Philanthropy's Race Problem
By Orson Aguilar
Colorlines Magazine
September 2008 - October 2008
In fact, the Applied Research Center published a study in 2004 entitled Short Changed: Foundation Giving and Communities of Color. A major finding in the study was that "grants to communities of color fell from a peak of nearly 10 percent of all grants in 1998 to 7 percent in 2001." The findings coincide with data from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and with the work of former secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who estimates that a mere 10 percent of philanthropic dollars reach the poor and underserved. The Greenlining Institute, a multi-ethnic public policy institute in California where I am the incoming executive director, followed up with a report in 2006 that found a mere 3.6 percent of grants in 2004 invested in organizations led by people of color.
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