Obama is proposing will not work for the good of black communities; the racial disparities will actually get worse. How do foundations make change? What is our collective responsibility to understand the policies and how they might affect our communities? John said: A little bit of money in a lot of places isn’t as effective as making large, strategic, investments. We have to have a just economic recovery – funding cuts shouldn’t be made in such a way that our communities are cut out. We need to organize and ask the right questions. We have to stimulate the status quo – what are these billions of dollars actually fixing? Are we transformative yet? Are opportunity gaps shrinking? We must both mind the gap and fix the gap – reduce existing disparities among communities of color while growing the economy for everyone.
What’s foundation’s role?
- Draw on experience and research
- Foundations need to proactively shape/design and direct the flow of government dollars – learn how to leverage public money
- Employ strategic communications regarding race
Universal programs don’t work because they take into account only one characteristic like poverty. If you remove one constraint, disadvantaged groups whoa re only affected by that one constraint can move, but others can’t. Blacks have additional constraints. The problem is not just that we don’t have money, it’s also discrimination and other issues. So we have to have both targeted and universal programs. You have to look at race.
Philanthropic leaders must make it a priority to participate in the design of these programs – we want to sit at the table as well as catch some of the money falling off the table. We have to work strategically and invest in learning models. We have to be organized in order to take advantage of these new opportunities.
The Kirwan Institute is tracking this issue on their website with the report: Preliminary Report of the Impact of the Economic Stimulus Plan on Communities of Color
Twenty or thirty different pools of money are coming down. Most states aren’t equipped to handle these large amounts of money with a short turnaround. Since no one knows what they’re doing, foundations can have influence. Stimulus will be partly used to fix the gaps in state budgets. So we have to stimulate the status quo. We’re putting money into systems which by design, create disparities. This money will do exactly what Depression/GI bill did, exacerbating disparities with these shovel-ready projects to help stimulate the economy. Need to convene advocates & researchers together to decide what to do – force construction companies hire minority contractors. Fund existing structures for the purpose of “heading off” disparities in communities of color in terms of state funding.
What do we want to see happen? We have a lot of connections at the White House now. Talk to the committees and let them know the money has to go to the states with some constraints. Federal government is much more receptive now – we’re just not telling them what we want them to do.
We can’t have a new deal w/o great society – need to have programs that deliberately bring us in. We have to push back against post-race, universal/colorblind strategies. There is a story –a revision of history that’s leaving things out. We have to set the record straight.
As Chris Cardona says, it’s time for innovation among affinity groups for people of color. What’s your role?
Full disclosure: ABFE hired me to provide blogging services for this event to leverage the power of social media for their members and to share their story with the wider philanthropic community. The views expressed here are solely my own, however, and I stand by my commitment to authentic coverage of these issues. Would you like to hire me? Visit my portfolio to see samples of my work.
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