Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series. Read the second piece by Dr. Sherece West.
The killings in South Carolina have left me feeling both angry and powerless. I know that’s not true – we each can do something, or do nothing. But I’m longing for the days before I retired, when I worked for a foundation – that was power!
What would I do, I wondered, if I were executive director of a foundation right now, what would I do with that powerless feeling? First, I’d call my board chair and ask her, “Are you feeling compelled to do something out of the ordinary, to act in new ways to respond to what feels like an historic opportunity?” Then I’d call my colleagues, people in the foundation world who share our commitment to the voiceless, to empowerment, to civic engagement, and also use grassroots strategies. I’d ask them the same question; “What can WE do?”
I remember the time after Hurricane Katrina and the bungled aftermath in New Orleans. Our foundation had lots of investments in the storm zone – current and former grantees. We called and sent emails and tried our best to track them down to see if they were okay. What else could we do? I talked to our board chair, and she was open to suggestions, but we were small – comparatively – and our funding cycle was a slow moving thing.
So I contacted colleagues. Together we did a couple of things. First, we temporarily suspended the bureaucratic rules and let the funds flow, sending checks right away and deciding to catch up with the paperwork later. If someone owed us a big report we said don’t sweat it and waited until they could sort things out. Dr. Sherece West was at the center of this conversation – she had just started the Louisiana Disaster Relief Foundation (LDRF) and was collecting money from donors who could mobilize quickly. She agreed to send all our grantee groups money right away – if they were okay with us, they were okay with her. And she provided a connector for them to outsiders who were ready to fund something that would help. Together with other funders we raised money for a personal renewal grant to help the local organizers; help the helpers recover from the trauma of the storms. The Louisiana Organizers Renewal Awards provided a $3,000 stipend with one rule – get out of town and do something to refresh your mind, body and spirit.
That moment in philanthropy had a couple of things going for it. First, minimal infrastructure – we didn’t create new hoops for our existing groups to jump through. Second, flexibility – rather than creating a campaign that we funded them to join, we trusted the grantees to decide what to do. Third, we did what we did over and above our current ongoing work, not instead of it. In our foundation, the extraordinary spending came from the donor family adding a gift. Other foundations dipped into discretionary funds or into capital. Finally, it was fast – for us. The normal time lag between an idea and a grant check for our foundation was normally 18 months. Katrina response happened within three.
So what would I do if I were a funder right now, after the tragedy in South Carolina, and the ongoing movement to fight racism in this country? Of course I’d call colleagues and my board chair. I’d suggest at least one concrete action, in line with the Katrina principles. Could we offer money to the groups we already fund, over and above their annual operating support, to cover their costs in responding to the Black Lives Matter/South Carolina moment? Could we pay for buses to the National Convening of the Movement for Black Lives from July 24-26 in Cleveland? Maybe we could support grantees in convening their leaders to decide what to do in Des Moines or Los Angeles or wherever they are? We could send money for transportation and food and the meeting room. We could tell the people we already work with that they didn’t have to stretch the money they already had to meet the crisis. We could help.
Second I’d try to get other funders to join us in asking the groups we fund how we could help – and then work together to raise money for that. Not for my ideas – for theirs.
But I’d do SOMETHING. What happened in South Carolina didn’t just happen to strangers. It happened to my sisters, my brothers, and really to me. I’m not powerless. I can do something, and I will.
After 9/11 the Dalai Lama said:
“This is the moment of your ministry. This is the time of teaching. What you teach at this time, through your every word and action right now, will remain as indelible lessons in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you touch, both now, and for years to come. We will set the course for tomorrow, today.”
Now is the moment of our mission as funders, as the custodians of this precious resource for the common good. Let’s not let it pass out of lack of energy or courage.
Dave Beckwith is a principle consultant at the Great Lakes Institute. Previously, he was executive director of the Needmor Fund. He has also served on NCRP’s board of directors.
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