Quarterly Bulletin
September 22, 2020
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A Message from Susan Taylor Batten
President and CEO, ABFE
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Dear Colleagues,
I hope this message finds you all healthy and safe, as we work through these last days of summer. Without any doubt, these continue to be beyond challenging times. As we continue to struggle with COVID-19 and its lingering side effects (medical and nonmedical) in our community, we continue to painfully witness the pestilence of anti-Black racism manifesting across the nation.
Here at ABFE, we continue to gather strength and courage to work nonstop to address the issues our communities are facing now more than ever. As you have seen in our recent communications, we have carried on with our mission of promoting effective and responsive philanthropy in Black communities through webinars, virtual gatherings, reports and membership engagement - despite all the challenges.
Just to highlight a few, we recently successfully carried out two signature ABFE virtual gatherings. ABFE’s Women in Philanthropy (WIP) Leadership Retreat took place on August 27th and 28th. Although it was a different gathering from what we are all used to, we still had a chance to bring together a close, trusted circle of advisors and colleagues of Black women to support each other, as they strive to balance their roles as good stewards of resources, while leveraging those resources to the fullest extent to target needs in Black communities.
In addition, with support from The California Endowment and the California Wellness Foundation, we just hosted the first ever California Leverage the Trust Retreat (originally scheduled for March 2020). This Retreat aligned with our work to help Black trustees be stronger advocates for Black communities, in response to the urge of Black foundation trustees to take advantage of this unprecedented moment in our country broadly, and in California, specifically to support Black lives.
In July we co-hosted a webinar with Grosvenor Capital Management LP entitled Philanthropic Efforts of Black Managers – The Cycle of Impact. With a great audience turnout, we focused on the importance of utilizing Black investment managers who, in turn, give back to communities of color, urging foundations to support Black businesses and to diversify their investment managers. Below is information to access the recording in case you missed it!
We continue to add signatories to the Black Foundation CEOs agenda “ We Must Be in it For the Long Haul ,”as a call to action to philanthropy to end anti-Black racism. It contains 10 recommendations to the field - one of which is to increase investments in Black-led social change organizations that work to build power in Black communities. As we struggle to manage these overlapping pandemics, we challenge philanthropy to be bold and be inspired by the courage of the protestors who are risking their well-being for the sake of all of us.
Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support and membership; for attending our virtual events and webinars; and for entrusting us with bringing you valuable information about the field.
We hope to meet sometime during 2021. We must keep those hopes high!
Below are some relevant reports that ABFE has recently co-produced and released with valuable and unprecedented information.
Stay strong, healthy, and vigilant.
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Welcome to Our New Staff Members |
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T'Shawn Rivers
Development and Campaign Director
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Kyyon Nelson
Staff Accountant
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Sabrina Williams
Marketing and Communications Director
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Responding to Racial Injustice By Funding Black-Led Nonprofits
Recently, ABFE partnered with The Bridgespan Group, a philanthropic advisory firm, to offer concrete advice to donors who have been asking how they can respond to the racial justice issues laid bare by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., and the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 crisis on Black communities.
Their collaboration resulted in a paper, “Guiding a Giving Response to Anti-Black Injustice,” which outlines principles for responding to racial injustice, and provides a framework for strengthening the social, institutional, and political infrastructure that’s needed to eliminate anti-Black racism.
The report is a response to philanthropists who now “want to take a fresh look at their own postures and behaviors and investments,” says Leslie MacKrell , a Bridgespan partner, and a co-author of the report with Jones.
Bridgespan had received an uptick in inquiries from philanthropists who asked how they could address racial injustice in the wake of Floyd’s death, and the national mobilization that followed. MacKrell says it’s “sobering and sad” to have issued the report in late August, just as Kenosha, Wis., was erupting in protests amid the police shooting of James Blake , and subsequent fatal shootings of two protesters allegedly by a 17-year-old.
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ABFE is proud to present its latest released report:
Black Economic Power: Foundation Strategies to Support Black Businesses
“Black business owners are wealthier than their peers who do not own businesses, and business ownership creates new wealth faster compared to wage employment. At the same time, small businesses tend to hire from the community, creating jobs for neighborhood residents. Therefore, opportunities for Black entrepreneurs to succeed are critical for economic empowerment in Black communities...”
