Racial equity has been a growing focus for philanthropy in the past year and a half, with foundations and corporations alike shaking up their giving priorities and making large commitments to fighting structural racism and increasing opportunities for people of color.
For the Colorado-based Sachs Foundation, however, it’s been the sole priority for 90 years. Since the 1930s, the foundation has been providing educational opportunities for Black students in Colorado in the form of $2.5 million in annual scholarships. The foundation selects between 40 to 50 new scholars each year, and is currently backing 217 students throughout the country.
That laser focus may come as a surprise, considering how long it’s been operating and its location—according to the U.S. Census, Black Coloradans make up just 4.6% of the state’s residents. But Sachs has remained dedicated to its mission, and has witnessed the ripple effects in the community it serves. Just one prominent example is Sachs scholarship recipient Robert F. Smith, who has gone on to become a leading philanthropist himself.
The recent racial justice uprising has, however, increased the foundation’s capacity to carry out that mission. Since the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans, and the resulting protest movement, a number of people have since reached out seeking to donate to the Sachs Foundation, said President Ben Ralston.
“That’s actually a very new thing for us,” said Ralston. “We’ve operated primarily on the endowment, but given how much this message seems to be resonating with people, we now are finding new partners in new places.”
According to Ralston, the foundation is primarily funded through an endowment seeded by Henry Sachs’ initial $1.5 million gift. Additionally, the foundation maintains partnerships with other organizations in Colorado that reimburse them for many of the scholarships they award.
As support for the organization has grown, so, too, has the Sachs Foundation’s ambitions for how it can support education for Black students. Beyond its scholarship awards, the Sachs Foundation is also expanding into new programs.
History
Originally envisioned in 1928, the foundation was formally established in 1931 by Henry Sachs, a Jewish businessman from Boston who moved to Colorado at the behest of his doctors. There, Sachs witnessed the discrimination experienced by his friends, the Stroud family, who were Black.
One of the Stroud children, Effie Stroud, had graduated at the top of her class in high school, but struggled to find educational opportunities because of the color of her skin. Sachs, who had no children and had made a significant amount of money investing in the Gillette Safety Razor Company, offered to pay for her education.
Effie’s father, K.D. Stroud, then suggested he establish an educational foundation. In 1931, Sachs did so and awarded Effie’s older brother, Dolphus Stroud, a scholarship. Several other Stroud children would also go on to become Sachs scholars.
Additional programs
In addition to its mission of providing scholarships for Black students in Colorado, the Sachs Foundation has other related programs. The first is a mentoring program for students between eighth and 12th grade. The program provides mentoring, college counseling, technological assistance and tutoring to help students prepare for higher education.
Ralston noted that Black students graduate with the highest amounts of student debt and have the highest drop-out rate. “As long as it is the case, then we want to stay true to our mission and support the Black community and Black students in particular,” Ralston said.
He added that the Sachs Foundation is looking to “create an ecosystem that helps further Black education.” This ties into the foundation’s other program: a recently launched teacher development program. Through it, Sachs will find, fund and support Black undergraduate students who are thinking about pursuing careers in education. Sachs will not only fund the rest of their undergraduate education, it will also fund graduate school—if the student wishes—and provide stipends of up to $20,000 for their first three years of teaching.
The foundation seeks to increase the number of Black teachers in Colorado through the program. Less than 2% of Colorado teachers are Black. For young students, having a Black teacher can make a huge difference. For instance, the Brookings Institute reported that “non-Black teachers have significantly lower educational expectations for Black students than Black teachers do.” Black teachers also see far fewer behavioral problems with Black students than white teachers do.
“We also know that for young Black students in the classrooms, having a Black teacher makes them more likely to go to college [and] less likely to drop out,” said Ralston.
The Sachs Foundation’s goal is to trigger a domino effect on Black students’ education by increasing the number of Black teachers and leaders, who will, in turn, further encourage and support other students.
Sachs is also looking to increase the breadth of how it supports the Black community. For many students, barriers to education extend far beyond financial burdens. A 2019 report from the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice found that 45% of survey respondents had experienced food insecurity sometime during the previous 30 days. A shocking 56% of respondents reported that they had experienced housing insecurity in the previous year.
In addition to paying students’ tuition, Sachs is looking to support students in matters of mental health and food and housing security.
“A multiplicative effect on Black philanthropy”
The Sachs Foundation stresses the importance of collective responsibility. This guiding principle, said Ralston, emerged from looking at the scholarship applicants themselves.
“One common thread throughout all of them was not just their academic achievement and their financial need, but how this entire group of scholars, in one way or another, give back to their communities,” said Ralston. He pointed out examples of students who have started nonprofits, others who do podcasts about social justice, and others who have taken on responsibilities among their extended families.
A major barrier facing young Black Coloradans who wish to give back to their communities is access to funding. “The thing that we’ve always noticed is that Black communities, at least here in Colorado, there is absolutely sort of this innate feeling of giving back to the community, but oftentimes, there isn’t the funding,” said Ralston.
Ralston also encourages funders to give Black communities “the benefit of the doubt” and provide them with more unrestricted funds. Though these community members who serve as “social connectors,” particularly young people, may not be as established in the philanthropic world, they know their communities really well.
The Sachs Foundation seeks to support the Black community by supporting the young people who already demonstrate a desire to give back to their communities, with the hope that they will continue to do so. “We’re hoping to have a bit of a multiplicative effect on Black philanthropy,” said Ralston.
The most prominent example of this effect is Sachs Foundation scholarship alumnus Robert F. Smith, who went on to become a billionaire and noted philanthropist in his own right. In addition to contributing to numerous organizations, Smith also established his own foundation, the Fund II Foundation.
Ralston added, “One of the ways that we can best further philanthropy among the Black community is to just support the community ourselves as much as we can, and again, support those young people who already have a sense of giving back to the community and nurturing that in them as they go through higher education and graduate and move on to their professional careers.”