Twenty-two billion dollars. That’s roughly the gross domestic product of Honduras. It’s also the size of the gap in philanthropic funding between leaders of color and their white counterparts in the social sector in America, according to research New Profit commissioned in 2018. In the months following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, corporations pledged more than $66 billion to advancing racial equity—three times the philanthropic funding gap. Yet, three years later, only a small fraction of that money had been disbursed.
In 2019, New Profit launched the Proximate Capital Fund (PCF) to invest in high-impact proximate leaders—social entrepreneurs meaningfully connected to and guided by the assets, aspirations, and insights of the communities they serve. The PCF front-loaded investments in leaders who identify as Black, Latine, and Indigenous—leaders for whom the capital gap is most acute. The PCF was conceived not only to redress present funding inequities but also to seed our collective future. By 2045, the US will be a demographically plural racial and ethnic society. While we are already part of a multiracial democracy, our philanthropic efforts today should anticipate and help galvanize the coming shifts.
In that same spirit, New Profit held the Inclusive Impact Summit in February 2020 to bring our community together to understand what’s possible when we back leaders who are meaningfully guided and deeply connected to the communities they serve. Five years on from our initial research, when we look at the impact these leaders create through their organizations, it becomes clear that it is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.
Earlier this year—and ahead of schedule—we reached our $100M fundraising target for the PCF. We’ve invested in high-impact proximate leaders including Think of Us, GirlTrek, and Eye to Eye. Yet to transform the philanthropic sector, our work as funders, social entrepreneurs, and changemakers requires more than redirecting money. It requires us to form multi-racial, intergenerational, cross-sector (MIC) coalitions to co-design solutions. In order to bring about real, lasting change, we must build the MIC across issues we care about, and leverage proximate expertise in all of its forms.
We know there’s much work to be done if we are to truly change the philanthropic system.
As New Profit moves into our next quarter-century, we’re committed to drawing on the MIC to create a collective effort toward a shared goal: addressing the structural and social barriers that have, for too long, prevented America from benefiting from the talents and innovations of our proximate leaders, particularly those of color. The PCF’s $100M investment is a powerful step forward, but what our country stands to gain from a truly diverse social sector is immeasurable.