By Danielle Torain and Julia Baez, Photo: Ian Harpool/Open Society Institute-Baltimore, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, May 5, 2022
Since George Floyd’s murder two years ago this month, and the national racial reckoning that followed, many grant makers have embraced the notion that to be truly transformative they must give up their power and work in partnership with the communities they aim to serve. Few, however, have successfully shifted from good intentions to genuine action.
Three Chicago-area foundations recognized the problem last month when they announced the formation of a program called Abundance that would bring grant makers together to share practices for increasing support to Black-led nonprofits. That struck a chord with us.
For more than two years, our organizations, Open Society Institute-Baltimore and Baltimore’s Promise, have worked together to achieve what should be simple goals: to provide more support for groups whose leaders live and work in the city’s historically underinvested communities while putting funding decisions in the hands of those who understand best what their neighbors need.
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