“For those of us who have participated in a half-century of powerful activism by people with disabilities, a familiar slogan summarizes our call to action: Nothing about us without us.” Nikki Brown-Booker writes in the Winter 2022 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review.

In her piece, Brown-Booker discusses the Disability Inclusion Fund (DIF) at Borealis Philanthropy. She writes, “If we want to serve people with disabilities, our work must be directly informed by them. Most of the grantmaking advocates I work with…are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) with disabilities.”

“As a woman of color with a disability and the former executive director of a nonprofit organization serving people with disabilities, I have seen the disconnect between funder strategies and the needs of community-based nonprofits,” Brown-Booker shares from her professional and personal expertise. “Quite often, funding does not come with a cultural understanding of the disability community, and this ignorance can impede direct and efficient service.”

Read here.

“Conventional banking hasn’t worked for businesses owned by people of color. But a new network is designed to get money flowing fairly to BIPOC economies.” Common Future’s CEO, Rodney Foxworth, speaks with Yes! magazine about their strategy to disrupt traditional lending models, which are neither racially neutral nor adequate for BIPOC communities or businesses.

Character-based lending is “the practice of issuing loans based primarily on the borrower’s character—their involvement in and ties to the community, or their reputation and track record therein—relegating financial criteria to a smaller role in decision-making,” reports Chris Winters. Common Future is working with several community partners for the launch of this approach including ConnectUp! Institute in St. Paul, Minnesota, a networking and business development group. that builds on personal relationships with community. Elaine Rasmussen, the organization’s founder, reflects, “In the U.S., that kind of relationship historically was restricted to White business owners. But globally…it’s not anything new, particularly when you look at African countries and you look at the concept of sou-sou—shared funds.”

“The plan is to grow the program with capital obtained from repaid loans and from more philanthropic sources, to include other partner organizations who are best positioned to serve their communities,” says Foxworth. “The whole purpose of character-based lending is in fact to strengthen the power and capacities of the folks in our network to maintain and build on these things themselves.”

Read the full discussion here.

Last November, Memphis Music Initiative (MMI)’s Director of Grantmaking and Partnerships, Dr. Rychetta Watkins, attended the 2021 annual Grantmakers in the Arts Conference, which took place in the virtual world for a second year due to the ongoing pandemic. Dr. Watkins, along with MMI Executive Director Amber Hamilton, developed and hosted a panel on the topic of intermediary funders in the grantmaking space, centering the unique perspective of intermediary funders. Dr. Watkins shares a reflection following their conference session including the context in which intermediary funders operate, the benefits of this model, and the lessons traditional funders can learn from intermediaries.

Also featured on the panel were leaders from two Mid-South nonprofits, including Janine Christiano, Strategic Funding and Initiatives Manager at Metro Arts Nashville, and GIA board member Carlton Turner, founder of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture).

Read here.