philanthropy, “if you say you’re about it, then be about it.”

The philanthropic has come to love a statement. It has become a bit of a sport for institutions to craft a heavily curated statement to name what they stand for or against and pepper LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and any other statement-worthy platform with wordy responses to police killings, hate crimes, court rulings, and so much more.

It’s no surprise that the recent Supreme Court decision to upend affirmative action triggered another wave. And many of these statements warrant a deep side eye as they are coming from institutions that operate from the same ideology as the conservative Supreme Court judges. That is to say, they willfully and actively resist acknowledging the impacts that race has on access to higher education, opportunities, and livelihood in this country. 

Boards and leadership across philanthropy have decided to remain willfully “risk averse” to funding, designing, and standing in solidarity with populations that have been historically excluded, exploited, and scapegoated. Countless institutions cling to the idea that things will “correct” themselves without intentional and monumental interventions. 

It’s as if the Supreme Court ruling made these institutions forget the ways they have been saying “hard pass” to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led leadership and programming. As if they haven’t been gutting their internal equity work and trying to rally behind a pluralistic approach to philanthropy including the mind-blogging stance that: “We behave as if the foundations and individual donors who take stances with which we disagree are also committed to the betterment of society.” {insert melting face emoji} 

As the nation strips away abortion and reproductive access, protections for people of color and LGBTQIIA+, and bans access to literal history, it's become increasingly frustrating to watch philanthropy put more thought into a statement than into their funding strategies and organizational ideologies that reinforce the Supreme Court’s disregard for a large swath of the population.

Understand that the rejection of student debt cancellation, the upholding of discrimination of LGBTQIA+ folks based on religious beliefs, the undoing of Roe v. Wade, and the undoing of affirmative action intersect to even further constrict the livelihood of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. 

The need for identity-specific funding strategies isn’t just a “nice to have”, it’s imperative given how blatantly certain identities are being stripped of their basic rights and ability to survive.

And it’s wild that philanthropic institutions, which are often staffed up with the best in-house lawyers, and leaders with significant influence, and massive wealth, are telling these communities, who are quite literally fighting for their rights and lives, that they are unwilling to shoulder “risk” by funding their work. All the while, sidestepping the reality that the philanthropic sector exists because of extraction and exploitation of these same communities.

Tell me, what is the risk? 

And how is it that these foundations, that hold so much power, are asking communities who are fighting just to stay afloat to make concessions to appease them?

While philanthropists and philanthropic institutions focus on reputation and existing in perpetuity, the real legacy will be us watching you sit on your hands (and more money that could be spent in many lifetimes) while many are denied basic access in this country.

Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color have always understood that our liberation isn’t tied to a nation that excluded us in its founding and AND also recognizes that in the face of our rising power, this nation will do everything in its power to cut off oxygen from our communities. 

Please keep your statements. What we need is for you to understand that to alleviate some of the pressure of the very calculated systemic, institutionalized, and targeted racism that this nation is predicated upon, the resistance needs to be as measured, targeted, and resourced. 

We no longer (ever, actually) had time for performative philanthropy and now more than ever, especially if you’re going to write solidarity statements, it’s time for you to truly be about it.