Black Philanthropy Month Organizers Produce Checklist for Donors and Investors

The organizers of Black Philanthropy Month have developed a checklist for donors and investors designed to increase the flow of money to Black-led nonprofits and business ventures.

“We don’t have an equal opportunity to access private capital,” said Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland. “Both the nonprofit sector and our business sector is being decimated across the world due to Covid and resulting recession.”

The principles were developed over the course of Black Philanthropy Month in August, which Bouvier Copeland founded in 2011 to celebrate the UN International Decade for People of African Descent. The monthlong celebration included four virtual conferences that attracted nearly 2,000 participants. Other online and in-person get-togethers during the month attracted more than 1 million participants in 30 countries, said Bouvier Copeland, who is chief executive of the WISE Fund.

Surveys and online polling of people who attended events in August guided Bouvier Copeland and other organizers to draft the principles. The list includes some calls to action that have been voiced throughout the nonprofit world, such as directing donors to provide general operating support and to trust grantees more.

The principles also ask donors to respect Black innovation and creativity, and to preserve the “Black philanthropy practice of self-reliance and mutual support.”

“Black funding involves relying on community know-how and resources first, while also holding society accountable for equity,” the principles state.

Donors are invited to sign a pledge that they will adhere to the principles. When they do so, they can affix a badge to their websites and social-media accounts.

“It’s not enough to say you support equity or you’re promoting inclusive giving. You have to visually, visibly show it,” Bouvier Copeland said. “Publicizing their intent in that way establishes a foundation for real accountability and philanthropy.”

Bouvier Copeland’s WISE Fund and the Brazil Foundation have both signed the pledge. Others will follow, Bouvier Copeland said. She referred to the UN Sustainable Development Goals as an example of a pledge that picked up steam.

“At one point, it didn’t really matter to companies,” said Thelma Ekiyor, the group’s Africa partner. “But now, at least in the global south, almost every company worth its salt puts on their branding the fact that they’re actively trying to achieve the SDGs.”