Excerpt from “The Tapestry of Black Business Ownership in America: Untapped Opportunities of Success,” authored by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), 2016
With that in mind, ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, set out with the following agenda: to locate and share with the philanthropic sector, a compilation of interviews, that highlighted foundations whose work and investments in Black entrepreneurship and businesses have further contributed to the economic
empowerment of Black communities.Over the past decade, ABFE has been a strong voice in asking philanthropy—both foundations and donors—to step up in making sustained, long-term investments that stimulate economic development and build economic power for Black communities. Many have documented the widening wealth gap for Black communities. Among the solutions to this crippling disparity is a call for foundations to leverage their grants’ dollars by supporting Black
business expansion. Why should foundations care?
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ABFE Upcoming Events and Gatherings |
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ABFE and JPMorgan Chase will host a session at this year's virtual Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference. This will be ABFE's third year teaming up with JPMC to shine a spotlight on the importance of supporting Black businesses.
This year's session entitled "Impact of the Pandemic on Building Economic Power in Black Communities through Business & Entrepreneurship" is scheduled to air on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at 3pm (ET).
The racial wealth divide has been well chronicled and Black households have experienced further exacerbation of the downside of the wealth gap because of COVID-19. The lack of equitable access to capital is continuing to hinder, stall and close Black owned businesses. COVID-19 has impacted our society in more ways than one, and Black entrepreneurs are fighting a pandemic within a pandemic. In order to support wealth building in Black communities, philanthropy, the private sector, and the public sector need to coalesce and find strategies to create equitable access to resources and support growth for Black entrepreneurs.
Join this conversation, hosted by JPMorgan Chase and ABFE - Impact of the Pandemic on Building Economic Power in Black Communities Through Business & Entrepreneurship - where we will dive deep on the effects of COVID-19 on Black businesses and what steps need to be taken to support recovery and growth that will build Black wealth. Hear from experts from The JPMorgan Chase Institute, ABFE, the CDFI community and more on how we continue to make progress in light of COVID-19.
If you're interested in viewing this session, registration is complimentary, but you are required to register to the conference.Visit the link below.
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ABFE
Philanthropic
Advising Services
Although COVID-19 has changed the way we have imagined the work, it has not stopped the work itself. ABFE is pleased to announce that we are now offering virtual module-based engagements that cover the content established in our Responsive Philanthropy in Black Communities framework.
The modules will continue to focus on the shared definitions and key concepts for race, racism and racial equity; an understanding of a framework for effective and responsive philanthropy; tools that can be used by grantmakers to support racial equity grantmaking; and thoughts about how to apply a racial equity lens to your work (and why it matters).
If you are interested in learning more about our virtual offerings please contact Anthony Simmons, Director of Philanthropic Advising Services at [email protected].
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Past Webinars Archive
Philanthropic Efforts of Investment Managers of Color: The Cycle of Philanthropic Impact
Tue, Jul 28, 2020 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST
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Welcome back to the Deaconess Foundation
We are happy to have the Deaconess Foundation back in the ABFE family. We are looking forward to partnering with this organization that pursues a focused, power-building strategy to advance child well-being through racial equity and public policy.
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Contact us to be a featured member or share a content idea! |
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The infographic below from our partners at CHANGE Philanthropy provides valuable information |
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Merger of two Black-led banks aims to help break a painful cycle
AUG. 27, 20205
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles’ Broadway Federal Bank and Washington, D.C.'s City First Bank are merging to form the largest Black-led bank in the U.S., underscoring the challenges such banks have faced in generating enough capital to effectively serve their communities.
Black-owned and -led banks have long been caught in a difficult cycle: They tend not to have enough money to lend to help their communities build wealth, and the resulting dearth of wealth-building opportunities diminishes the money available to flow into the banks. Efforts to remedy that include the grass-roots #BankBlack movement — as well as the merger announced Wednesday.
To really make a difference in high-cost markets such as L.A. and D.C., banks need to be able to write bigger checks, particularly to fund projects such as multifamily affordable housing or to finance small businesses and nonprofits, said Brian Argrett, chief executive of City First Bank. Those three areas will be the combined bank’s main focuses, he said.
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Congrats to the Northern California Grantmakers New CEO,Dwayne S. Marsh |
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NCG’s board and staff are pleased to announce the conclusion of a rigorous searchfor the organization’s next president and CEO. From a pool of nearly 90 candidates and many strong contenders, one leader emerged as the consensus choice of board, staff, and management. Oakland’s own Dwayne S. Marsh brings nearly thirty years’ experience advancing racial and economic equity through sustained work in the public, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors.
