Reimagining Investments
To bring the framework and recommendations to life, we included eight case stories from local and national funders that are applying an equity lens with a range of strategies to support Relief through Resilience. Four of the funders have employed a two-pronged approach of investing in systems change and programs. Three others are focused on on-the-ground interventions, and another is predominantly investing at the systems level. To support their strategies, they have made changes inward, outward, around, and onward.
Y&H Soda Foundation
In 2018, the organization doubled down on the approach “to embed equity internally because it will show up externally.”
The Annie E. Casey Foundation:
Southern Partnership to Reduce Debt
SPRD was created to tackle the racial-ethnic wealth gap. In designing the initiative, the Casey Foundation focused on three actions.
JPMorgan Chase & Co: Entrepreneurs of Color Fund
JPMorgan Chase recently announced a $42.5 million commitment to expand the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund. Since its inception in Detroit in 2015, the EOCF has provided over 1,200 loans and deployed more than $32 million in capital to entrepreneurs of color.
San Francisco Foundation
SFF works to ensure that all people in the Bay Area are “economically secure, rooted in vibrant communities, and civically engaged.” Since its founding in 1948, SFF has distributed $2.3 billion in grants to nonprofits. SFF’s entire program strategy centers on racial equity and economic inclusion.
Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation: Delta Owned
The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation invested $500,000 to launch Delta Owned, a collaborative initiative among nonprofits, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and philanthropy to provide needed capital to predominantly Black-owned small businesses in the Arkansas Delta that might otherwise fail due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Con Alma Health Foundation
The Foundation’s mission is “to be aware of and respond to the health rights and needs of the culturally and demographically diverse peoples and communities of New Mexico.” As such, the foundation’s advocacy and grantmaking ties into the social determinants of health (SDOH), such as income and housing, and emphasizes long-term policy solutions that address root causes and are informed by community voices.
Citi
Citi supported the National Urban League’s Financial Savings Initiative, in partnership with fintech Esusu, which commenced in November 2019. Esusu is a rotational savings and credit building app, which acts as a rental data reporting service that aims to simplify credit building to improve savings.
Prudential Financial
As part of the company’s commitment to redouble efforts to advance racial equity, the team began with a diversity scan of its grantees to look objectively at and benchmark the demographic make-up of its partners.
This paper was generously sponsored by:
