Black Philanthropy Month: Why It Matters

Racial justice is our North Star at Brooklyn Org — but racial justice cannot happen without economic justice and closing the massive racial wealth gap and funding gap in our communities. As our President & CEO Dr. Jocelynne Rainey shared on a recent panel, “Systemic racism can only be undone through systemic change and intentional investment.”

Brooklyn is home to the second largest population of people of African descent in North America — nearly 730,000 residents, larger than Atlanta and Detroit’s Black population combined.

We are a center of Black history, Black culture, and Black leadership. Yet we know our Black-led nonprofits and Black communities are systematically underfunded and under-resourced. In Brooklyn, the racial wealth gap between BIPOC and white Brooklynites is estimated at a whopping $40-$50 billion. Further, BIPOC-led organizations nationally receive just 4% of philanthropic funding.

This is why Brooklyn Org is committed to prioritizing investment in organizations led by people from our communities: of our total $5M in strategic grantmaking in 2023, 38% of funding went to Black-led organizations, and 78% went to BIPOC-led organizations. Investment yields results.

These factors are also the driving force behind Black Philanthropy Month (BPM), a global celebration and campaign to elevate African-descent giving and funding equity that takes place every August.

To kick off Black Philanthropy Month, we’ve compiled a list of must-know facts on the racial wealth gap, the racial funding gap, and statistics on charitable giving among Black communities below — and in the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing the stories of small, local Black-led nonprofits across our social media.

Despite The Racial Wealth Gap, Black Communities Prioritize Giving

1. The racial wealth gap between white and BIPOC Brooklynites is between $40 and $50 billion.
2. In New York State, white households have 15x more net assets than Black households — and New York State’s racial wealth gap is higher than the national average.
3. 12% of all charitable giving in the U.S. is specifically dedicated towards Black communities — while Black Americans make up 14% of the population, the third largest racial group in the nation.
4. Black households have only 15% of the wealth held by white households
5. The median Black household will have a net worth of $0 by 2053 if nothing is done to address the racial wealth gap, according to a 2017 report
6. 2/3 of Black households in the U.S. donate to causes & organizations.
7. 76% of Black donors surveyed by the National Opinion Research Center said they give to strangers.
8. Black households give 25% more of their income annually than white households.

The Racial Funding Gap Impacts Black-led Nonprofits In A Multitude Of Ways

1. Budgets of Black-led organizations are 24% smaller than white-led organizations.
2. Black-led organizations have 76% less unrestricted assets than their white-led counterparts.
3. Organizations with Black female leaders receive less funding than those led by Black men or white women.
4. Most Black-led nonprofits operate on less than $500,000 — nearly 1/3 have annual budgets of just $30,000.
5. 43.5% of Black-led nonprofits operate without any paid, full-time employees, and 45.7% have no paid, part-time employees.
6. 86.5% of Black-led nonprofits report always or often having trouble accessing a large, diverse number of funding sources.