Equity and Justice - League of California Community Foundations

June 16, 2023

Community foundations across California are investing in resource and power building for historically marginalized communities.

The California Black Freedom Fund is a five-year, $100 million initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

The mission of the African American Alliance Fund is to raise awareness about systemic racism and support programs that advance Black residents within Orange County and surrounding communities.

The Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation are part of the North Coast Equity Alliance, which hosts roundtable conversations with local community leaders “to address all dimensions of racial inequity—inspiring people, organizations and institutions to make positive change from the inside out.”

Launched in partnership with LISC San Diego and the Urban League, the San Diego Black Homebuyers Program – the first of its kind in California – provides up to $70,000 in grants to qualifying prospective Black homebuyers as well as financial literacy education.

The IE Black Equity Fund is a partnership between the Black Equity Initiative of the Inland Empire (BEI-IE), IE Funders Alliance and IECF to advance the mission of Black-led organizations in the Inland Empire through core support, program and project support, and capacity building in the priority areas of: civic engagement, criminal justice transformation, housing justice, health equity, education equity, and economic liberation.

In 2017, EBCF joined with philanthropic partners across the Bay Area to create an initiative to bolster BLOs called “Accelerating and Stabilizing Communities through Equitable Nonprofit Development: Black-Led Organizations,” known today as ASCEND: BLO.

In a collaborative effort, United Way of Northern California, Community Foundation of the North State and North Valley Community Foundation have established the North State Racial & Social Equity Fund. The organizations are providing $100,000 in seed money and making grants to agencies doing constructive and unifying work that promotes justice and healing.

In 2018, Paul E. Pierce, Patience Milrod, and Darrow Pierce began to look for ways to take personal responsibility for the consequences in Fresno of Americans’ history of Black enslavement. A board comprised of Black leaders established the mission and directs disbursements from the fund with a focus on: Trauma- Informed Educational Opportunities, Economic Advancement, and Home Ownership.

Rise Together is a coalition of 32 Black, Indigenous, and People of Color leaders and a team from Community Foundation Santa Cruz County working collaboratively to advance racial equity in Santa Cruz County.

The Black Empowerment Fund supports Black-led and Black-empowering organizations throughout Los Angeles by as investing in Black leaders that develop transformational, community-centered solutions for the Black community, and investing in Black infrastructures that create conditions for the Black community to thrive and achieve their full potential for self-actualization and social and economic prosperity.

The LatinXCEL Fund builds on the recommendations and findings of a report released in 2020 by the Castellano Family Foundation, which is rooted in two years of extensive research, community outreach and consultations with many of the region’s leading civic and social investment principals. More than 65 Latinx-led and Latinx community-based organizations contributed their unique perspectives, lived experiences and expertise to the findings in the Blueprint for Change report.

The Lens is a new offering that allows MCF donors to add an increased level of intention to their philanthropy by using an equity framework. This framework can be focused on race, on gender, and more, across giving, investing, and connecting.

Together with community leaders, nonprofits, and donors, SFF is committed to an agenda that advances racial equity and economic inclusion for everyone in the Bay Area. This focus spans SFF’s grantmaking, collaboration, partnerships, community leadership, public policy advocacy and more.

Community foundations across California are investing in resource and power building for historically marginalized communities.

California Black Freedom Fund

African American Alliance Fund

Equity Alliance of the North Coast

San Diego Black Homebuyers Program

IE Black Equity Fund

Ascend:BLO

North State Racial & Social Equity Fund

Central Valley Black Reparations Fund

Rise Together Santa Cruz County

Black Empowerment Fund

LatinXCEL Fund

The Lens

Advancing Racial Equity Agenda

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