Black nonprofit fundraisers are turning to their own communities for support this month, stressing everyday donors’ power at a time when philanthropy is growing more concentrated among the affluent and some major funders have de-prioritized diversity in their grantmaking.
The BackBlack initiative has directed more than $12 million toward Black-led nonprofits over the past three years, according to founder Floyd Jones. A GivingTuesday -style campaign that runs in August, the appeal invites online donation platforms to center typically underfunded, Black-led nonprofits. Last year’s efforts drew more than 130,000 unique donors, according to Jones, with the majority of their gifts falling under $100.
This year, for the first time, organizers are also leveraging content creators to reach a new audience: Black Gen Zers. The goal is to show that philanthropy belongs to them, too — not just the historically wealthier and predominantly white charitable institutions that tend to dominate narratives about philanthropy.
“Our people have always taken care of our people,” Jones said. “I want people to feel empowered.”
The campaign could bring a boost for smaller, Black-led organizations that, according to research released earlier this year, saw no significant changes to their funding after the racial reckoning of 2020. Only a subset of larger nonprofits got temporary increases in the years that followed, according to an analysis by Candid and ABFE.
BackBlack aims to flip that narrative from one of “deficit” to one of abundance. Jones is heartened by the example of Madam C.J. Walker, a Black beauty entrepreneur widely considered America’s first female self-made millionaire. She supported Black educational efforts such as Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute and African American branches of the YMCA. She also contributed to the NAACP ‘s anti-lynching fund shortly before her death in 1919.
Jones doesn’t care if today’s donors have millions in their bank accounts, though. “It’s about doing your best,” he said.
One of BackBlack’s partnering creators pointed to the Free African Society. The nondenominational Philadelphia group, founded in 1787 by Black leaders Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, was one of the country’s first mutual aid organizations.
“We’ve always had to pool our money and resources to help each other,” said Ernest Crim III, a former schoolteacher who posts Black history videos for his 118,000 Instagram followers.
But, he added, allies must also pitch in — especially in communities that “might not have the sustainable market or income to consistently give.”
Crim is asking followers to support Black nonprofits that work on issues of youth employment. Other participating pages are focused on nonprofits providing sports access, improving health outcomes and ensuring civil rights.
Matching up to $6,000 in donations is For Good, a charitable giving platform that helps move money from more than 20,000 donor-advised funds to over a million nonprofits filtered by ZIP code. GivingTuesday manages BackBlack’s data, Jones said. Other partners include online fundraising platforms GiveButter, Every.org, Bonterra and Fundraise Up.
For Good provides back end infrastructure for consumer-based campaigns including YouTube’s fundraising pages and Patagonia’s point-of-sale donations. The creator-driven donation strategy stemmed from the platform’s success with YouTubers who launch fundraisers for the issues they discuss in their videos.
Grassroots fundraisers face competing headwinds, according to For Good interim president Tamara Mahal. The concentration of wealth has increased the share of high net worth individuals in the donor pool. But, she said, there are more ways than ever to give locally from the bottom up.
She welcomes the BackBlack campaign’s efforts to include more small-dollar givers so that nonprofits aren’t overly beholden to any one individual benefactor.
“The cause is important in and of itself. Find a nonprofit that’s doing work in your community,” she said. “And that will actually help us to diversify.”
Kaci Patterson is the founder of Social Good Solutions, a social impact consulting firm that works with funders to build support for Black-led organizations outside of “trend funding.” She finds that Black Philanthropy Month, celebrated in August, is a reminder that philanthropy is more than just “institutional” giving “held within the walls of wealth and power.”
It was fish fries and chicken dinners, she noted, that funded alternative transportation systems during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Growing up, her own family received groceries from their community during times of hardship.
“That was philanthropy. That was someone else looking at us and investing in us and wanting us to be whole and wanting us to be well,” she said. “We’ve always had this kind of ‘we got us’ philanthropy. Let’s step into that role more confidently.”
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
