What Black-led nonprofits actually need from funders
For our August LinkedIn Live conversation, we marked Black Philanthropy Month with a discussion about funding for Black-led nonprofits, what types of support they need from funders, and how nonprofits and funders can collaborate better.
August was Black Philanthropy Month. And it was the perfect time to take an honest look at how philanthropy shows up for Black communities. In a recent LinkedIn Live conversation, Ivonne Simms, an educational programming manager at Candid, sat down with an expert panel to unpack new findings on how funders can build trust, strengthen relationships, and help Black-led nonprofits grow and sustain their work. The panelists were Mark Lewis, CEO of POISE Foundation; LaDawn Sullivan, founder and executive director of the Black Resilience in Colorado (BRIC) Fund; Floyd Jones, founder of BackBlack; and Stephanie Wormington, lead researcher at Candid.
Most Black-led nonprofits haven’t been seeing increased funding
“Most Black-led nonprofits in our sample never actually felt that support,” said Stephanie. According to Candid’s joint report with ABFE, From Transaction to Transformation: Three Ways Foundations Can Invest in Black-Led Nonprofits for Lasting Change, the number of foundations funding Black-led organizations jumped 26% from 2019 to 2020. More foundations gave grants to Black-led nonprofits (organizations with majority Black leadership and serving predominately Black communities) beginning in 2020 than prior years. But this didn’t lead to sustained change, and the increase wasn’t felt by everyone. Seventy-six percent of Black-led nonprofits in the sample—small organizations with annual expenses under $1 million—saw no meaningful change in funding between 2016 and 2023. Worse, 41% of small Black-led organizations never received a single foundation grant during that time.
“There wasn’t a change in how funding was being given, even though there was more money actually going out,” Stephanie said. “It was going through channels that already existed.”
Funders have more to offer than just a check
Black-led nonprofits aren’t just looking for money; they want a partnership. Social support— things like introductions, visibility, and network access—are equally as important as financial support.
“In philanthropy, we fund work pretty well.” said Mark. “I think we have a harder time funding solutions.” POISE Foundation, which has grown its grants and scholarships from $164,000 to over $41 million since 1980, pairs its grants with technical assistance and coaching because a foundation’s success means little if its grantee partners aren’t also thriving.
“We get a lot of funding coming in for programmatic items…but the problem with that is next year, we’ve got to start all over,” Mark said. General operating and long-term support builds the assets nonprofits need to plan strategically instead of scrambling every grant cycle.
Trust means fewer hoops to jump through
Over 57% of nonprofits give up applying for grants because they lack the capacity to apply for them. BRIC seeks to change that. LaDawn founded BRIC on Juneteenth 2020 after carrying the idea for many years. It’s since moved more than $6 million into over 400 Black-led and Black-serving organizations.
And it’s designed to ensure smaller organizations can benefit from their funding. Applicants can submit a written proposal or a three-minute video, because BRIC recognizes that most small nonprofits don’t have a grant writer on staff. BRIC trusts applicants to know how to address the issues and doesn’t make them jump through unnecessary hoops. And when BRIC says “no,” the team explains why. “A lot of times in other spaces, you just get a letter,” LaDawn said. “We really take pride in trying to speak candidly about the whys.”
What Black-led nonprofits can do
“If you’re a Black-led leader, if you’re a Black change maker, if you’re somebody who cares about the Black community, you have agency and you have power,” said Floyd. Instead of waiting for the system to change, the speakers suggested Black-led nonprofits can be proactive:
- Don’t undersell yourself. If your work costs $500,000, don’t propose a $250,000 budget just to seem fundable. That is setting up your project to fail.
- Build the relationship before you need the grant. Start developing rapport with funders from day one, not when you’re ready to ask for money.
- When you get a “no,” ask why. Most funders are willing to have that conversation, and it’s the fastest way to turn a no into a future “yes.”
- Recruit connectors, not just supporters. Your board members shouldn’t only be people you already know. Look for people who can open doors you can’t open yourself.
- Consider banding together. With far more nonprofits than funders in most cities, a joint proposal from several organizations is often easier for a foundation to fund than 10 competing ones.
The takeaway for funders
If you’re a foundation looking to build better relationships with Black-led nonprofits, the panel’s advice comes down to a few concrete shifts:
- Shift dollars toward general operating support, not just program-specific funding, so organizations can build real assets.
- Open your network. Introductions to other funders and support networks are sometimes worth more than the grant itself.
- Trust that grantees know their communities. Fund the solution they’ve identified instead of the one you assume works and be nimble as community needs can shift, grow, and shrink.
- Commit to the relationship, not the grant cycle. One-off funding doesn’t build the trust that lasting partnership requires.
- Extend grace. One project that doesn’t go as planned is no reason to write off an organization or a community.
As Stephanie summarized, “transformational funders have an opportunity to spend their power, not just their money.”
Photo credit: JohnnyGreig/Getty Images
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