To Our Community,
The thing about a moment is that it comes and goes. We have seen moments when the hope of racial justice seemed within reach and, every time, we have seen them go.
We are now in a precious moment of potential. The racism, white supremacy, and anti-Blackness that is baked and caked in/onto American life—and that results in an ever-evolving but systemic devaluation of Black life, meant to protect and grow the standing of white people—is, for growing masses of us, exposed. And vulnerable.
It is being exposed in philanthropy, in our own work at the Opportunity Fund, and it is reflected in the proposals we receive. To wit, almost every proposal we read to address an issue of injustice reflects a system—housing, transportation, criminal justice, human services, healthcare, etc.—that creates disparately negative outcomes for people of color. Moreover, as quantified in the vast majority of our pool of proposals, the systems create the very worst of outcomes for Black people. This has been true in every one of the nine grant cycles since the foundation was established.
We are coming to recognize that the way we generally go about business at the Opportunity Fund tacitly accepts the permanency of the current status quo: that many Black people will live and die under worse conditions than almost everybody else. But we do not, in fact, accept this. That is why we are letting this moment change us.
To change, we are:
Deepening our commitment to Racial Justice by making it an explicit part of our mission, as a focus over all of our social & economic justice (SEJ) funding.
This is the time to invest transformatively. We chose not to create a special “Racial Justice Fund,” because no fund we could create would ever be larger than our general grantmaking budget. We want this giving to be large and long term.
We will prioritize funding for SEJ proposals that explicitly and effectively work to lessen and, ultimately, help end disparately negative outcomes for people of color—and, most specifically, for Black people. We will prioritize work that is led by those most directly impacted, which means that we will increase the overall amount of funds we award to Black-led organizations.
Adding Black-Led Movement Work as a new subcategory under our SEJ funding category.
For generations, activists, educators, artists, and movement leaders have creatively pressed to realize a different reality, one in which Black lives matter — and thrive. Now, it seems like a critical mass is standing in solidarity and that, we dare to hope, change is possible.
This is why the Opportunity Fund is elevating Black-Led Movement Work as a core funding subcategory under which groups can apply for funds: because it is effective; because it is powerful; because it is visionary; because it is just; because all boats will rise when we live in a society that truly believes #BlackLivesMatter. Because we want to create a clear avenue to direct funds to more grassroots efforts that are explicitly led by Black people.
Increasing the number of Black-led Arts organizations to which we provide multi-year, general operating funds.
We have been inequitable in the way we have awarded multi-year, general operating grants in our Arts funding categories. These grants provide reliable, long-term, flexible funding, which we have come to understand is necessary for transformative work. Since our inception, of the 13 multi-year general operating grants awarded to Arts organizations, only one of these organizations is Black-led.
We commit to correcting this inequity by steadily increasing the number of Black-led Arts organizations to which we award these prized grants. To be clear, this is not a problem we will correct overnight. The funds will continue to be sourced from our general grantmaking budget, and we cannot commit that amount of funds all at once for multiple years and simultaneously meet our other priorities. But our commitment stands and we will share data to update our communities on our progress.
Committing to making 2020 the last year that the Opportunity Fund is an entirely white-led foundation.
We believe our work, like all others’, should be led by those whom it is meant to serve and/or who are most impacted. Black people are often most impacted by the injustices upon which our work focuses, and our team does not include any Black leadership. We are excited for this to change, and know it will make our work stronger.
Forming an all-Black Advisory Team to help us design and implement a new fund that might focus on “Returning the ‘Right to Rest’ to Black people” and/or on Self-Care for Black people.
In truth, we do not yet know. From its beginning, we want this fund to be developed by and for Black people. The fund’s goals, guidelines, structure, and processes will be designed by the Advisory Team, with input from the Opportunity Fund’s board and staff. Once the guidelines are set, final grant decisions will be made by panelists, 100% of whom will self-identify as being Black/African American/people of African descent. The fund may or may not be housed at the Opportunity Fund.
We are committed to establishing this fund, and know doing so will take time. We will aim to complete the fund’s design and—if the Advisory Team believes it should directly support individuals—seek IRS permission by the end of 2020.
The Opportunity Fund will begin by allocating $50,000 to this fund. The fund will be further supplemented, we hope, by individual donors—especially white donors—whom we will actively invite to contribute. We have never solicited donations before, but we are driven.
Finally, credit must be given to three colleagues who have knowingly and unknowingly influenced our thinking on this. In alphabetical order: Karen Abrams of The Heinz Endowments, Medina Jackson of Pitt’s Office of Child Development, and Michelle McMurray of The Pittsburgh Foundation.
Becoming more transparent about the demographic data we collect and analyze during each grant cycle.
While imperfect, our current data collection and analysis is fairly rigorous. At the outset of each board meeting, we review data about the current group of applicants and how this data compares to all past applicants and grantees, and we examine trends over time. Moving forward, we will share the most relevant data and analysis on our website. Because we are accountable to you.
Participating in an anti-racism learning affinity group for white philanthropic professionals, on an ongoing basis.
If we want to help repair the world, we must repair ourselves.
This moment will pass. But when we move into the next one, we will be different. As our learning and understanding continues to deepen, we expect we will change again. The constant, though, will be our continued desire to partner with all of you to create the lasting change we need.
In solidarity,
Jake, Tiffany, and Idy
