Giving Platforms Collaborate to Back Black-Led Nonprofits

The campaign grew out of the Giving Platform Collaborative, which was created in April at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Greater Giving Summit. BackBlack is its first initiative, and one that came together in about five weeks, says Floyd Jones, Givebutter’s director of community and partnerships, who is coordinating the movement. 

Jones initiated a similar effort last August in conjunction with Black Philanthropy Month at Givebutter—a fundraising platform that’s free for users. Beginning with a US$10,000 investment, the platform raised more than US$300,000 for 150 Black-led nonprofits. 

“I said, ‘If we can just make this small investment, what can happen when multiple [organizations] can get involved?’” Jones says. In March, he brought that idea to the Greater Giving Summit, beginning with the question: How can all these platforms come together and work together for the people they are trying to serve? 

The inequities in funding to Black-led nonprofits and communities becomes glaring when compared to the support provided to their white-led peers. 

Revenues for Black-led nonprofits are 24% less than received by similar white-led organizations, BackBlack said in the release. And the percentage of their budgets in unrestricted net assets—which provide organizations with freedom to put dollars where they find them to be most effective—is 76% less, the campaign said, citing 2020 data from a paper by the Bridgespan Group and Echoing Green. 

Also, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy has found that Black communities are underfunded by US$2 billion, as they only receive 1% of community foundation funding. 

Turning the tide won’t be easy. Many of these inequities are rooted in decades of structural racism. Funders, for instance, may not donate to Black-led organizations that aren’t already supported in some way by other donors or organizations that they know. 

“If Black people don’t have the relationships and the identity capital to continue to excel, then they’re oftentimes going to continue to be left behind,” Jones says. 

He recalls speaking earlier this week with a doctor who is raising funds to support a mobile health truck in her community to provide basic services. The idea is supported by the community, but it’s going “to take major resources and major partners to get it off the ground,” Jones says. 

But major donors have told her, “We need to see what other funders are involved. We need to see who else is on your board. We want you to have three years of financials,” hurdles that aren’t easily met. 

“We have to separate from the old way of doing things, the old frameworks, the old methodologies, and ideologies,” Jones says. 

The BackBlack platform will assist this transition with resources and funding to achieve “shared goals” between donors, giving platforms, and nonprofits. 

Giving Gap, a platform that advances racial equity in charitable giving, for instance, has collected the employer identification numbers of 1,200 Black-led nonprofits, and has made this resource available to all the participating BackBlack platforms so that they can research giving trends, how these groups are being supported, and what they need for the future. 

In some cases, the giving platforms that support BackBlack will match donor contributions. Network for Good Donor Advised Fund, for instance, will match funds made to a vetted Black-led nonprofit, and Grapevine, which focuses on giving circles, will match any gift up to US$5,000, Jones says.

Ultimately, BackBlack will be a central hub where donors can filter and find organizations that are aligned with their mission or personal passion. 

“Giving platforms have tremendous influence on where donors choose to donate,” Heather Infantry, Giving Gap’s CEO. “Supporting Black leaders and nonprofits is a critical piece in tackling systemic racism.”