Racial Reckoning and Philanthropy: Free Briefing Next Week
The protests that erupted after George Floyd’s murder triggered a wave of activism and money flowing to organizations that seek to advance equity, from advocacy groups like Black Lives Matter to historically black colleges to grassroots neighborhood groups. The record-setting donations came from the nation’s biggest philanthropies, wealthiest donors, and, perhaps most important, tens of millions of everyday donors, many of whom had never sent their money to such organizations before.
But what difference has the money made, and will it continue flow to causes that work to stomp out racism and promote more equity in housing, business, education, and elsewhere?
Join the Associated Press, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the Conversation — a nonprofit that publishes articles written by academic experts for the public — for a free one-hour discussion on June 23 at 4 p.m. Eastern as the Chronicle’s editor, Stacy Palmer, leads a discussion with:
- Ana Marie Argilagos, president of Hispanics in Philanthropy and a former Ford Foundation senior adviser
- Daniel Lee, who just stepped down as head of the Levi Strauss Foundation, where he focused on how to ensure nonprofits led by people of color got attention from corporate philanthropy.
- Earl Lewis, former head of the Mellon Foundation, who is now leading a $5 million University of Michigan project to help nine communities develop reparation plans.
Nonprofit News From Elsewhere
MacKenzie Scott vowed two years ago to give her fortune away, but her wealth grows even faster than her giving. With this week’s $2.74 billion round of gifts, her publicly announced donations top $8 billion over the past 11 months. But since May 2019, when she signed the Giving Pledge, her fortune has grown from an estimated $36 billion to $60 billion, thanks largely to a rise in Amazon stock. Scott has written that her wealth is “enabled by systems in need of change,” but experts say there’s little evidence that she is pressing to make that change, either by addressing Amazon’s business practices or by funding think tanks or institutes that can help shape more equitable policies. (New York Times)
Plus: MacKenzie Scott Donates Hundreds of Millions to Another Surprising List of Colleges (Washington Post)
A major medical debt charity will buy $278 million worth of unpaid bills directly from hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia. RIP Medical Debt usually buys debt from collection agencies for pennies on the dollar, but this time it will buy the medical bills directly from the nonprofit Ballad Health hospital system. The group said this approach will speed up the debt-relief process. It has not disclosed the terms of the deal. Many of the 82,000 patients whose debts will be wiped out likely qualified for free care but did not receive it. Ballad officials said those patients had not submitted applications for assistance. Nonprofit hospitals are required to “give back to their communities” in exchange for tax breaks, but they are free to set financial aid eligibility rules and to devise their own application processes. Some of the debts in this deal are 10 years old. (Wall Street Journal — subscription)
More News
- Southern Baptists Elect Ed Litton as Their President, a Defeat for the Hard Right (Washington Post)
- Amazon Will Help Fund 1,000 Affordable Housing Units Near D.C. Metro Stations (Washington Post)
- Vail Resorts CEO Donates $29.3 Million for Racial Justice (Park Record)
The Arts
- Renovating Its Hall, New York Philharmonic Plans a Roving Season (New York Times)
- ‘The Museum Has Never Been a Neutral Space’: Curator Laura Raicovich Takes Aim at Institutions (ARTnews)
- Museum Loses Contract Over Event Deemed Racially Insensitive (Associated Press)
- Opinion: How an Art Museum Betrays Its Social-Class Bias (Hyperallergic)
