Towards Better Philanthropy

I’ve been paying rapt attention to the voices rising up from community organizations demanding better philanthropy.  See this fantastic letter (one of the signatories is a BCoop Board member!), this deeply profound and urgent essay, and many of Vu Le’s blog posts, including this one, as examples. They are speaking from their lived experiences in the day-to-day grind of nonprofits trying to raise money. They resonate 1000% with Brooklyn Coop’s experiences as well. 

This spring, CoVID-19 wrought a health catastrophe upon the Black and brown neighborhoods BCoop serves. Plus, the total lockdown in NYC brought an economic catastrophe to every single small business here. Minute by minute, our members toggled between fears for their families’ safety and fears of the consequences of economic upheaval. The trauma runs deep.

Many in philanthropy stepped up to this challenge. Inclusiv, Brooklyn Community Foundation, NALCAB, Prosperity Now, Robin Hood, and our regulator the NCUA (truly unexpected!) were able to send meaningful contributions to Brooklyn Coop and Grow Brooklyn within 60-90 days of the emergence of the crisis. Besides the gift of money, they gifted us time in the form of eliminating basically all their application requirements. They understood that uploading 15 attachments wasn’t what BCoop staff ought to be doing as opposed to, say, disbursing PPP loans. 

Then there are the others, the foundations who expect us to create custom attachments, fill out their own special budget forms, paste responses to duplicative application questions into (yet another) custom web form, and announce absurdly short application deadlines as if no other thing on my desk could possible be as important as their grant program.*

I do not accept that such applications actually speak to the merit of a nonprofit’s work. Actually, I believe they are barely more than CYA. They elevate process for its own sake, perpetuating a white supremacy culture that values perfectionism and a worship of the written word. They hide behind excessive attachments in order to avoid grappling with the complexity of how most nonprofits keep the lights on every day. They seek to put the incredibly wide-ranging work of nonprofits into boxes that the funders define, rather than doing the work of finding out what we do.

In the past month my frustrations boiled over as I sought out funds that CitiFoundation and Wells Fargo set aside, with great fanfare, specifically for CDFIs that serve small businesses, particularly in Black and brown neighborhoods. There is no more perfect fit for these criteria than Brooklyn Coop, a certified CDFI since 2002.

Yet credit unions were not eligible to apply. 

Because only 501c3 organizations could apply. 

Because, it seems, not one person on their funding committees has the barest familiarity with what CDFIs actually are.

Because, even as I have repeatedly explained in phone conversations with these program officials that 501c1 organizations like credit unions are also IRS-recognized, not-for-profit, corporations they don’t get it. They tell me it is not up to them, they have to abide by their legal counsel. 

Because actually putting their “legal counsel” on the phone is too much to ask and I just need to stop calling and wait in silence for the next round. Not even a global pandemic is important enough to interrupt legal counsel.

Because gauging the actual needs of our communities alongside the unique innovations of Brooklyn Coop doing the work that these banks refuse to do in the first place … well, apparently, figuring all that out is someone else’s job. 

Mx. Bibbins’ NPQ article says it best: “Funders must … believe that those closest to the problems have the solutions. … [T]he urgency of the moment, and the needed pace of change requires shifts in thinking and culture, as well as new tools and strategies that elevate, support, and celebrate BIPOC communities.” 

P’alante! 

 * venting is self-care!!