We all have a role to play in dismantling the structures of white supremacy.

As members of our shared alumni community, we’ve all committed to Changing Lives, Changing Organizations, and Changing the World. While we all do that in our own ways, all of us are in a position to support the Black leaders who are on the front lines of fighting white supremacy with the resources that they need to achieve and sustain change.

To make it easy for you, we have created a collaborative donor advised fund, supported by the Brooklyn Community Foundation, that will allow us to pool our tax deductible donations and collectively direct them to organizations and leaders fighting to dismantle white supremacy.

All donations to the fund are 100% tax deductible. The Brooklyn Community Foundation acts as legal fiduciary for all funds and transactions. Learn more about the benefits of donor advised funds here.

Click the Donate button below to donate to the Highlighted Organizations. To learn about how and why we’ve chosen these organizations and how we’ve thought about impact, click here.

Why Giving Together Makes a Difference

Donating money can be the most efficient means of support for Black liberation. It can be near frictionless with the right approach. Our intent is simple: make it easy for GSB alumni to effectively donate to Black led and Black serving organizations working toward Black liberation and social justice.

We have surveyed the philanthropic field to develop a framework that can help narrow the above field and provide guidance to otherwise uninitiated alumni donors. The pillars are based on work by the Bridgespan Group, informed by guidance from ABFE, Borealis Philanthropy, the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity, Third Wave Fund and Justice Funders.

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Giving to Black-led organizations

Committing to funding Black-led racial justice work is a form of power redistribution, upholds principles of self-determination, and ensures that funding does not further compound inequities.

To search for Black led organizations, start here.

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Giving major new money

The nonprofit sector is consistently starved for philanthropic investment. While the economic uncertainty of 2020 impacts funders, the financial risks are in no way equivalent to those experienced by nonprofits who rely on philanthropy for sustainability. If you are ready to make a significant new investment in Black-led social change work, now is the time to find additional funds rather than shifting your giving portfolio.

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Give in ways that shift power

Eliminating anti-Black racism and systemic oppression requires a framework that centers justice, versus simply equity. Racial justice explicitly prioritizes building the power of those most impacted, and seeks transformation of systems where needed.

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Give for years and years to come

In its 2017 report The Case For Funding Black-Led Social Change, ABFE notes that “A fair portion of the new funding granted to Black-led social change groups comes from short-term or discretionary pools. A challenge will be to see whether funds can be moved into regular funding pools to institutionalize support for Black-led social change within foundations.”

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How does this work?

The GSB Alums for Black Lives operates as a donor advised fund with The Brooklyn Community Foundation. All donations to the fund are 100% tax deductible. The Brooklyn Community Foundation acts as legal fiduciary for all funds and transactions. The Brooklyn Community Foundation charges a modest 1% annual fee, which is then pooled with all other fees collected and regranted to Brooklyn based non-profits.

Learn more about the benefits of donor advised funds here. The TL:DR is that donor advised funds simplifies giving, allows our vast and diverse alumni community to pool our resources to support a dynamic group of non-profit organizations, and outsource the administration of our giving.

After you hit the donate button, you will be asked to designate your contribution and it will go directly to the Brooklyn Community Foundation where they will disperse your contribution.

Who can I give to?

The short answer is any Black-led and Black-serving 501(c)3 organization fighting to dismantle white supremacy in the United States.

To help focus our energy, a group of GSB alumni advisors - Tarik Ward (GSB ’11), Olaolu Aganga (GSB ‘11), Delano Brissett (GSB ‘11), Jason Mercer (GSB ‘11), Marquis Parker (GSB ‘ 06) - will help choose a set of organizations the exemplify the needs of movement.

We have selected BYP100, The Movement for Black Lives, and The Advancement Project for our inaugural contributions. These three organizations will each receive funds dispersed over the next three years.

What if I have another organization?

Does your class want to raise funds for a cause? We can help.

Have you assembled a group of alums that want to donate collectively? We can help.

Easy, just email gsbalums4bl@gmail.com and we, along with The Brooklyn Community Foundation, can do the heavy lifting for you.

Highlighted Organizations

Founded in 2013, BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100) is a member-based organization of Black youth activists creating justice and freedom for all Black people. It has created a national collective that emphasizes building chapters throughout the country to hone in on youth directed, grassroots organizing and community mobilization on local levels.

The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), formed in December of 2014, was created as a space for Black organizations across the country to debate and discuss the current political conditions, develop shared assessments of what political interventions were necessary in order to achieve key policy, cultural and political wins, convene organizational leadership in order to debate and co-create a shared movement wide strategy.

Advancement Project is a next generation, multi-racial civil rights organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening social movements and achieve high impact policy change. They provide legal, communications and campaign organizing resources for on-the-ground efforts and provide legal, policy, strategic campaign and communications support for national movements.