With the death last month of Janine Lee, philanthropy lost a vital voice and champion, and I lost a friend and confidant. As president of Philanthropy Southeast, a large network of grant makers in the region, Janine left an unrivaled mark on southern grant making and on the philanthropy field as a whole.

I met Janine in 2009. At the time, she led the Southern Partners Fund and I had recently become president of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, known as ABFE. Janine’s experience spanned larger institutional philanthropy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, family philanthropy at the Arthur Blank Family Foundation, and social-justice grant making at the Southern Partners Fund. Her varying positions gave Janine a unique understanding and appreciation of philanthropy’s role and its power.

We began working together in 2013 — one year after the murder of Trayvon Martin and during the launch of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Janine and I knew that philanthropy would need to dig deep to respond during this tumultuous time. Through our organizations, we facilitated conversations in Atlanta with Black foundation trustees to engage them more in leading philanthropy. These conversations spread to North Carolina and eventually nationally through our Leverage the Trust program. The result was increased advocacy by Black trustees and more foundation resources for Black businesses and nonprofits.

This began a long and steady professional collaboration between Janine and me that cemented our friendship and admiration for each other. Our emails back and forth usually started or ended with “I love you” — an affectionate habit I know Janine also shared with others. This was appropriate given the work we do. Janine often reminded us that the true meaning of philanthropy was love of humanity. She was a philanthropist in the true sense of the word, always giving her time and talent for the love of others.

Honest Conversations

As divisions deepen in our nation, philanthropy, especially in the South, needs more people like Janine who understand what’s required for progress. She had the skills to bring people along in difficult, honest conversations and ensure philanthropy worked toward greater opportunity for everyone. That’s why she was so effective in the American South with its complicated history and polarization.

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My nickname for Janine was “smooth criminal.” She was so kind, eloquent, and welcoming that people never saw her coming and often underestimated her.

I recently watched a video in which she discussed her values of “listening carefully, having an equity mind-set, integrity, excellence, and demonstrating courage.” That was Janine. She intentionally organized tables and rooms with differing perspectives and was successful in facilitating these sometimes difficult conversations.

A good example was the unveiling of Philanthropy Southeast’s Equity Framework, introduced during the organization’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2019. The effort began five years prior. Janine was determined that the organization approach its programs and services with equity in mind. She and the board launched a challenging learning process to understand the best way to make that happen. She sought input from a diverse group of people working in southern philanthropy, including grant makers familiar with the concept of equity and those who needed to learn more.

Janine’s ultimate goal was to disrupt the usual “southernly nice” conversations about giving in the South, and encourage philanthropy to instead focus on persistent inequities, especially racial inequities, and grant makers’ role in addressing them.

This gained her both allies and adversaries. While the organization lost some members, it also found new ones. In the end, Janine prevailed with the successful launch of Philanthropy Southeast’s Equity Framework, leaving a legacy of courage and leadership that will influence philanthropy in the South for years to come.

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There’s a quote, attributed to W.E.B. DuBois during the Jim Crow era, that states: “As the South goes, so goes the nation.” As the birthplace of the civil-rights movement, the region remains a hub for organizing and civic engagement in the fight for equity and justice. Yet the American South is an afterthought for U.S.-based foundations, receiving less than 3 percent of philanthropic dollars.

The 2017 report State of the South: Philanthropy as the South’s Passing Gear lays out the investments by southern foundations to achieve equity in the region. In the opening letter, Janine wrote, “We can identify opportunities where Passing Gear philanthropy can drive us far past the status quo [in the South]. The question that remains is, What are we willing to fight for? With the fate of lives and communities hanging in the balance, no question is more important — and no answer more critical.”

This was Janine’s call to action. She showed us how to work together to solve even the most intractable challenges. Let’s keep her spirit and legacy alive — and continue to follow her lead.