Racial Capitalism Community of Practice

NFG’s Funders for a Just Economy (FJE) program is hosting a Racial Capitalism Community of Practice (CoP) open to funder members. Through this CoP, funder participants will explore how we can deepen our grantmaking efforts to advance justice, incorporate anti-racist practices in philanthropy, and partner with movement leaders in the creation of an inclusive economy.

This four part series will meet for three hours monthly from March through June. Sessions will focus on political education and building shared understanding of the framework of racial capitalism, deepening relationships with one another, strategizing and cultivating a project around shifting philanthropic practices. We encourage participants to join the series in teams of three people from their institution, to support project ideation and implementation.

If you have a project you have been thinking about or working on, this is an ideal space for workshopping and execution. If you are not sure yet of what a project would be but want to learn more deeply and collaborate with your colleagues, this is also the space for you.

What is Racial Capitalism?

The term racial capitalism is a concept originally proposed by Cedric J. Robinson to describe the extractive way America’s capitalist economy derives social and economic value from another person of a different racial identity. The basic tenets of racial capitalism are:

• Capitalism is defined as an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry is controlled and owned by private individuals and corporations for profit;
• Capitalism measures success based on a company’s ability to continually generate and increase their rate of profitability, constantly extracting maximum value for owners;
• To sustain and increase the rate of capital growth and extract maximum value/profit for owners, capitalism must establish and exploit the idea of unequal human value to reduce costs; and
• The predominant differentiator of human value in many countries, including the United States, was and is race and ethnicity.

Additionally, read more about participant learnings reflections from our first Racial Capitalism Community of Practice.

Our Upcoming 2024 Cohort

Through the third cohort of the Racial Capitalism Community of Practice, we aim to put this political education and the vision of movement leaders in action. Racial Capitalism Community of Practice participants will develop their skills as funder organizers who are shifting philanthropic culture, grantmaking strategies and practices, and moving more resources toward movement efforts to build an economy that works for all.

• The target audience is funders with an interest in and commitment to increasing their awareness and practice of anti-racism in solidarity with communities of color.
• FJE encourages teams of three individuals from each organization to sign up and attend together.
• We ask that you commit to participating in all of the sessions (see dates below).
• To contribute to the costs of this program and partnership with Liberation in a Generation, FJE is requesting a $1,000-$2,000 sliding scale registration fee per foundation participating in the cohort. A sliding scale is a tool towards economic justice and solidarity. Please self-determine where you'd like to be on the scale based on your institutional size and ability to support your professional development. Feel free to refer to our Membership Levels for reference. If your institution is at Level 3 or higher, we kindly ask you to consider paying the highest dollar cost which reflects the true cost of the program. If your institution is able to give more, we appreciate and welcome the support which will enable us to consistently offer RCCoP to the NFG network.

• March 13th, 10am to 1pm PT
• April 12th, 10am to 1pm PT
• May 8th, 10am to 1pm PT
• June 12th, 10am to 1pm PT

See further details and full description about our 2024 Community of Practice here. Applications were due February 9th 2024 and are now closed - we hope to see you next time! Please email Neda Said, Program Manager, at neda@nfg.org with any questions.