Author: Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro

2020 has not been the year we expected it to be and in the video below, we hear from donors who have found meaning in their giving and support of the Foundation. The Community Foundation has been a steady resource and can be counted on to make a difference in the community this year and every year after.

The Community Foundation is able to respond strategically and quickly to the planned and unplanned needs in our community. We are able to do this through donor support of the Community Leadership Fund which provides important discretionary resources while engaging all sectors and voices in Greensboro. If you would like to give now to the Community Leadership Fund, click here.

If you would like to learn more about how the Community Foundation can help you reach your philanthropic goals, contact Phelps Sprinkle or Emily Thompson.

Greensboro, NC – At its fall meeting, the Board of Directors for the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro unanimously approved a $250,000 grant to the Black Investments in Greensboro (BIG) Equity Fund.

The BIG Equity Fund was established December 2019 with initial funding from Black donors with a vision to be a philanthropic powerhouse that transforms the educational, health and social well-being of the Black community.  In 2015, W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded a grant to CFGG to expand its relationships with donors of color. Over the past five years, through the Expanding Community Giving initiative, CFGG has made significant strides engaging more ethnically and racially diverse donors. This activity highlighted the lack of a permanent endowment focused on funding critical issues in the black community, resulting in the establishment of the Black Investments in Greensboro (BIG) Equity Fund.

According to Athan Lindsay, Director of Community Philanthropy, “Black Investments in Greensboro (BIG) Equity Fund represents the future of black leadership. BIG Equity Fund will be the leading funder on the cutting edge of redefining how funding decisions are made in addressing social justice and racial equity issues.”

“We are thrilled with the unanimous support from our board,” said Walker Sanders, Foundation President. “The unprecedented times we are living in required an unprecedented response. This moment in time presents a unique opportunity for our community to demonstrate its long-term commitment to combating racism and racial inequity.”

The Community Foundation’s Board of Directors has adopted the BIG Equity Fund as its core strategic objective in its anti-racism work along with its continued support of the Expanding Community Giving initiative.

The BIG Equity Fund has secured over $600,000 in commitments. During Black Philanthropy Month in August, the fund launched a community-wide campaign to raise $3 million for the endowment.  Grants from the fund will initially support small business development with a focus on wealth building support, addressing the digital divide, especially when it limits educational growth, and addressing health care disparities in the Black community.

News and Record: An investment fund for the Black community

The fund has been featured in the News and Record and Tracy Clemmons’s Fox8 Series “In Black and White.”

BIG Equity Fund is first Greensboro endowment focused on the Black community

For more information about the BIG Equity Fund, please select the BIG Equity Fund in the Initiatives section of this website.

I have really struggled to put into writing the emotions I have felt over the last three months. From the anticipation of opening a new performing arts center to helping address locally how we responded to a world-wide pandemic, to, now, another act of racism.

When the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro was founded 37 years ago, the founders’ vision was to create an organization for the community to rely on in times of need. An organization for individuals to be able to give back to their community, and an organization for leaders to be collaborative around critical community issues. Never has that vision been more relevant than in today’s times.

I have learned in my 26 years of working professionally in philanthropy, that the hardest thing to do in a community is to “ignite the comfortable.” Let me explain.

In 2001, after 9/11, everyone said we are living in “unprecedented times.” We had just been attacked by terrorists, and it made us all uncomfortable. It was easy to ignite a response because it was about someone else. It was not about “us”, and we were going to go after “them” to hold “them” accountable for their actions. Now, almost 20 years later, we are once again saying, we are living in “unprecedented times”. But this time it is not about “them”. Sadly, it is about “us”.

Never has it been more important for “us” to work together, to combine our resources for others, establish partnerships to effectively help our neighbors, and leverage those connections such that we can navigate this storm in our own personal and unique ways. And communities across the country and in Greensboro have been doing this. Locally, we have raised millions of dollars for nonprofits providing direct services to those in need. Companies have shifted their manufacturing capabilities to provide critically needed PPE, and countless small business owners have found assistance with loans and grants.

It is quite inspiring.

Personally, I have been optimistic and hopeful that this new sense of togetherness, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit would help forge a new path for us as individuals and as a community. It would ignite a path to re-design outdated systems and old institutions in a way that was inclusive and equitable. These 20th century systems and institutions suddenly had the opportunity to adapt, evolve, and transform into new digital systems and modern institutions for a 21st century world. And, along with it, new attitudes and perspectives on each other and our world.

Then, a black man – yes, another black man, George Floyd – is senselessly murdered by a police officer, and we are thrust back into, once again, conversations about the huge injustices present in our outdated systems and old institutions. Many of us (mostly white people) have the privilege of not having to live with these injustices every day. As upset as we are about this incident, and as unfair and wrong as we know it is, many of us will have the privilege of going back to our comfortable and safe lives after all the noise quiets down.

Philanthropy has been at the heart of major advancements in society for generations and will continue to play an important role long into the future, but only if we can ignite the comfortable to use the power, privilege and resources we are afforded to create meaningful, deep and transformative change that combats racism as its own deadly disease.

Sometimes a system must come to a breaking point to be ready for change. In that moment, something tips. There is a broader understanding that the pain of maintaining the status quo exceeds the pain of change. I am hopeful that moment is now.

What can your Community Foundation do? We will continue to use a racial equity lens in all our work. We will continue to expand our Expanding Community Giving Initiative. We will continue our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work with an even greater commitment. We know the issues, but we have not solved them. We do not know the answers, but, with humility, courage, and commitment, we can cultivate and grow the relationships that will. Join with us in this work so the conversation doesn’t simply quiet down. We know it is not going away.

Walker Sanders
President, Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro
June 2, 2020