Donors of Color Can Enact Change by Directing Their Dollars to Uphold Their Personal Beliefs
By: Hali Lee, Co-Director of the Donors of Color Network
Last week, on Juneteenth, our (c)(4) affiliate, Donors of Color Action, launched its Inclusion Principles, as noted in Politico. The Principles inform potential recipients of our Network’s political dollars that we expect them to do their hiring, spending, funding and allocating with a racial equity lens. Here are our Inclusion Principles:
Allocate at least 30 percent of your overall 2020 budget to spending in communities of color and in indigenous communities, or on behalf of candidates and/or communities of color;
Fund organizations led by black, indigenous and people of color, with attention to women-of-color-led organizations, with relevant expertise to carry out programming in communities of color and in indigenous communities;
Build Leadership: Ensure that all vendors, consultants and partner organizations are either owned by people of color or include people of color in senior leadership roles with substantive decision-making and spending authority;
Hire senior staff that includes people of color and indigenous people with substantive decision-making and spending authority; and
Produce an end-of-cycle report that is publicly available and confirms the organization complied with the Principles and provides details regarding how you achieved compliance.
The Principles are simple: spend your money, hire your team and fund organizations in a way that prioritizes representation, is reflective of our pluralistic democracy and centers black, Indigenous and people of color communities. Then, be accountable to us, as donors to your organization, by tracking and evaluating how you have performed.
We launched our Principles in the political arena, but they are relevant and useful in many others. Imagine if YOU took these principles to a corporate entity, a foundation board or non-profit organization, or a cultural organization that you were thinking of supporting, or joining, and said, “OK, I’ll do this, but in exchange, I would like you to sign on to these Principles.” If we ALL did this, we might drive real change — in terms of budgeting equity and more diverse and representative hiring (especially in leadership and on boards) and funding.
We all have power — the power of our time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties. We can become more powerful TOGETHER than the sum of our individual parts.
Our Donors of Color Network (c)(3) was launched one year ago at a Native co-owned retreat space in New Mexico. We gathered 70 people, 50 individual donors of color and 20 staff, organizers and movement geniuses. The vibe, heart, love, connection and POWER in that room were palpable. We left the foothills of the Sandia Mountains with the founding DNA of an inaugural cross-race group of individual donors of color, aligned around a set of values that prioritize the leadership and priorities of black, indigenous and POC communities.
We completed three years of research before that gathering. Despite numbering more than 1.3 million people, people of color with high net worth (HNW) are largely absent from organized philanthropic donor networks, non-profit and foundation boards, and communities of color are underrepresented in the giving of most foundations.
Yet, as our research clearly shows, HNW donors of color in the United States exist in large numbers, are powerful, and generous. We have the interest, means, ability, desire, and skill to invest in systemic change and racial equity. We understand that our life experiences, vision, and leadership are vital in this historical moment in which the salience of race and racism to every institution and system in U.S. society is glaringly evident.
Our absence results in key experiences, voices and insight missing from decision-making tables, and it has contributed to a significant under-resourcing of work to achieve racial equity.
Our Network is a community of strategic donors and movement organizers working across race, national origin and intersections of gender, sexual orientation, religion and ability, to impact the central racial, economic, political and social crises of our time. We are building a community that centers joy, love, being in values-aligned and authentic relationships, and power.
We all have power — the power of our time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties. We can become more powerful TOGETHER than the sum of our individual parts. In philanthropy, folks struggle to be “impactful” with their giving, yet they are simultaneously unwilling to put a values frame around their giving strategy. What is the ultimate reason that are we doing this work? What change do we want to see in the world and how is our giving (whether that giving is philanthropic, political or private sector investing) helping us get there?
At Donors of Color, we argue that one cannot be impactful without a values frame. Our values as a community relate to prioritizing racial, social, gender and economic equity. We do our best to think with a systems frame, and we truly center joy and love in our work and in our relationships with each other.
We want our resources — political, charitable and private sector — to move in the world aligned with our values. We know that we are more powerful together than each of us can be alone. We know that it is more FUN and more meaningful if we do our work in joyful community with each other. We are building the party WE envision, and we welcome the partnership of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC) and the WOC community. Join us.
Hali Lee, Co-Director of the Donors of Color Network
Hali Lee is Co-Director of the Donors of Color Network, the only national project that is researching, engaging and networking high net wealth donors of color across race, ethnicity and life experience. The Donors of Color Network is a new community (launched in March 2019) that aims to shift the center of gravity politically and philanthropically to prioritize the concerns and leadership of communities of color. Hali was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in Kansas City. She graduated from Princeton University, studied Buddhism in Bangkok, Thailand and received a Masters in Social Work from New York University. Hali is the founder of the Asian Women Giving Circle and is part of a co-design team for PhilanthropyTogether, which aims to undergird the collective giving movement nationally. Hali lives in Brooklyn, NY along with her family, two cats, a big dog and several hives of honeybees.
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