All over the world, Black feminists are fighting to preserve hard won gains and freedoms. It’s time for more people in philanthropy to follow their lead by being equally visionary and creative in how we redistribute money, writes Vanessa Thomas.
We are in a moment of liminality. You might look around and note all the work to be done. Yet, what an opportunity we have to move into an existence that each of us can mold, and to build a world that is safe, joyful, and affirming of us all.
It is true that much of the world is grappling with its own contextual version of autocracy, the climate disaster spares no one, and conflicts continue for as long as there is political will, backing, and funding. Polycrisis, a reality where multiple, interrelated crises combine to create compounded, outsized effects, is the term widely used to describe this moment.
However, as Black feminists, we recognize this is not new. It is the context that Black women, girls, and gender expansive people have long existed within. The road to liberation is fraught, fragile, and long; nevertheless generations of Black feminists have pushed ahead when the terrain was just as difficult and uncertain.
One in ten women live in extreme poverty. Conversely, in 2024 billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion, an expansion that amounts to $5.7 billion a day. Such obscene wealth accumulation is not a testament to rich people’s intelligence, hard work, or ingenuity, but of their willingness to engage in systems designed for the exploitation of people and the planet.
Philanthropy must be understood as deeply intertwined within political, economic, and cultural structures, and we must acknowledge how charitable giving often serves to sanitize the ill effects of these systems. Contending with this truth enables us to situate our work in philanthropy as an act of repair, not simply a benevolent act of generosity. We can take on a role that recognizes all our healing is interconnected, and we have a moral imperative that enables us to work together in relationships of real solidarity.
Progress is never linear. The perceived and real gains that movements have ardently fought for — from gender affirming health care to calls for racial justice have forced the gatekeepers of power to double down, consolidating power and even rewriting facts at will. The flavor of this repression presents slightly differently in each context, but bodily obedience, submission to the state, ecological destruction, and gluttonous financial profits are present in every case.
All over the world, Black feminists are fighting to preserve hard won gains and freedoms... It’s time for more people in philanthropy to follow their lead.
At the Black Feminist Fund, we recognize the responsibility that comes with being located at the nexus between the old ways and the new. We are in philanthropy, but we are not of philanthropy, and this embodied pluralism is our power. While less than 1 percent of aid funding moves to feminist movements, and 0.1 percent moves to Black feminist movements, we are here as a model of solidarity funding, mobilizing the resources that Black women and gender expansive people deserve.
Our criteria and process for grantmaking reflects a power analysis that is rooted in a Black feminist politics that understands how harm from multiple oppressions compounds to create layered levels of injustice. In practice, that means we are in the business of funding abundantly and without restriction, moving money from the center to the margins, and operating in ways that move at the speed of trust.
Our love for Black feminist movements runs deep, but this power analysis makes clear that such movements offer bold solutions and alternatives that benefit everyone.
This is not a time for anticipatory obedience or passive adaptation. It is past time for funders who care about racial and gender justice to step up and invest in Black feminist movements with the urgency and abundance required, funding expansively and beyond the limiting binaries that feel comfortable and safe. This means resourcing creatively and in a plethora of ways, including investing in narrative and base building strategies, land back campaigns, and capital costs.
Such investments enable communities to own the infrastructure they need to live autonomously and with agency, whilst recognizing the multiple prongs required for systemic change.
The Black Feminist Fund is not alone. Our peers in this work such as ISDAO, UHAI EASHRI, and AWDF demonstrate that this way of being is not an aspiration, but a tangible and possible reality. All over the world, Black feminists are fighting to preserve hard won gains and freedoms. They are building bountiful alternatives and demonstrating that just futures are possible through mutual aid projects, restorative economic models, land stewardship, urban farms, worker cooperatives, and more. It’s time for more people in philanthropy to follow their lead by being equally visionary and creative in how we redistribute money.
As of December 2024, the total assets US foundations possess is more than $1.6 trillion, and $251 billion is held in donor-advised funds. For most of us, these sums are beyond comprehension. Yet, even more outrageous is how this wealth is hoarded and invested to uphold philanthropic institutions instead of redistributed to where it’s most needed. Those of us who work in philanthropy have a mandate to come together and do the strategic organizing and modelling that will push our colleagues beyond hesitation. The invitation to funders is clear: operate within a framework that is rooted in repair and meaningful solidarity with movements that have long been leading the way toward a liberated future.
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Vanessa Thomas is the Program Manager at the Black Feminist Fund. Vanessa also currently serves as a Trustee at Forward, a Steering Group Member for the Baobab Foundation, and is the Co-Founder of Diasporic Development.
The Myths of Philanthropy series is being published in collaboration with the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Elemental, and VITA.
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