Not everything for the people is by the people
A couple of months ago I had the honor of speaking at the Texas Women’s Foundation Virtual Perspectives event Celebrating Black Philanthropy. Besides fulfilling a dream of getting to speak at a Texas Women’s Foundation event, I was able to represent an organization that is near and dear to my own heart, Heritage Giving Fund. I have been a member of the Heritage Giving Fund from the organization’s founding, because this group sits at a unique space of serving the small organizations that are usually by and for the community that they serve. I wanted to share some of the of the data I shared during that presentation because ti truly important for everyone to understand.
In July 2020, the Ms. Foundation for Women Releases Landmark Study on Philanthropic Giving for Women and Girls of Color. The full article, Pocket Change - How Women and Girls Do More with Less, exposed the inequities when in philanthropic funding for organizations serving women and girls of color. The report found the following:
Organizations that served a subpopulation, like black or African America women and girls were more likely to have budgets under $50,000
Though almost all organizations that participated reported that they applied for foundation funding, many encountered barriers when searching for relevant funding opportunities
The median size grant made by foundations to organizations by and for women and girls of color is $15,000, which is less than half the median grant size for all foundation grants, which was reported as 35,000
And nearly nine in ten organizations by and for women and girls of color focus on three or more issues because of the intersectional reality that they are trying to address.
That is why the approach that Heritage Giving Fund has established has been so impactful. Our grant making focuses specifically on this group because we know that the help is needed. But more importantly we do not simply give funding, but we create close relationships with our grantees and continued education and capacity building for their leadership. It is a beautiful combination of giving both time, talent, and treasure to the organizations in which we fund. The donation of talent helps build the capacity of the organizations and its leadership so that they can be more competitive in the grant cycle and share their story and impact.
