As we approach the end of Black History Month, it’s an important reminder for grantmakers to consider how to tackle persistent structural racialization in the African American community and other underserved populations. Dr. Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowmen thas an insightful piece in the spring issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Titled “We Need More Scale, Not Innovation,” Dr. Ross makes a compelling case for the necessity of funding community organizing and advocacy to see transformational change. As he states:
“Those of us in philanthropy are guilty as well, because we allow the imbalance of power to persist. Our fascination with innovation has a high price: We treat social problems as if they require primarily a technical fix: “If we can just find the next systems upgrade, or killer software app, we’ll solve the problem.” This focus diverts our attention from the underlying social structures that perpetuate the problem. By obsessing about the technical, we can avoid being political and dodge the messy fights that social change and social justice require.”
Dr. Ross uses the examples of “zero-tolerance” school policies and a community-based nonprofit, Homeboy Industries, to elucidate how including the community voice and perspective in developing structural problems leads to systemic change. Of note is how The California Endowment has funded this particular grantee for many years with measurable positive impact. Putting all these pieces together, long-term and sustained support coupled with advocacy and organizing are the keys to effecting social change. In Dr. Ross’s words:
“Funding advocacy and community organizing may not be as glamorous, neat, or tidy as supporting the next great program or organization. It’s difficult to capture the results in a glossy bar graph or pie chart, and it doesn’t necessarily lead to easy photo opportunities like stocking a neighborhood food bank. But philanthropy has to recognize that community power, voice, and advocacy are, to use a football analogy, the blocking and tackling of winning social change.”
What would it mean for African Americans to ”win”? What would the world look like? Certainly not the way it does today with disproportionate numbers of felons and ex-felons being black, literacy and maternal mortality rates in the community rivaling those of less developed countries, and a lack of access to quality schools. That’s just the tip of iceberg – the list of human development indices on which African Americans lag behind other communities is practically endless.
Yes, Black History Month is a time to remember and celebrate the great leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Yes, it is a time to highlight the incredible artistic and intellectual contributions of the community. Yes, it is a time to applaud the successes that have been made in achieving racial justice and equity. But it is also a time to acknowledge that as a society, we have a long way to go before we realize true racial equity for our brothers and sisters in the African American community. As a recent report by the TCC Group and the Rockefeller Foundation states:
“Foundations are tasked with the broad work of enhancing the public good. Over the last 100+ years, they have employed various models of philanthropy that utilize direct and indirect methods to address social issues or opportunities. Direct methods target specific beneficiaries/opportunities while indirect methods attempt to alter the broader environment that affects the social issue/opportunity. Of the indirect methods, policy and advocacy work are among the most overt and widely used.”
NCRP has long contended that the tax subsidies afforded foundations along with the significant freedom they enjoy obliges philanthropic institutions to serve the public good. While policy and advocacy work may be among the most widely used among foundations that work to address social problems, the reality is that this work remains persistently underfunded. So what can philanthropy do to ameliorate this situation? Intentionally identify African Americans and other underserved communities as the beneficiaries of their grantmaking and invest heavily in social justice philanthropy, including nonprofit advocacy and organizing.
With the 50thanniversary of passage of the Civil Rights History coming upon us this year, foundations must seriously consider how they can help realize the dream of those who fought for basic human and civil rights in the Movement.
Will your foundation follow the lead of your courageous peers who fund this work? Working together with your grantees and the communities we serve, real transformational change in the black community is possible. What better time than now?
Niki Jagpal is director of research and policy at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). She frequently blogs about philanthropy, race, class and social justice.
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