Moving From Transactional to Relational: How Funders Can Work in Partnership With Black, Indigenous and People of Color Communities

Abstract

Moving From Transactional to Relational:How Funders Can Work in Partnership With Black, Indigenous and People of Color Communities Donald Cameron, Hazel Cameron, Jackie An, Michael Byun, Junko Yamazaki, Dominique Davis, Naomi Tagaleo'oa, Liz Huizar, Estela Ortega, Denise Perez Lally, Yusuf Bashir, Abdulahi Osman, Cilia Jurdy, Jaimée Marsh, Emma Catague, Haya Munoza, Kendrick Glover, Ginger Kwan, Joy Sebe, Jennifer Stanton, Josefina Gonzalez, Virgina Herrera-Páramo, CHIMAERA B, Jordan Faralanb, Russell Brooks, Jennifer Castro, Ruel Olanday, Jr., Alice Park, and Nancy Shore, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H., What Is the Purpose of the Study? • Identify commonalities and shared struggles experienced by 14 Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) organizations belonging to the Racial Equity Coalition to inform collective action. • Understand what creates positive and challenging experiences with funders. • Identify recommendations for funders to become more culturally responsive. What Is the Problem? • Persistent educational racial disparities exist. • Racial Equity Coalition organizations require community-centered funding processes to support and sustain their culturally integrative youth services and system change work aimed at eliminating educational disparities. What Are the Findings? Recommendations for funders to enhance responsive funding practices • Incentivize collaboration instead of fostering competition. • Recognize persistent inequities and their impact on BIPOC communities. • Arrive at mutually agreed upon approaches with grantees versus having a "one-size-fits-all approach." • Resist tendencies requiring BIPOC organizations to prove capacity more than White, mainstream organizations. • Eliminate linguistic and cultural barriers undermining organizations' abilities to secure grants. • Provide unrestricted, multi-year funding to allow BIPOC organizations greater agency to determine how to prioritize and allocate funding. • Support smaller BIPOC organizations to help them grow resources. [End Page e13] • Funders work with communities to co-determine how to revise grant-making processes. • Funders actively listen and be responsive to communities. • Funders recognize how BIPOC organizations are uniquely positioned to serve BIPOC communities due to their deep connections with the communities they serve. • Funders uproot dominant practices that do not foster racial equity. • Funders learn more about the power of BIPOC coalitions to address persistent educational disparities. • Funders hire more BIPOC individuals from affected communities into leadership positions. [End Page e14] Donald Cameron Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership 4C Coalition/Seattle Cares Mentoring Hazel Cameron Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership 4C Coalition/Seattle Cares Mentoring Jackie An Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Asian Counseling and Referral Service Michael Byun Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Asian Counseling and Referral Service Junko Yamazaki Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Asian Counseling and Referral Service Dominique Davis Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Community Passageways Naomi Tagaleo'oa Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Education with Purpose Foundation for Pacific Islanders Liz Huizar Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership El Centro de la Raza Estela Ortega Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership El Centro de la Raza Denise Perez Lally Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership El Centro de la Raza Yusuf Bashir Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Falis Community Services Abdulahi Osman Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Falis Community Services Cilia Jurdy Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Food Empowerment Education & Sustainability Team (FEEST) Jaimée Marsh Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Food Empowerment Education & Sustainability Team (FEEST) Emma Catague Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Filipino Community of Seattle Haya Munoza Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Filipino Community of Seattle Kendrick Glover Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Glover Empower Mentoring Ginger Kwan Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Open Doors for Multicultural Families Joy Sebe Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Open Doors for Multicultural Families Jennifer Stanton Racial Equity Coalition and United Way of King County Partnership Open Doors for Multicultural Families Josefina Gonzalez Racial Equity Coalition and...