Grant Makers Pour Hundreds of Millions Into Racial Justice
Speedy response to protests: Nearly half a billion dollars has now been committed to fighting racism, including a nearly $170 million commitment announced Wednesday by the Hewlett Foundation, writes Alex Daniels.
Hewlett is the second major grant maker to commit more than $100 million to racial justice in the span of one week following the Open Society Foundations’ $220 million plan to support Black-led organizations.
At Oregon’s Meyer Memorial Trust, which pledged $25 million to racial justice this week, Michelle DePass (shown above), the first Black CEO of the organization, says she approached her board when racial protests made it clear this was a moment of opportunity to fight systemic racism.
In addition to providing money, Meyer plans to hire more people who have experience with racist systems and ask them to work with grassroots organizations to decide how best to design its new Justice Oregon for Black Lives program.
DePass says she believes all foundation chief executives need to take action to fight racism. “There is no pass for any of us. There is no pass for a Black leader of a foundation. There is no pass for a white leader of a foundation. There is no pass for a place-based funder or a national fund. This is the national issue of our time.
Plus: Corporate philanthropy is taking action, too. Salesforce committed $200 million for racial justice.
Putting Pressure on the Wealthy to Give More
A pledge drive for the millionaire class: A foundation leader has launched a new “crisis charitable commitment” campaign designed to persuade grant makers, wealthy individuals, and donor-advised-fund account holders to boost their giving immediately, with a special focus on racial justice, getting voters to the polls this November, and making sure their ballots count.
The idea came from Alan Davis, president of the Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund. Davis wants people to volunteer to give more, and he is also a member of a group called the Patriotic Millionaires, which is asking Congress to force foundations to give at least 10 percent of assets annually over the next three years. He urged Congress to take action in an opinion article.
The volunteer effort is designed to get things moving fast and give wealthy people a way to join forces to act. “The donor class is not collaborating,” he says. “This is an effort to get people to stand up together.”
Some of those ideas are getting pushback. Joanne Florino, a top official of the Philanthropy Roundtable, says that the response to the crisis is stronger because individuals and foundations are doing what they think best and undertaking a kaleidoscope of efforts that solve problems.
What’s more, she is worried that asking Congress to step in would hobble philanthropy’s effectiveness. She asks: “Is it ‘patriotic’ to demand legislation that will hamper severely — and perhaps destroy entirely — the ability of philanthropy to respond effectively to the next major crisis?”
Startling Findings on Harassment at Charities
The #MeToo movement’s impact on donors is becoming clearer. More than one in five donors stopped giving to a charity after hearing of a sexual harassment incident there, and just over 17 percent of doors said they decided to give less, according to a new poll by Give.org, an arm of the Better Business Bureau.
What’s more, the effect ripples beyond charities accused of wrongdoing, writes Emily Haynes. Among donors who either gave less or stopped giving to a charity once they learned of a sexual-harassment allegation, nearly 39 percent said they abstained from giving to another charity with a similar mission and better reputation.
And perhaps most alarming, the study found that half of the people polled who worked at a charity said they had witnessed an incident of harassment.
The Charity Death Toll Could Be Immense
Many nonprofits won’t make it out of the Covid economy. Some 22,000 charities could close their doors because of the economic crisis. That figure represents a failure rate of 7 percent among the 315,698 U.S.-based nonprofits whose financial data Candid examined.
But the picture could be far worse than that, Candid says. In the worst case, a severe and prolonged period of economic turbulence could mean that nearly 40 percent of nonprofits will die, while the most optimistic or “miracle” scenario is 8,420 closures, or just 3 percent.
“The majority of nonprofit organizations are positioned to weather this storm,” Candid says, although it also notes that it will take years to get a clear picture of the financial impact of the economic crisis on nonprofits.
