We are delighted to invite you to an intimate Funder & Donor Briefing to hear an update about our ongoing project, Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color.

The project grows out of an initial landscape analysis to study giving patterns and motivations for HNW donors of color, an area where there has been little or no research.

It has been our initial finding that the priorities, interests and experiences of HNW donors of color are largely invisible in discussions of mainstream HNW philanthropy. We have found that HNW POC are generous and philanthropically engaged but that they remain invisible to mainstream philanthropy and isolated from each other, rendering their giving less impactful. The absence of HNW donors of color as an organized force in philanthropy has material consequences. It renders critical experiences, resources and talent missing at a moment in which our society requires new ideas, investment and innovation.

The project hopes to build knowledge about, engage and network high net worth people of color (HNW POC) engaged in philanthropy. It consists of several closely connected projects that will be conducted over the next two years by a team of researchers and organizers experienced in philanthropy – the POC Donor Collaborative.

Our Project includes the following components:

Finalize and publish a landscape analysis that outlines the state of the field of knowledge about HNW donors of color;
Identify and research the philanthropic priorities of 100 individual HNW POC;
Conduct between 30-100 interviews with HNW POC to learn about their philanthropic priorities and stories; and
Develop and test a case statement for donors of color to come together into a new donor network focused on racial, economic and social justice.

Current funders for the Project include the Open Society Foundations, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Ford Foundation and the New York Women's Foundation. We are actively fundraising so that we may complete this Project as well as embark on the exciting, timely and necessary work that will come next – networking, connecting and organizing high net worth people of color so that the potential power of these alliances can be unleashed to transform philanthropy and society towards inclusiveness and progressive social change.

You will hear a summary of findings so far as well as hopes and plans for work ahead. We will invite your feedback and ideas, too, of course!

Funder Briefing: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color