Address and End the Cycle of Philanthropic Harms

Addressing past and ending current harm perpetuated by philanthropy in Southern communities is a need felt and a shared sentiment of Southern organizers. These harms include the use of funding, positional power/influence, and amplification of dehumanizing and overtly violent rhetoric by philanthropic institutions to support the existence of white supremacy, as well as the intentional and unintentional divestment in social change movements and direct services to marginalized communities throughout the South.

Eliminating unintended harms happen when funders learn about the communities they serve by proximity and ultimately recognizing that they too are part of the communities in need of support from the harms of white supremacy.

Make Deep Investments in Infrastructure for Power Building and Equitable Structural Change

1. Support Established Power Building Groups:The U.S. South is home to hundreds of well-established power building groups that have led and been central to some of the most progressive advances in our nation’s history, and yet these groups receive very little national and local funding. Funders interested in being effective social change partners should support both the immediate and long-term needs of community and youth organizing groups and individuals.
   1. Immediate: Fund organizational infrastructure and build capacity for organizing. Local funders should provide direct support to organizations that are already utilizing organizing in their suite of strategies to engage young people and generate community change in the U.S. South.
   2. Long-Term: Support the building of leadership pathways and pipelines. Provide the support for building the emerging generation of youth and adult leaders today that will lead strong and effective organizations in the future. There is a great need to develop a leadership pipeline that will generate a growing base of young people and adults with the skills to lead strong organizations and movements. Organizers suggested offering targeted support, knowledge building, training, and other opportunities for individuals, organizations, and networks to build this pipeline of committed youth and adult leaders.
2. Develop Intentional Strategies to Support “Emerging” Power Building Approaches:
   Organizers expressed that approaches to community change that they have used for decades are sometimes categorized as new or innovative in philanthropic circles. An active way for funders to both learn the history of organizing and to build trust with BIPOC leaders and BIPOC-led organizations is for funders to explicitly support anti-discriminatory efforts for community change. In addition, funders should work with grantee partners to develop capacity building and technical assistance opportunities.
3. Support Collaborative Funding Mechanisms:
   The utilization of numerous funding strategies and structures is key to philanthropy’s ability to be effective partners with Power Building organizations and organizers in the U.S. South. In addition to providing multi-year, unrestricted grants, funders should consider increased support to funding mechanisms (i.e. pooled/collaborative funds, trust-based funding structures, giving circles, community-driven, intermediaries) that can allow for local funders and donors to maximize investments, increase funder responsiveness to immediate and long-term needs, provide the flexibility to be effective when organizational policies and restrictions present barriers to partnership. These mechanisms also provide a learning space that involves action for current and potential funders of Power Building and Equitable Structural Change.
4. Pursue informal co-funding strategies with local and national funders, intermediaries, philanthropic support organizations and fiscal sponsors to broaden the reach and impact of philanthropic funding for organizers, networks and other aspects of movement infrastructure. Connect with your peers to support the gaps that your collective funding could fill.
5. Utilize Cohort-Based Grantmaking and Capacity Building Approaches:
   Cohort-based grantmaking, in which foundations choose several organizations and/or individuals to support with funding, capacity building, and creation of peer learning communities for 5 years or more creates unique opportunities for long-range strategy development and implementation among organizers.
6. Collectively Design Support Opportunities:
   Foundation staff should collaborate with organizers to design effective and efficient funding and other support opportunities. Organizers and leaders of nonprofit social change organizations have called for unrestricted multi-year funding for years. Foundations should also respect nontraditional frameworks, methods, and ideologies, and seek input from organizers to create, measure progress toward, and evaluate outcomes.
7. Pursue Building Community with Organizers:
   Partnerships between Southern grantees and foundation staff and donors need to be transformative, not transactional. They need to draw on the South’s culture of community, hospitality and mutual aid to ensure that both grantee and funder learn and grow because of the relationship. Foundation staff and trustees must recognize that the resources they steward are part of a broader set of resources that operate in communities. While funding is a critical component, the strategic deployment of the resources in partnership with organizers and other community stakeholders is key to progress. When funders learn by being in proximity to the communities they serve, the learn from community organizers and leaders who really understand how to advance change. Grant dollars and other resources can be directed for greater impact.

Invest in the immediate and long-term healing and thriving of Black, Brown, and frontline communities in the South

Philanthropic supports and funding for community-determined activities and infrastructure building including leadership development; organizational/movement financial stability; rest, self-care and wellness (mental health, physical health, reproductive health and reproductive justice, etc.); wealth accumulation; personal, organizational and digital safety/security; co-creation of safe spaces for young people, convening of organizers within their own communities and with other communities, amplification of youth voice and youth power.

Expand Beyond the Realm of 501(c)3

Southern organizations and networks take on structures that may be unfamiliar to foundation staff and donors. Securing 501(c)3 status is beyond the resources of some community organizations. And, if a particular organization grows out of a faith community or other organic social network, achieving 501(c)3 status may not be a priority.

Where advocacy, civic engagement, mutual aid and leadership development are woven into the fabric – for example, communities with legacy Civil Rights Movement infrastructure – foundation staff and donors do their work a disservice if they engage only with established 501(c)3 organizations. Fiscal sponsorships and other creative funding vehicles are often better adapted to the reality of work in the South.

Explore Accessible Application and Reporting Processes

Funders and grantees can work together on sensible application and evaluation methods that don’t unduly burden the grantee. Measuring the impact in small, rural Southern communities can be challenging, especially on the scale that funders often expect. But if foundation staff and grantees have honest, trusting relationships, they can find ways to build evaluation strategies that don’t exclude work in the rural South from consideration.

And, if a funder cannot afford the time and resources this sort of relationship-building and paradigm-adjustment requires, there are philanthropic institutions – such as the Southern Power Fund, Southern Vision Alliance, Contigo Fund, and many other community-based philanthropies all over the South – that stand ready and able to help facilitate and, if appropriate, re-grant investments.