BFCF AnnualReport DONE - Flipbook - Page 5
THE GENESIS OF THE FUND
To realize justice and abundance in the face of
malevolent opposition calls for boldness and a leap
of faith. Celebrating Black brilliance and normalizing
Black humanity in this land, at this time … it’s
nowhere close to simple. It wasn’t in 2020. It’s not in
2025. But the women who raised us were warriorancestors. Determined to support our people and
send blessings forward to our future descendants,
we began to inch toward this beautiful, imperfect
undertaking, knowing that our steps might waver
and wobble at times.
Each of us had an existing relationship with the
Seattle Foundation which, at that time, had just
joined the All in Washington campaign to support
COVID relief for the most affected communities in
the state. They raised millions in days, energizing
funders and peers. We knew that a six-monthold, pre-vaccine global pandemic was different
from centuries of injustice. Sudden crisis
mobilizes people. But the energy around the All in
Washington campaign sparked our sense of
what’s possible.
It was June 2020. Grief, anger, and loss rippled
through our bodies, our communities, our nation.
COVID-19 was spreading rapidly among friends
and neighbors. Just weeks after George Floyd’s
murder, it was a time of widespread and intense
racial reckoning. We four architects of the Fund are
Black-bodied women who have all been harmed by
a society founded on white supremacy. We have all
known marginalization, struggle, and scarcity — and
we also come from hope.
When we saw those young Black activists rushing
the steps of City Hall, we recognized that we could
rush the steps of philanthropy on their behalf — not
to tear it down, but to change it. For many years,
we had witnessed how philanthropy’s inequity
and glacial pace of change disadvantages Black
people and leaves chronic wounds unhealed. We
wanted to form a theory-to-practice organization
and demonstrate to equity-minded philanthropy
that this can be done differently. Our wake-up
challenge to philanthropy would not be one more
conversation. This time we would show, not tell.
At that time, each of us was leading a nonpro昀椀t.
Michelle was and still is the CEO of the Urban League
of Metropolitan Seattle. T’wina was then the CEO
of the Tacoma Urban League, and now represents
the 28th legislative district as its Washington state
senator. Angela was the CEO of Washington STEM,
and has since moved to direct the Washington State
Initiative at the Gates Foundation. Andrea was then
CEO of Byrd Barr Place, and today is co-founder
and co-executive director of the BIPOC Executive
Directors Coalition of Washington State.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, we saw young
activists in the street demanding justice. And as
we offered support and supplies to the activists,
we also asked ourselves: What will happen when
these young people come off the streets? What
jobs will they 昀椀nd? How can we fortify the Black-led
organizations serving our communities?
None of us came from the philanthropic sector,
but we didn’t let that stop us. As veteran nonpro昀椀t
leaders and grantees, we began by asking Seattle
Foundation to stand up a fund for our community.
We thought “Hey, we’ll do our part by asking. If they
say no, at least we tried.” When they said yes, we
realized with a little dose of shock and trepidation,
“We have to really do it now!”
“
We wanted to form a theoryto-practice organization and
demonstrate to equity-minded
philanthropy that this can be
done differently.
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