FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ABFE Contact:
Edward Jones, 202-255-5659
ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities
Announces 2021 James A. Joseph Lecturer
and Annual Award Winners
[May 6, 2021 New York, NY] ABFE, A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, celebrates the recognition of our 2021 honorees as part of the 30th Annual James A. Joseph Lecture and awards:
-
James A Joseph Lecturer: Kenneth Jones, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the MacArthur Foundation
-
Institutional Award: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
-
Emerging Leader in Philanthropy: Naa Hammond, Senior Program Officer at the Groundswell Fund
-
Trailblazer: Reggie Van Lee, Partner and Chief Transformation Officer at the Carlyle Group
ABFE is at the center of a movement that inspires grantmaking entities, philanthropic individuals and nonprofits to advocate for responsive and transformative investments in Black communities. ABFE is committed to helping empower philanthropy, by leveraging our collective action, as a unified and strategic force.
ABFE would like to congratulate the 2021 James A. Joseph Lecturer and award recipients:
James A. Joseph Lecturer on Philanthropy
The James A. Joseph Lecture was established in 1991 in honor of ABFE’s co-founder and distinguished philanthropic leader, Ambassador James A. Joseph. Each year, this award recognizes an outstanding individual whose visionary leadership and stewardship of progressive philanthropic ideals advance ABFE’s mission. The Lecture is considered ABFE’s annual signature event and an illustration of our continuing commitment to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas about the role of philanthropy in addressing the concerns of Black communities.
|
|
Presented to: Kenneth Jones, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, MacArthur Foundation
Kenneth Jones is a veteran C-suite executive who has used his creative, visionary, problem-solving strategies all over the world. As a sought-after thought leader, Jones serves on numerous boards–including ABFE, the Council of Foundations, and the Thurgood Marshall Academy. The Who’s Who Black Baltimore recipient is also a Arthur Vining Davis Fellow for the Aspen Ideas Festival and a Presidential Scholar at Concordia College.
|
|
Institutional Award for Philanthropic Leadership
The ABFE Institutional Award for Philanthropic Leadership was established in 2002 to recognize significant efforts and contributions of grant-making organizations that to promoting philanthropy as a means for social change in Black communities. This award recognizes an exemplary grant-making institution that models effective and responsive grant-making practices.
|
|
Presented to: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Mission Statement: “The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and we believe that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.”
|
|
Trailblazer Award
In 2014, ABFE established the Trailblazer Award to honor and recognize Black donors who selflessly contribute to important causes for Black people in our communities.
|
|
Presented to: Reggie Van Lee, Partner and Chief Transformation Officer at the Carlyle Group
Before joining Carlyle, Reggie Van Lee spent 32 years at Booz Allen Hamilton where he retired as Executive Vice President. He has successfully led numerous business units across multiple industries. The MIT and Harvard alum was named as one of the top 25 consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine and he serves on the board of several prestigious institutions such as the Studio Museum in Harlem and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
|
|
Emerging Leader in Philanthropy
The Emerging Leader in Philanthropy Award was established in 2002 to recognize and encourage the accomplishments and contributions of people under the age of 40, who have served as staff, donors, and trustees in the philanthropic sector for no more than 7 years. This award recognizes an outstanding individual whose innovative leadership promotes philanthropy as a means of social change in Black communities and advances ABFE’s mission.
|
|
Presented to: Naa Hammond, Senior Program Officer with the Groundswell Fund
Over the last decade, Naa Hammond has worked in development and grassroots fundraising with several U.S. organizations committed to gender, racial and economic justice– including FIERCE, Third Wave Fund, Queers for Economic Justice, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. She manifests her passion for transformative community healing through her work as an herbalist and a doula-in-training.
|
|
The James A. Joseph Lecture and Award recipients were nominated by peers and chosen, based upon a set of criteria covering their experience in philanthropy, their goals for the future and their interest and passion for making systemic change in Black communities.
This distinguished group offers amazing insights about navigating philanthropy, critical for producing a more equitable nation and world. They offer some of the best and most promising practices in the field of philanthropy to strengthen Black families and communities.
ABFE is a membership-based philanthropic organization that advocates for responsive and transformative investments in Black communities. Partnering with foundations, nonprofits and individuals, ABFE provides its members with professional development and technical assistance resources that further the philanthropic sector’s connection and responsiveness to issues of equity, diversity and inclusion.
Established in 1971 as the Association of Black Foundation Executives, the organization was credited with many of philanthropy’s early gains in diversity. It since has evolved into an influential network. In 2013, the organization shed its descriptor and adopted the simpler ABFE (ab-fee) to better reflect its broadening membership. For more information, visit www.abfe.org.
# # #
|
|
ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities
55 Exchange Place | New York, NY 10005
Main Number: 646.392.9877
Membership Questions:
|
|
Follow us on social media platforms for additional engagement! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
