South Florida Philanthropy Fails Black Led Orgs—Do Better
By Wakumi Douglas
When we say “Black Lives Matter” we mean Black organizations matter too. We — the nine members of the South Florida Racial Justice Table — call for South Florida philanthropists to fill the resource gap facing black-led organizations. The nine-member coalition includes S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective, Miami Workers Center, Power U Center for Social Change, Community Justice Project, Fanm Saj, The Circle of
Brotherhood, YWCA of Greater Miami-Dade, The Black Collective and Maven Leadership Collective.
In using the term “racial JUSTICE” to describe our table, we recognize that from enslavement to black voter suppression to Jim Crow to sexual abuse to maternal mortality pipeline to mass incarceration to the murder of Black trans women, Black people have been historically denied time and time again over centuries our human rights in this country. And, yes, that includes here in South Florida. And all the while, white and wealthy people are benefiting from our oppression. Said plainly, the only wealth attainable in this country is gained on the backs of Black people and on the stolen land of indigenous people. So this is not about handouts or guilt, it’s about justice, it’s righting centuries of wrongs, it’s about just redistribution of wealth. And the time is now.
For far too long, we have witnessed a widening resource gap among non-profit organizations in South Florida — with social services and white-led or white-passing Latinx-led organizations accessing larger and more consistent funding than Black-led organizations focused on systems-change work (including policy advocacy and community organizing). And this matches the national trend:
- Unrestricted net assets of the Black-led organizations are 76% smaller than their white-led counterparts. [The Problem with Color Blind Philanthropy (June 2020)]
- Another 2020 study found a $20 million dollar funding gap between white and Black-led early stage organizations in favor of white-led groups and that at the mezzanine level, black-led groups get only 4% of funding [Racial Equity & Philanthropy (May 2020)]
- Less than one-quarter of Black-led organizations have the financial means to sustain an unexpected financial hardship without having to make significant adjustments to their operations and/or programming [The Case for Funding Black Led Social Change (Dec. 2019)]
This under-investment — in addition to being plainly unjust — creates additional stress on organizational leadership and staff and tears our focus away deep dives into the innovation solutions to racial violence and injustice in this country and county. Moreover, the majority of the leaders speaking today are nationally recognized for our leadership in the racial justice and other arenas. We are flown across the country (and in some cases the world) to share our expertise. However here in South FL, we remain unseen, underfunded and consistently denied access to investment.
Although racial injustice has plagued South Florida from its inception, we recognize that we are in a particularly unique moment to mobilize resources — people and financial — toward achieving equity, justice and liberation for all Black people. We center racial justice in our requests of philanthropy as the time is now to right the historic wrongs done to Black people and address the intentional resource disinvestment and disenfranchisement of Black communities in South Florida. We are calling on the local philanthropic and funding community to address the inherent biases in the funding pipeline and to step into the resource gap for Black-led organizations. Our requests are rooted in the following core principles: transparency, Black leadership, accountability, and accessibility and community control.
So, what can centering racial justice in philanthropy look like?
- Participatory grant-making processes in which a community advisory board make decisions on grant making thereby increasing the number of Black people included in decisions on grants and grant-making process;
- Philanthropy organizing a racial justice funding collaborative to increase available funds for Black-led racial justice work;
- Funding community organizing & transformative policy change work;
- Foundations doing an internal data audit of of current grantees and determine how many are actually led by Black leadership — share that data with the public (in whose trust they operate);
- Divest from corporations that harm the Black community.
In a capitalist society MONEY TALKS. Where philanthropy puts their dollars signifies whose leadership they value and whose leadership they do not. Where they put their dollars shows the kind of change they are seeking. The time is now to invest in Black-led organizations in South Florida.
Wakumi Douglas has dedicated her life to building leadership among youth most impacted by mass incarceration and other oppressive systems. She is the Co-founder and Executive Director of S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective and is based on Miami, FL
The South Florida Racial Justice Table is a nine-member coalition of Miami-Dade organizations committed to racial justice and systems-change work. The coalition includes S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective, Miami Workers Center, Power U Center for Social Change, Community Justice Project, Fanm Saj, The Circle of Brotherhood, YWCA of Greater Miami-Dade, The Black Collective and Maven Leadership Collective.
