In recognition of National Philanthropy Day and also Giving Tuesday, we’re pleased to be re-sharing our podcast with Dr. Joseph Smith, who, among other roles, is a founding member of the Foundation for Black Communities. This Foundation was designed to adjudicate grants, develop policy and liaise with government and the philanthropic sector to serve Black-led and Black-serving non-profits and charities.
The Foundation’s report: Unfunded, was a catalyst for $200 million in federal government endowment funding in Canada this year and has prompted a transfer of endowment funds from traditional philanthropic organizations to the new Foundation to better balance investment in Black Communities.
This is a great time of year to be reflecting on your giving, individually or as a funding organization. We encourage you, for the issues you care about, to take a look at the individuals and organizations not being funded. And if you don’t know, how can you help your organization find out? In addition to this podcast, we’ll share a link to a tool to compare the state of children and families in Toronto, across various demographics, as this may help you to see how your issue is playing out in Toronto, or may provide an example of a tool for your issue or organization to look to emulate, to be able to disaggregate the data – to truly see who is being affected and needs greater support.
In the meantime, here’s our engaging conversation, with Dr. Smith sharing his expertise and passion for equity and inclusion and the emotional intelligence needed for productive conversations between people of diverse backgrounds. He talks about the work underway to close the gap in philanthropy in Canada, in which the needs and assets of Black Communities have been overlooked.
Resources:
Toronto Child & Family Network’s Raising the Village data: https://raisingthevillage.ca/
Joseph Smith LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-smith-29b9a615b/
Generation Chosen: https://www.generationchosen.ca
Unfunded report: https://www.forblackcommunities.org/assets/docs/Unfunded-Report.pdf
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Thank you for listening to Impact Conversations with Lynn Fergusson & Sally Fazal