Despite the Supreme Court's June 29 decision to restrict affirmative action in college admissions' processes, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion remains devot­ed to mak­ing sure that all chil­dren and youth in the Unit­ed States — regard­less of race, eth­nic­i­ty or ZIP code — have a bright future. In Casey's Response to the Supreme Court's Affirmative action Decision, the foundation declares that it will continue to collaborate with part­ners and grantees in the pub­lic, pri­vate and non­prof­it sec­tors to make the Unit­ed States a place where all chil­dren, youth and young adults have the fam­i­ly con­nec­tions, rela­tion­ships, com­mu­ni­ties and edu­ca­tion­al and employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties nec­es­sary for their well-being and success.

In the report, Leading with Courage: Reshaping Southern Philanthropy for a New Era, Philanthropy Southeast examines the forces influencing Southern communities and looks at the ways philanthropy is adapting to meet the region’s evolving needs. The report also shines a spotlight on the innovative leaders and organizations that are charting a new course for philanthropy in the South – one that has the potential to transform our field for years to come.

HBCUs are crucial Black-led institutions. They play an essential role in creating the Black community and developing future Black leaders. However, federal funding has declined, and HBCU endowments often lag behind those of other colleges. In the report, Philanthropy and HBCUs: Foundation funding to historically Black colleges and universities, ABFE: A Philanhtropic Partnership for Black Communities and Candid examined what philanthropic funding has looked like for HBCUs over the last two decades. The analysis includes how trends may have shifted in the previous few years and examines overall patterns and gaps in funding. 

The report is the most comprehensive analysis of private philanthropic support to HBCUs. Philanthropy and HBCUs includes analysis of 18 years of funding data to 103 HBCUs as well as interviews with HBCU staff and funders and a focus group with HBCU students. The qualitative research for this project was led by Marga Inc. To read the full report, click the link below.

CEP's Nonprofit Voice Project recently released a report called, State of Nonprofits 2023: What Funders Need to Know. This report aims "to explore the state of nonprofit relationships with both foundations and individual donors, how nonprofits are perceiving current challenges, and their recent and projected financial results. CEP hopes that the report helps individual and institutional donors better identify and understand the realities of the organizations they support — and upon whom they depend to pursue shared goals.

The article, 3 Years After George Floyd, Foundations Say They've Changed. Many Racial-Justice Nonprofits Disagree, highlights the uncertainty surrounding philanthropy's response to the heightened racial and social justice movement post 2020. Despite the fact that unprecedented amounts of grants and funding were given by philanthropy in the wake of 2020, nonprofits are currently reporting that they are receiving smaller grants. While it is too soon to say how deep the changes have been, whether they will last, or, most important, whether they have made a material difference to Black Americans, funders should be persistently investing for the future and in sustainable changes.

In the blog, It’s Time to Shift from Transactional DEI to Transformational Race Equity Work, Kerrien Suarez (President & CEO, Equity In the Center) notes that equity practitioners and studies have demonstrated that transactional trainings focused on unconscious bias and “consciousness raising” yield little to no measurable benefit and can challenge morale in ways that degrade commitment to diversity and inclusion. If organizations continue to do transactional work that prioritizes the “diversity” (presence of individuals with diverse identities) end of the developmental continuum over the robust culture, policy and operational change necessary to drive inclusion (treatment of those individuals as equally valued members of the organization) and equity (absence of identity-based disparities and structural barriers for those individuals), there will continue to be little progress made. Therefore, Suarez emphasizes that organizations that are looking to make progress toward equity over time should consider utilizing transformation explicitly designed to shift systems, culture, and narrow identity-based disparities, in order to drive deep equity and yield positive, measurable outcomes for organizations.

The article, A Maine Foundation Embraces ‘Deep Listening’ for Equity and Accountability describes how Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, a Maine funder, is committed to “elevating voices” from the communities it serves. In 2020, the Foundation began to embrace a new approach to grantmaking; one that is driven by the belief that for equity to be possible, “power must be decentralized from philanthropic institutions to communities through intentional, planned efforts.” Since then, some efforts have included switching from mostly one-year grants to mostly multiyear grants — a more “power-aware position,” passing multiyear budgets, and committing to new sets of principles around equity and trust-based philanthropy.

A Change Management & Deep Equity Primer: The What, Why, How & Nuance is a co-publication from Movement Tapestries and GEO that offers insights and guidance for organizations navigating equity-embedded transformations, and the challenges that can come with embarking on such journeys.

On June 29, 2023, a statement was released and signed by funders and philanthropic organizations in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.

The joint statement response notes that the decision “threatens to return this nation to a time when education and opportunity were reserved for a privileged class. It endangers sixty years of multiracial movements to challenge our nation to live up to the ideals enshrined in our founding documents. The decision erects new barriers to building a society in which everyone has the opportunity to improve their lives, communities, health, and education.” Despite the ruling, many funders and philanthropic organizations remain unwavered in their commitment to advancing racial equity and educational access to all people.

Mapping the Movement to Redistribute Power is an interactive map that shares the stories of funder practitioners who are upending harmful grantmaking practices, values, and cultures in order to center trust, transparency, and equity. Read about the experiences, challenges, and “aha moments” of funders across the country who have radically shifted their approaches, and shifted philanthropy along the way by utilizing the interactive map.