By Sofia Michelakis

We are thrilled with the response to our first three trends last month–the rise of financially independent women, the importance of democracy giving, and the impact of AI on society. Our survey is still open for you to share your thoughts, including what resources would be most useful. So far, engaging in Democracy is slightly edging out the other two topics for our readers, so we are preparing a giving guide for donors this political season. If you’d like to receive a copy, email Sonia to register your interest. 

And now onto Trends 4 and 5, both of which are especially resonant during Black History Month. Combating DEI Fatigue and Wealth Supporting Racial Repair are growing methodologies for how givers are addressing racial equity and justice. 

Trend #4: Combating DEI Fatigue

Inside Philanthropy found mixed results in their study on whether the billions in philanthropic pledges to DEI and racial justice in 2020 following George Floyd’s murder have come to fruition. Simultaneously, there are large retrenchments on DEI in corporate America. And of course, last summer’s Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions is another setback for advancement on closing racial gaps in education. 

We don’t believe that the Students ruling should cause individuals and families to be concerned that giving plans to promote racial equity will actually be threatened. But warnings that the Students ruling could get extended to race-conscious funding decisions, scholarship programs, and other areas could give license to excuses for cutting back on philanthropic racial equity programs. This larger social context and culture of waffling around DEI has an impact on individuals and families and the way they give. We suggest that givers begin with a thorough examination of what kind of impact their giving has on communities of color and who benefits the most by their decisions. 

We have been sought out by many individuals, families, and donor collectives to gain practical learning and knowledge of how to center racial equity and justice in one’s giving, particularly the "first steps" funders can take. From these engagements we know that donors are more apt to act when they learn from social investor peers who are doing this work well, and will ultimately find joy and true inspiration by practically connecting money to meaning.

Undoing generations of racial injustice is not going to be solved in a matter of years. We are buoyed by these clients and other philanthropists who are staying the course in their racial equity journeys and integrating their values into their philanthropic plans. 

Some of the examples of givers leaning into DEI who inspire us:

• The Raikes Foundation living out their commitments to equity and continuing to fund critical race theory education, despite significant backlash.

• Ronda Stryker and William Johnston’s recent historic gift to Spelman College (following on MacKenzie Scott’s major gift in 2020).

• The Ballmer Group’s investment in 100 Black-led organizations to help spur innovative solutions and provide Black leaders with the tools that they need to scale and achieve their missions over the long term.

What to make of this trend: Donors who are concerned about the growing opportunity gaps for Black Americans and Native Americans have many choices. It may be possible to fund efforts to pursue equity within elite institutions in compliance with Students, which has left a small crack open for “race neutral alternatives” like being a descendant from enslaved Americans. In addition, donors may invest in post-secondary schools where the vast majority of underrepresented racial minority students are currently receiving an education. We believe that community colleges are an outstanding place for donors to consider for their philanthropic investments. (See an earlier blog post on this topic.) Most community colleges are experiencing reduced public support and rarely receive large support from alumni donors to augment their resources. Also, HBCUs are seeing rising applications over the last several years, many due to the anticipated Supreme Court ruling, and are another great place for donors to give. 

Trend #5: Wealth Supporting Racial Repair

We have seen a variety of philanthropic efforts showcasing how wealth can be a vital tool for repair. First, a note on terminology. Reparations is a broad term used to describe a process of addressing, healing, and restoring a group of people injured because of their group identity and in violation of their human rights. Expert social movement leaders are pursuing a case for state and federal government racial reparations in the US for Black Americans as a result of not only enslavement, but also its aftermath of Jim Crow, redlining, mass incarceration, and other forms of systemic racial oppression. In this post, I am using racial repair to describe actions by individuals and families to address and remedy harms committed by their predecessors or ancestors. 

There is a growing trend of wealthy individuals and families bringing a lens of racial repair and power shifting into their giving. Whether or not they are funding racial reparations movements (and many are), these donors are not waiting for the government to act in order to respond with accountability and consistency with their racial justice values. Some examples:

• The Libra Foundation, started by members of the Pritzker family, is committed to moving money to groups building BIPOC power. 

• The Share Fund’s Bill and Holly Marklyn believe in shifting wealth and power to communities in their grantmaking and in their investment practices.  

• The fourth generation of a legacy family client of ours decided to address their family’s origin of wealth created by extractive forms of capitalism by creating a new giving entity that directly engages with the communities who were harmed decades past.

As our taxation structure becomes more favorable to the uber-wealthy and the stock market continues to show record gains, those with the most financial means are beginning to ask a new version of the age-old question “how much is enough”. Now for many, the question is “how much is too much?” 

What to make of this trend: There are resources that can help you learn and explore effective ways to apply your wealth to racial repair. This often begins with understanding your family history and wealth origin story. While at times the work can feel heavy, we’ve found that donors ultimately find huge satisfaction and joy in coming to terms with the past so that they can face the future with a deep sense of purpose and integrity. At Phīla, we regularly work with multi-generational families on examining the meaning and purpose of their wealth as a path toward justice. Increasingly, we are asked to facilitate family meetings around sensitive topics and develop customized plans that reflect the intentions behind a family’s revised legacy that honors their efforts to repair harms of the past. As long as wealth continues to accumulate at the pace it is currently, we do not see this trend slowing. Philanthropists who are attune to the racial wealth gap will continue to find novel ways to redistribute wealth to those who have long been denied it.

It has been an enlightening exercise to examine these trends and report out our interpretations. I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did. It will be interesting to look back a year from now and see where we will be. While I can’t predict the future, one thing is certain, we are living in the middle of a profound period of change as the old ways of giving become more and more antiquated. Where this all takes us is a question for the ages. Thank you for taking this ride with me! And as always, never hesitate to reach out to me or anyone else on the team with questions or comments.

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Additional Resources

• For a thorough legal analysis of implications of Students for Fair Admissions for the charitable sector, read Davis Wright Tremaine’s memo, which addresses why values-based grant programs that prioritize racial disparities should be safe from legal challenges. 

• If you are interested in joining other donors to pursue racial reparations at the federal and state level, contact Liberation Ventures. Also, you can learn more about the role of philanthropy to build a culture of racial repair in this article that they co-authored with Bridgespan. 

• The Decolonizing Wealth Toolkit created by Edgar Villanueva and the Decolonizing Wealth Project is a good starting point for beginning a racial repair journey. 

• The Good Ancestor Movement, founded by Stephanie Brobbey, is a UK advisory firm working with families to help them redistribute wealth and restore communities and natural resources.