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Media Release
Contact: Erika Smith at programs@thewisefund.org
The Women Invested to Save Earth Fund (WISE) has launched a philanthropic campaign with key Brazilian partners to raise US support for the country’s beleaguered Black communities. Supporting five Black community-based funders in Brazil, the Campaign specifically advances racial equity in the areas of women’s rights, entrepreneurship, arts and culture, education, social services, and technology. Announced during Black Philanthropy Month (BPM) 2023, the Campaign runs through December 2023 with plans for expansion depending on initial results. The BPM Black Brazil Campaign: WISE Love In Action moves beyond the rhetoric of racial and funding equity to establish a new global model of solidarity philanthropy for Brazil. The Campaign has four goals: 1) raise US public awareness of Brazilian racial equity issues; 2) expand understanding of Black Brazilian philanthropy; 3) highlight the innovative Black community funds advancing racial equity; and 4) attract at least $50,000 USD for the five participating community funders.
Says WISE and BPM founder, Dr. Jackie “Bouvier” Copeland, “Anti-Black racism is a global problem requiring novel, global solutions. Brazil has the world’s largest Black population outside of Africa but also the worst racial equity outcomes of the Black Diaspora. For example, every 23 minutes a Black youth is killed by police. Fortunately, there is a long track record of effective Black Brazilian-led and serving social justice philanthropies. They just need more funding to increase their impact. Our Campaign is a way that everyday Americans and other donors of all backgrounds can help these underfunded innovators make a bigger difference for racial equity.”
The Campaign’s founding partners and organizing committee include Agbara Fund, Casa Preta Hubub, Instituto Guetto, Olabi, and the Society for the Protection of the Underprivileged. Each partner is an award-winning Black community funder supporting grassroots Afro-Brazilian nonprofit and business leaders or students. WISE, a US-headquartered 501(c)(3) public charity, will act as the lead organization for the Campaign, dividing funding equally among partners, and reporting results to donors.
A growing body of research documents the severe underfunding of Black communities by philanthropists and venture investors. In the US Black communities receive 2% or less of institutional philanthropy and 1% or less of business funding with Black women innovators receiving even less. The severe lack of funding for Black communities undermines financial inclusion, sustaining longstanding patterns of racism and economic injustice. Black funding inequity is an issue in the Americas more broadly, including Brazil. Says Agbara Fund founder and executive director, Aline Odara, “WISE’s Black Brazil Campaign is an important opportunity for the Americas. It can educate and unite community funders working for racial justice, including economic empowerment for Black Brazilian women too.”
Almost 56% of Brazil’s population is Black. Brazil’s progress as a nation requires racial, gender, and funding equity for Black communities. For Adriana Barbosa, CEO of Casa Preta Hub, “We are excited by the Campaign’s capacity to strengthen a US donor base for the arts and culture entrepreneurs we support, as they are the underfunded backbone of our country’s world-renowned creative economy.”
Unequal educational opportunity is a major issue for Black Brazilians. Only 58% of Black Brazilians complete high school. For Vitol Del Rey, Instituto Guetto president, “We are devoted to ensuring that all Brazilian youth have equitable opportunities for high-quality education to break the cycle of generational poverty. The WISE Campaign is a way the world can help us address Black Brazilian educational disparities.”
Technology is the economic engine of the future, and the future is now. But Brazilian women of color do not have equal technology educational or business opportunities. For Silbana Bahia, co-director of Olabi, “Our organization is one of the few getting funding and other resources to grassroots Black women entrepreneurs using technology for good to benefit all of Brazil. We look forward to sharing our story and inviting US donors to be a part of the solution.”
Black Brazilians have a long tradition of Black-founded and serving philanthropy that has shaped the country’s history. Ligia Margarida, executive director of the pioneering Society for the Protection of the Underprivileged (SPD), notes, “Almost 200 years ago, SPD started uniting everyday people to pool community funds for social justice, initially to buy the freedom of Salvador’s enslaved Africans. As Brazil’s and South America’s oldest Black
philanthropy, with the help of allies throughout the Americas, we can make an even greater difference for today’s most disadvantaged Brazilians.”
WISE and partners will amplify the Campaign for November, which is defined by both Brazilian Black Awareness Day on the 21st and Giving Tuesday on the 28th. For more Campaign information, including profiles of its partners, visit https://thewisefund.org/bpm-brazil. Donors can make US tax-deductible, online campaign donations at bit.ly/giveWISE.
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