By Danielle Torain and Julia Baez
An op-ed by OSI-Baltimore Director Danielle Torain and Baltimore’s Promise CEO Julia Baez about the B’More Invested initiative and the imperative of participatory and trust-based philanthropy to address historic and current inequities in funding
Since George Floyd’s murder two years ago this month, and the national racial reckoning that followed, many grant makers have embraced the notion that to be truly transformative they must give up their power and work in partnership with the communities they aim to serve. Few, however, have successfully shifted from good intentions to genuine action.
Three Chicago-area foundations recognized the problem last month when they announced the formation of a program called Abundance that would bring grant makers together to share practices for increasing support to Black-led nonprofits. That struck a chord with us.