Most recently, Dwayne was co-Director of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) and Vice President of Institutional and Sectoral Change at Race Forward.
Before HUD, Marsh spent a decade at PolicyLink, the national action institute committed to racial and economic equity, and directed the FAITHS Initiative for eight years at The San Francisco Foundation, building a nationally renowned community development and capacity building program that continues to this day. His career has been defined by supporting communities traditionally excluded from full participation in our economy and society to build power and leverage lasting systems transformation. Read the Full Bio >
We hope you will join us in welcoming Dwayne on September 9, 2020 when he assumes his new role. We will share the details of his past accomplishments and our excitement about future endeavors in the coming weeks.
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Foundations Pool $36 Million for a Black-Led Organizing Groups
Article featuring ABFE member the Libra Foundation
By By Alex Daniels
September 17, 2020
A group of grant makers led by the Libra Foundation has pledged a total of $36 million to 10 Black-led organizing groups, adding to the billions of dollars private and corporate foundations have committed to racial-justice efforts since George Floyd was killed in May.
What sets the Democracy Frontlines Fund apart, says Crystal Hayling, Libra's executive director, is that the grantees were selected by a "brain trust" of 10 women of color with experience working with racial-justice movement groups nationwide. The fund will provide general operating support for three years.
After police officers in Minneapolis killed George Floyd and protesters took to the streets this spring, Haying says she was approached by a foundation leader — she declined to say who — wanting to help but not sure where to begin. The panel of experts, which includes Rajasvini Bhansali, executive director of the Solidaire Network, Nicole Boucher, senior adviser to Way to Rise, and Alicia Sanchez Gill, director of the Emergent Fund, provided grant makers a ready-made list of organizations to support.
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ABFE'S Recommendation
Blog post by Edward Jones, ABFE's VP of Programs
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Check Our Health for King T’Challa’s Sake
I join millions in being stunned by the sudden loss of another Black life, from another disease that disproportionately impacts Black people — especially, Black men. Chadwick Boseman — aka Jackie Robinson: aka James Brown; aka Thurgood Marshall; aka Stormin; aka King T’Challa — lost his battle with colon cancer. We had no idea it was his battle, which makes the shock strike us more deeply.
According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer incidence rates in the U.S. are highest among Black men, with an incidence of 58.3 per 100,000 in non-Hispanic Black men compared with an incidence of 46.9 per 100,000 among all men.” Complete health checks must include a colonoscopy and real talk about stigmas that’s prevent us from complete care.
The CDC recommends:
“If you are age 50 to 75 years old, you should get screened for colorectal cancer. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening beginning at age 50. Some groups recommend starting earlier, at age 45. The vast majority of new cases of colorectal cancer (about 90%) occur in people who are 50 or older.”
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Supporting the mobilization of resources to communities of color |
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Funds
Launched June, the Central NY Community Foundation will support and focus on building community dialogue, increasing the capacity of Black-led organizations that are supporting historically underserved communities, and supporting projects that counteract systemic racism
Launched in September, this fund is designed to invest in and strengthen Black-led and Black-serving social change organizations in the area.
1 Billion4BlackGirls is a 10-year philanthropic initiative designed to invest in the brain trust, innovation, health, safety, education, artistic visions, research, and joy of Black girls and their families. For far too long, Black girls have shaped our democratic process and cultural legacy without an expectation of return.
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RFPs
Deadline October 2nd.
Chicago Foundation for Women Invites Applications for COVID-19 Response Grants. Flexible grants of up to $7,500 will be awarded in support of Black, Latinx, and communities of color in the Chicagoland area.
Applications on a rolling basis.
Communities of Opportunity Invites Proposals for Black-Led Systems and Policy Change Work. A total of $725,000 to award in 2021 in support of projects led by and for Black communities in King County.
Deadline October 16, 2020
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Seeks Proposals for Community Solutions for Health Equity Program. A total of nine grants of up to $300,000 over three years will be awarded in support of efforts by diverse consumer groups and community-based organizations.
Deadline October 7, 2020 (Letters of Intent)
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ABFE:
A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities
646.392.9877
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Press Submissions and Inquiries
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