A core function of philanthropy is to address society’s many inequities and imbalances, but the troubling reality is that philanthropy itself is quite unequal. Inequality.org’s most recent “Gilded Giving” report found that “philanthropy is increasingly a province of the wealthy,” with charity becoming less democratic and more concentrated in the hands of the wealthy.
Although recent years have seen an uptick in conversations around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, racial disparities persist in the philanthropic sector. Numerous studies, for example, have shown that organizations led by people of color receive far less funding than those led by their white counterparts.
The gap in funding, however, is even greater for foundations led by women of color. In 2020, the Ms. Foundation published a report that found the total amount of funding organizations for and by women of color received in 2017 was a paltry 0.5%. That’s only $5.48 for each woman or girl of color in the country. This disparity is more startling when looking at the data region by region. Although the national average is $5.48 per woman or girl of color, the report found that organizations in the Northeast receive more than four times the amount of organizations in the South. That’s $10.31 per woman and girl of color in the Northeast compared to $2.36 in the South.
A new foundation is looking to challenge these inequities. The Women’s Foundation of the South (WFS) is a New Orleans-based foundation created for and by women of color. It will serve as a gateway for foundations, corporations and individual donors who are looking to advance racial and gender justice in the South. The foundation will serve women and girls of color across 13 states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
Carmen James Randolph, the former vice president for programs at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, was recently announced as the founding president and CEO of WFS.
“The Women’s Foundation of the South really is a product of dreams,” said Randolph. “And it is the product of the dreams of women who’ve worked in this field for years.” Randolph estimates that the five founding members of WFS—herself, Sherece West-Scantlebury (Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation), Gladys K. Washington (formerly of Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation), Kieta Mutepfa (Merck & Co.) and Erin McQuade-Wright (McQuade-Wright Solutions)—have collectively worked in philanthropy for more than 100 years.
Through their experience, the founders have encountered first-hand how difficult it is for nonprofits that are led by people of color, particularly women of color, to receive a fair share of philanthropic dollars. “When you look at the amount of philanthropic support these organizations are getting, it’s just abysmally low,” said Randolph.
WFS had its soft launch in January and is currently in the run-up to its hard launch. Thus far, it has raised a total of $1.1 million.
“Wildly inclusive”
The U.S. has had a long history of institutionalized racism and patriarchy that continues to impact the reality of women and girls today. Randolph explained that this is especially true for women and girls of color in the South.
According to Randolph, WFS is looking to “leverage the collective power of giving that we have as women of color and allies to build a foundation from the ground up, baked in with equity and inclusion as core values, not something that we’re trying to reengineer.”
Rather than trying to change an institution to be more inclusive, WFS’ founders looked at what it would mean to build an institution where equality is at the center of the work from the start.
Although the women who first came together to create WFS were Black and white, the foundation understands that demographics in the South are changing and becoming more diverse. Therefore, WFS has invited women who are Muslim, Asian, Latinx and other identities to build an organization that is more inclusive.
This inclusivity extends beyond race, ethnicity and religion. “We wanted to anchor this organization in being... wildly inclusive and to let women and those who identify as non-binary, as well as queer, to be able to know that this organization is for them,” Randolph said.
WFS is looking to partner with other women of color leaders in the South and intends to build its grant program in partnership with the women it intends to serve. “We plan to share power and decision-making with them in terms of how those grants are deployed,” added Randolph.
Health outcomes and wealth gaps
Among the many challenges women and girls of color in the South face, Randolph emphasized health inequity. According to Randolph, philanthropy typically frames health as a problem of access to care, but WFS wants to look at the quality of that care.
Louisiana, for example, had the highest rates of maternal mortality in the nation, according to a 2018 USA Today investigation, which is even more alarming, considering that the U.S. already has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country. In Louisiana, the maternal mortality rate was 58.1 deaths for every 100,000 births. Georgia had the second-highest rate of maternal mortality at 48.4 deaths for every 100,000 births.
“You have to dig into this,” said Randolph. “This is a developed nation. Why are we losing women in childbirth or shortly after? Why are we losing infants at the level that we are? When you dig deeper and look at those issues of access, it’s about the quality of those experiences.”
The data show that it’s not just a problem limited to low-income women, as women of color across income and education levels experience poor health outcomes during childbirth, she added. “This is an issue for women of color, period.”
Randolph related the story of a Spanish-speaking woman in the South who had a baby via cesarean section in a hospital where no one spoke her language. She left the hospital without any knowledge of how to care for herself or her baby.
“These kinds of things cannot happen, should not happen,” said Randolph. “And they do, in very real ways, contribute to the experience that women have and the outcomes that we see with women and their children.”
Although WFS has not yet officially launched and is still in the process of hiring a program officer, WFS has published a list of recommended women-of-color-led nonprofits for donors to support in the wake of Hurricane Ida. Among them are health and family-support organizations, including the Birthmark Doula Collective and New Orleans Breastfeeding Center; Crescent City Family Services, which aims to improve maternal child health as well as family health and wellness; and Labor and Love, which offers professional birth doula services, childbirth education and postpartum doula support.
Another significant issue women of color confront in the South is a significant wage or wealth gap. For Randolph, it goes beyond a wealth gap; it’s a wealth gulf.
“It’s almost untraversable,” said Randolph, “but in terms of this gap in wealth, it really, truly influences all of your opportunities and your outcomes.”
WFS aims to provide financial agency and economic opportunities for women of color in the South so that they have access to resources and thereby have a greater choice and voice in their lives.
From wealth gaps to maternal leave, WFS aims to make a difference within the region. However, as both Randolph and the Ms. Foundation’s report noted, women of color have been at the forefront of progressive change in the U.S., ranging from the suffragette movement to the civil rights movement to the Movement for Black Lives.
The foundation’s work will focus on the South, yes, but as Randolph said, this work can be expanded outward, benefiting women and girls throughout the country.
Challenges and progress
WFS has faced its share of challenges, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ida. Launching a foundation is never easy, but coupled with a global pandemic, it’s near impossible. In addition, WFS’ soft launch announcement happened in the midst of the hurricane. When Randolph spoke to Inside Philanthropy, she did so not from her home in Louisiana but from Washington, D.C., after evacuating. Randolph spoke emotionally of the challenges she, her family and other New Orleans residents faced due to Ida.
Despite these obstacles, WFS continues to move forward. Following the soft launch in January, WFS has been able to raise $1.1 million for its endowment, and continues to fundraise. The foundation is gearing up for its official launch and looking to hire staff. “This will be a permanent institution,” said Randolph. “We want to build this to be an inheritance for women and girls of color in the South.”
WFS is also investing in strategic communications and marketing in order to “create a new narrative about who women of color in the South are,” said Randolph. “I think Stacey Abrams and LaTosha Brown have given people a lot of excitement about what women of color are doing and are capable of leading movements.”
According to Randolph, one of the ways WFS will seek to increase the amount of giving to women-of-color-led organizations is by lifting stories of the women of color who successfully lead nonprofits, to “trumpet those narratives” and be a beacon for them. She hopes that by lifting up those narratives, women-of-color-led organizations can reap a greater share of funding and support.
“We know that women of color tend to do so much. They do the most with the absolute least amount of resources,” said Randolph. “We want to totally change that reality.”