EMPOWER #2: Community Foundations & Resilia Come Together to Co-Design Capacity-Building Solutions for BIPOC & Grassroots Nonprofits

Read about Resilia’s first EMPOWER workshop here. 

Did you know that only 2% of all philanthropic funding supports Black leaders? Only 10% of all funding supports leaders of color, and in 2018 - the last year with available data - only 1% of all funding supported racial equity. Resilia, dedicated to strengthening marginalized communities and helping changemakers build capacity, is eliminating barriers for BIPOC-led and grassroots-serving organizations and creating new opportunities through technology. 

Resilia’s ongoing EMPOWER workshops unite funders from across the country, challenging grantmakers to reach nonprofit-first solutions that support BIPOC-led and serving grassroots organizations. After each conversation, Resilia transforms learnings into new resources and technical features for nonprofits within weeks. Continuing EMPOWER’s commitment to rapid resource development, the session furthers three objectives:

1. To elicit capacity needs of BIPOC-led/serving grassroots organizations 

2. To collectively identify needs with “biggest impact potential”

3. To co-design capacity building services to fulfill priority needs

For the second EMPOWER workshop, we were joined by guests Kim Covington, Vice President of Community Initiatives at the Arizona Community Foundation, NaTika Rowles, Executive Director of the Black Community Fund at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, and Felix Rodriguez, Program Associate at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.  

Too often, well-meaning conversations about change and service result in intentions rather than action. Resilia commits to transforming learnings from each EMPOWER session into actions within four weeks.

With insight from EMPOWER’s guests, the following critical areas for support emerged: 

• Storytelling. Kim shared a powerful example of a community organization, dedicated to resettling refugees: while the organization addresses holistic needs surrounding language training, workforce development, and basic needs like food and clothing, they struggle to communicate the full scope of their work. Many think of this organization just as a food bank. Kim explained that if this organization could tell their true story, they could maximize their support network and advance their mission. 

• Organizational Strategy. Lack of infrastructure, access to banking relationships, and limited resources make it difficult for grassroots organizations to develop and execute effective strategies. 

• Organizational Sustainability. What would it take for grassroots organizations to fully serve their communities and meet needs? Felix offered that while leadership development, board development, and strategy are all required to be sustainable, unrestricted dollars and the financial backing to truly “dig in” to the work is the critical piece for sustainability. 

• Fundraising. Within fundraising challenges, all three funders noted the lack of trust and trust-based relationships, especially concerning traditional philanthropy and BIPOC-led organizations. Discrimination and restrictive funding, coupled with reductive reporting requirements, make it challenging for leaders of color and BIPOC-serving organizations to receive meaningful funding for their organizations. 

• Leadership Development. Critical for all staff, NaTika noted how nonprofits need support to train staff, volunteers, and board members - as well as enhance their knowledge of how to effectively build and support a paid workforce.  Felix agreed with NaTika’s perspective, noting the “brain drain” of talent when leaders are unsupported, struggle with burnout, and leave their organizations or the sector entirely. 

• Compliance and best practices. For many small organizations, Kim noted that achieving and maintaining 501c3 status itself could be a barrier to the organization. 

As the discussion continued,  these areas of capacity-building support were prioritized into three areas: 1) Storytelling 2) Organizational Strategy and 3) Organizational Sustainability.

At the end of the workshop, our guests shared some of their biggest takeaways, reflecting on the value of trust-based philanthropy and nuanced conversations with peers in philanthropy.

EMPOWER focuses on change and results, not just conversations and thought leadership. Resilia will immediately transform workshop learnings into action,  deploy resources informed by the cohort’s perspectives through Resilia’s platform, coaching sessions, and peer-to-peer learning. 

“This is something that nonprofits could benefit from because you’re listening and customizing the approach,” said Kim. “Resilia’s not a one-package-fits-all. It’s refreshing, and it gives me hope.”

Our team is grateful for the thoughtful contributions from these leaders, and eagerly anticipates the new resources that will emerge from the workshop.