When Love Calls, Philanthropy Must Answer

(Illustration by Marcos Chin) 

Love may not be the first sentiment that comes to mind when considering the state of America today. Powerful lawmakers using divisive rhetoric are slashing programs that help families make ends meet; keep children fed, educated, and housed; and ensure that health care remains affordable. Amid mounting threats and hostility, love—including compassion, humility, and generosity—is more crucial than ever for philanthropic movements charting the way forward.

When philanthropy acts with an unwavering commitment to humanity, guided by love, the field shines. From the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s focus on education to the Gates Foundation’s work on global health, myriad examples show how a shared commitment to responding to people’s needs can become a force for structural and social change. When love calls, philanthropy has an opportunity to offer tenderness, humanity, and compassion. In trying times, philanthropy must answer love’s call by shifting power to communities, building trusting relationships and collaboration, and ensuring that all grantmaking drives equity. It’s how we move through this moment with love and urgency.

Shifting Power to Communities

To answer love’s call, philanthropy must meet the needs of communities facing the greatest injustices. Our learning has shown that the people most directly affected by systemic barriers and inequities are best positioned to identify the solutions and actions needed to drive change. Put simply: Those closest to the problem often have the best solutions. They know the best routes and the challenges that accompany these processes, all while relishing the short-lived celebrations that follow hard-fought wins in systems that don’t make space for joy.

That is why the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has invested $90 million in community power. We know it works. Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color are leading vital movements, galvanizing people, and seeding transformative change in areas ranging from housing and health care to birthing and family caregiving.

One crucial area of need is Black maternal health. We’ve heard the statistic too many times: Black women in the United States are three to four times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. That’s a crisis, not a number. Among other initiatives, RWJF funded BIRTHING JUSTICE, a documentary that amplifies the voices of Black mothers and advocates fighting for a health-care system that protects, respects, and saves lives. Combining art and the wisdom of affected mothers and advocates, the film points toward a better future for all.

Building Trusting Relationships and Collaboration

Building relationships and working together isn’t always easy. It requires moving away from working in isolation and holding onto resources to instead connect with communities that are often overlooked but have the best ideas for real solutions. Local and regional funders, seeing the aspirations, strengths, and priorities of residents, know the particular needs of their communities better than any large or national funder. National funders bring different relationships, resources, and the capacity to influence change on a larger stage.

One example of this collaboration in action is the Funders Working Group for Racial Justice and Health Equity (FWG)—a learning and action group of 12 local and regional funders that empowers foundations to center racial justice and shift resources toward community-led systems change. FWG emerged from RWJF’s COVID-19 pandemic relief grantmaking efforts, which relied on local and regional foundations to get funds into the hands of community organizations that could use them effectively, achieving powerful results. RWJF and FWG are now working to drive justice and health equity by using bold, courageous philanthropy that remains accountable to the communities it serves. Together, we are cocreating a funding apparatus powered by a belief in the community’s wisdom and love.

Our lives and those of future generations depend on our ability to find common ground, build trust, and move forward together with love, courage, and compassion. This is the fight of our lives. We believe we must hand over the wheel to those closest to communities and use our ample war chest to navigate the terrain we now tread.

Ensuring That Grantmaking Drives Equity

Philanthropy can drive equity by disseminating decision-making power and distributing resources. That means moving unrestricted dollars in flexible and rapid ways, trusting communities to define their priorities and processes while supporting long-term strategic work. By committing to long-term investing in organizing, policy advocacy, and systems change, philanthropy can effectively address the root causes of inequality and build a future where everyone has a right to health care. Using data-informed cures, we no longer have to rely on costly short-term treatments.

Philanthropy’s responsibility to answer the call of love but also seek out those in need is what guides my work. My belief in philanthropy’s duty to respond propels my programming, which seeks a future that provides all people with the opportunity to live in a safe, healthy, and thriving community.

Philanthropies across the country must now wrestle with how the sector operates amid heightened hostility toward fundamental values such as equity, diversity, and inclusion. Should they deepen existing efforts or adopt new approaches? Funders may not get a second chance to respond to the urgent needs of grantees and communities facing unprecedented attacks. Our work realizing and expanding the American Dream will allow future generations to celebrate our courageous decisions to respond to the current moment in ways that are just. We must plant the tree while understanding that we may never feel its shade. We must cocreate systems that save lives and restore humanity, one zip code at a time. We must ensure the health of each individual who calls this country home and allow them to share in its wealth while adding to its riches. The call is urgent. If philanthropy doesn’t answer love’s call now, who will?

Read more stories by Shammara Wright.