As summertime winds down, the team at Neighborhood Funders Group is gearing up for a robust slate of events and programming to bring us through the end of the year and into 2023 where we'll be regathering for our National Convening in Wilmington, NC (save the date coming soon!).
Building our analysis of racial capitalism and power has been a key theme of our work for the last few years. Through NFG's Funders for a Just Economy program, we continue to explore how to deepen our impact and support the community organizing and policy solutions that address the particular challenges that low-wage Black, Indigenous, and workers of color face. This is critical to our work given that philanthropy historically and currently is a contributor to the deeply embedded and extractive tenets of racial capitalism.
One result of this work was the launch of the Racial Capitalism Community of Practice in 2021-2022, where funders developed skills to shift philanthropic culture, grantmaking strategies and practices, and move more resources toward movement efforts to build an economy that works for all.
During the cohort, participants shared the value and importance of a political home and a space to strategize and learn about racial capitalism together.
Facilitated by Liberation in a Generation and Christina Garcia Consulting, we paired theory with practice. As a cohort of 20 people representing seven foundations and NFG, we learned about the history of racial capitalism and how it shows up in our lives, in communities, and in philanthropy. Members also selected a right-sized, action-oriented project to integrate learning and begin to decrease the extractive practices of racial capitalism in philanthropy.
We’ll be sharing some of the highlights from member projects and exciting updates about another Racial Capitalism Community of Practice in future newsletters.
And ICYMI: check out our announcement of the new Fellows in Philanthropy Forward's Cohort 4 and reflections from Lindsay Ryder, Director of NFG's Integrated Rural Strategies Group on actualizing our values and grounding our work in community and place.
Onwards,
The NFG Team
