28 Foundation Leaders Urge Peers to Channel More Funds to Black-Led Nonprofits

By Alex Daniels

February 1, 2023

2MKB688 People take part in a protest following the release of a video showing police officers beating Tyre Nichols, the young Black man who died three days after he was pulled over while driving during a traffic stop by Memphis police officers, in New York, U.S., January 28, 2023. (Jeenah Moon, REUTERS, Alamy) — Protests followed the release of a video showing police officers beating Tyre Nichols, a young Black man who died three days after he was pulled over while driving during a traffic stop by Memphis police officers.

A group of 28 foundation leaders called on philanthropy to make a long-lasting commitment to support Black-led racial justice organizations following the police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis and in January.

The letter was circulated by Marc Philpart, executive director of the California Black Freedom Fund, a pooled fund created in 2021 with a goal of raising $100 million over five years. Board members and executives from foundations that have contributed to the fund, including the California Endowment, the Libra Foundation, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation signed the letter.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from v144.philanthropy.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

A group of 28 foundation leaders on Monday called on their peers to make a long-lasting commitment to support Black-led racial-justice organizations following the police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis.

Nearly 1,200 people were killed by police last year, the most in a single year since the nonprofit Police Mapping Project has been collecting such data, according to the foundation leaders.

An open letter posted by the leaders was circulated by Marc Philpart, executive director of the California Black Freedom Fund, a pooled fund created in 2021 with a goal of raising $100 million over five years. Board members and executives from foundations that have contributed to the fund, including the California Endowment, the Libra Foundation, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, signed the letter.

“Our letter is a call to action for everyone concerned with the brutalization of Black people and Black communities,” the letter says. “Our letter is a call to action for those who might dare to dream of a world where police violence is a mere figment of our past — a distant object in the rearview mirror of our nation’s history.”

To date, the California Black Freedom Fund has distributed $26 million to Black-led organizations, including some specifically focused on policing such as the Anti Police-Terror Project, the Black Organizing Project, the California Black Power Network, the Love Not Blood Campaign, Live Free California, Los Angeles Community Action Network, and Students Deserve.

Often, the letter says, support flows from donors who are inspired to give immediately after a shocking event comes to light, such as the release of the video showing the police beating Nichols.

Those surges in funding are often short term, or narrowly focused, the letter says.

“Then, when the urgency of the moment recedes, new momentum to build lasting, organized power in Black communities is lost, and resources to build multiracial coalitions disappear.”