Colonialism – philanthropy and the brave new world
In the U.S., Indigenous People’s Day, formerly known as Columbus Day, has been celebrated and colonialism is on our minds. As a nomer for inequality and racism throughout the centuries, colonialism has lately been used to describe practices and attitudes around funding of nonprofits, a lack of diversity in leadership, and maintaining archaic objectives and strategies that benefit the status quo.
Included in the concept is a dimension where leadership are made up of white men over fifty, supported by mostly white women serving as gatekeepers, not only but significantly, of the application process. Hovering over Board roles as well as operations, this repressive ideal is perpetuating the old, staid, top-down model. Fewer for-profit businesses are run in this antiquated fashion, but many nonprofits are.
An abundant of reporting relate to how philanthropy is led by that old, tired cadre of white men; over 60% of executive positions are held by this group. More pointedly, today's nonprofit employees are approximately 82 percent white, 10 percent African-American, 5 percent Hispanic/Latino, 3 percent other, and 1 percent Asian or Pacific Islander. And rather than coming in with humility and open eyes, transitioning and retired CEOs from the business side enter the charity world forgetting that investing in staff, communications and HR will yield results – better productivity and ROI. General funding is also regularly on the chopping block in this colonial worldview.
Colonialism is also present when setting funding priorities by philanthropies, as well as in efforts to outlining strategies for nonprofits I was recently in a meeting where drawing up the next 5-year plan was on the agenda. Visions, mission statement, governance, communications, leadership were all on the table. But as I was following the discussion, I was filled with frustration; this was not right. In the spirit of new philanthropy, I knew that whatever was created in this bubble of a Zoom meeting with participants in leadership roles, would not last, be sustainable, or even fit what was actually going on out in the field. How were we to decide what to focus on, to support, who and how to engage, without listening to those who were experiencing it first-hand?
Edgar Villanueva minted the concept decolonizing wealth in philanthropy. A spiritual abolitionist, caretaker and poet working at the intersection of philanthropy and grassroots movements for social change, The Decolonizing Wealth Project is disrupting the existing systems of moving and controlling capital. Seeking truth, reconciliation, and healing from the ails of colonialization through education through radical reparative giving, and narrative change, his project has reached a wide audience and set the stage for new thinking – and listening – in philanthropy. (Another group working in the same dimension is Community-Centric Fundraising.)
A new philanthropy, where listening to the people who know their communities and what kinds of support they need, takes a position of heeding those who are in the know about their own conditions. Investing and staying with those the field, keep listening and adjust to visions of the people they serve is also part of the development of decolonizing the sector.
It is not bravery to listen to those in the know; it is showing respect for the agency of people who are experienced and know what they need.
#BLM has woken the sector with demands that are not only necessary but required in order to rectify generations of wrongdoing, neglect and abandonment of the very people who the help the most. The task is to change the composition of leadership, asap. For now, it gives hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train coming at us.
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash - Do Something Great Neon Sign in B&W framed in box