The #NikoleHannahJones story is an incredible example of the way white donors and big philanthropy use their money to try to silence and control. Our work is supported until it presses up against the systems that made them rich in the first place.
Here's an example on a smaller scale: We had applied for, received, and cashed a large check from a corporate donor. And then got a call because after cutting the check, they did due diligence 👀, and asked us to take the phrase 'white supremacy' off of our website.
When we refused, they asked us to return the money. We actually had to cut a paper check to give them back their cash, because they were cool with helping Black and Latinx people get jobs, but not with addressing the actual systems that make it hard for us to get those jobs.
We've had funders who take hours upon hours of staff time to hear our ideas, and then say they can't fund us. Usually this is left to a POC Program Officer who had to make the case for funding to an all-white board. We never even get to talk with the decision makers.
I can't tell you how many conversations I've been in with funders who richsplain to me how to run our programs. Who suggest new programs they're willing to fund that have nothing to do with our mission. If I address it or redirect, we never hear from them again.
What is the most demeaning is the paternalism. The demand that we prove that we are not going to squander these gifts. The jumping through hoops that we KNOW white-led orgs don't have to deal with. So much vetting, and then gifts the fraction of what white-led orgs receive.
Alternately, I've had two convos recently w tech CEOs who gave big gifts, one the biggest in our history. One convo, no reporting, no proving we're responsible. One of them said--I'm a CEO, you're a CEO, I trust you know what to do with this money. I got off the phone and cried.
This is why the community centric fundraising movement has exploded cc @MichelleSMuri @NonprofitAF. Bc we know our ppl will support our work, and trust us to be good stewards. There's less to prove bc we aren't starting from a deficit in their eyes.
Anyway, moral of the story is as soon as we expand the work to focus on the root of the problem, suddenly we're suspect, and in some cases, blacklisted. whitelisted?🤔
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