A Message to Philanthropy: Louisiana v. Callais Is a Warning
Description
President's Take | May 1, 2026
A Message to Philanthropy: Louisiana v. Callais Is a Warning
Susan Taylor Batten, President & CEO of ABFE
"For years, ABFE and our partners have sounded the alarm about the chronic underfunding of Black-led nonprofits, racial justice organizations, and power-building groups. Today, the consequences of that neglect are undeniable and should now be clear to everyone. Black-led racial justice organizations have long led the fight for voting rights in this country; rights that have protected all people of color. Yet these same groups are now being asked to “mute” their identity or are repeatedly turned away from funding opportunities deemed “too risky.”
Data from the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity latest report confirms that funding for Black communities has regressed by a decade. ABFE’s recent research in partnership with Candid reinforces these findings across two companion reports: Transaction to Transformation: Three Ways Foundations Can Invest in Black-Led Nonprofits for Lasting Change and Holding the Line: Black-Led Nonprofits and Race-Explicit Work Amid Backlash — which document both the persistence of underinvestment and the escalating backlash against race-explicit funding strategies."
Read the entire message here: https://www.abfe.org/blog/message-philanthropy-louisiana-v-callais-warning.
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