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In the August 14 episode of What’s Next, Valaida Fullwood and Charles Thomas joined us to talk about Black Philanthropy Month, The Bold Project and how non-Black-led organizations can be better allies. They dropped such great knowledge and so many resources that I could barely keep up with the notes! Thankfully, they shared the list of resources below.

Charles, Valaida and the rest of the New Generation of African American Philanthropists team are working hard to raise the profile of Black-led organizations and philanthropists across the region. In addition to Black Philanthropy Month, they recently launched The Bold Project, an effort aimed at increasing support across four key pillars – funding, leadership, narrative and networks. Learn more about The Bold Project and how they are working in each key area here.

At the end of the episode, Valaida and Charles offered NGAAP’s Bold Questions – a series of thoughtful questions that challenge nonprofit leaders to reflect on how they can offer more effective support and be better allies to Black-led organizations. Here are those questions:

1. What does solidarity across Charlotte’s nonprofit community look like?
2. What does ally-ship look like between BIPOC organizations and their white counterparts? What does it require?
3. How can non-Black leaders engage in and support the pillars of The Bold Project?
4. Are you prepared to support BIPOC nonprofits by flipping the script on funders and engaging as equal partners?
5. What questions are we posing to funders?

One way I am committing to participate in Black Philanthropy Month is to take time to reflect on these Bold Questions – particularly, I want to considering what good ally-ship looks like in my role as a consultant. Here are several other ways non-Black nonprofit leaders can participate this month:

1. Read and research. Start with these studies to learn why Black-led philanthropy is critical to social change: The Case for Funding Black-Led Social Change and Racial Equity and Philanthropy: Disparaties in Funding for Leaders of Color Leave Impact on the Table.
2. Participate in #CLTGivesBlack on August 28 by donating to a Black-led organization. Here are 89 options, compiled by our friends at SHARE Charlotte.
3. Attend a Black Philanthropy Month Event. Follow this page for upcoming activities.

Download the full episode here – and don’t forget to register for upcoming What’s Next? episodes!

by Michi LaCorte

Joining the Next Stage team in the midst of a global pandemic and getting to know them and the six CULTIVATE cohort organizations over Zoom has definitely been an unusual experience, but to say the least, I have made memories. I came into the Davidson Nonprofit Leadership Fellows program not knowing what to expect, but I think that working during such a unique time has provided me with a deep understanding of how communities come together in times of crisis. 

It feels like the past two months have flown by, but I have learned a lot and have gained so much experience as Next Stage’s Summer Fellow. At the beginning of this summer I set three goals for myself:

From the Classroom to the Community – I have always felt that what is being learned in the classroom is only valuable if it is then applied outside of the classroom. 

This summer, I wanted to understand if and how I could take what I have learned in my classes at Davidson and use that knowledge to strengthen communities and break down systems of oppression. As a Philosophy and Gender and Sexuality Studies major, it’s not always clear how my academic experience can translate to the ‘real world.’ In fact, I think the most common question I get is, “so, what are you doing to do with that degree?” Honestly, I didn’t really have a good response to that question. But this summer, seeing the work that Next Stage does with their nonprofit partners has given me so much insight into the possibilities of what’s to come next in my life. 

I feared my career would have to be based on an earn-to-give model, working a job I was less than passionate about so that I could earn enough to give back — in other words, use my privilege of access to high-paying jobs to then redistribute wealth. Although this works for some, it’s on such a small scale and it still relies on systemic injustice. Not to mention, it means spending about 80,000 hours working a job I wouldn’t care much about. 

The other option, I thought, was to live as some sort of moral saint, giving up most pleasure and comfort to serve. This would mean living a life of financial instability, even though the work I would be doing may be driven by passion. What I didn’t understand was that there is a way to build a career that is centered on service and is morally driven, but is also stable and financially sustainable. And this ties to what I have learned in my next goal.

A Focus on Financial Aspects – When I joined Next Stage, I knew next to nothing about the financial aspects of nonprofits. 

Since then, I have come a long way. One of my core responsibilities this summer was to help conduct research by analyzing compensation of Executive Directors and CEOs of nonprofits in Mecklenburg County. Over the course of the summer, I looked at about 1,000 990 tax forms. Although to most that may not sound super riveting, I was able to see trends in compensation and learn about organizations that do good both through their mission-driven programming and through the stable and meaningful jobs they provide for leadership and staff. 

I was always disillusioned with this idea that if you want to work in the nonprofit sector you have to sacrifice a level of financial comfort. But I learned this summer that nonprofit compensation isn’t just set on a whatever-you-can-pay basis, but it is actually a strategic decision based on the scope of one’s role and how others in the field who do similar work are being compensated. 

How to Build from the Ground Up – I learned so much about building nonprofits from the ground up from working with Community Matters Cafe, Feeding Charlotte, Foster Village Charlotte, Hope Vibes. Soccer Foundation of Charlotte and the West Side Community Land Trust. 

I had the amazing experience of working with the six organizations in CULTIVATE. The curriculum is full of information about nonprofit management and organizational development and although I wouldn’t say I am ready to start one just yet, I definitely feel like I know what some of the most important steps are. During the monthly group workshops, I learned the importance of continuously assessing community needs and having a strong brand with strong values that align with the needs you are equipped to address. 

The problems of the world are daunting when you look at them on a large systemic and conceptual scale, but what I’ve learned this summer is this: if you work on a small scale, within a community, and on a targeted issue, you can have a great impact. It may not live up to the dream of saving the world, but service and altruistic work shouldn’t be about that. What matters is that you’re using whatever it is you can offer to do valuable work that creates lasting and needed change. This is definitely what the Next Stage team does, and I am so grateful to have been a part of it this summer.

I attended a terrific gathering of new and less-new friends last night, cooking together and learning about the two-degree nature of our lives.  Charlotte is wonderful in that way – we are all just slightly apart by one or two degrees.

I’ve found myself ruminating (Cece!) on the phase “hyper-local” of late, a term that conjures up a series of seemingly disconnected concepts. It is certainly the energy powering #WeLoveCLT and the Charlotte Agenda. It can be found on a plate at Heirloom and in a glass at NoDa Brewing. It is the main attraction at the Charlotte Art League’s local artist booths and the discovery at any of the many pop-up retail events throughout the city.  It is revealed in a bike ride through Freedom Park, a hike at Latta Plantation Nature Preserve and in a canoe on the Catawba River. It is often accompanied by a sense of connection and an appreciation for our unique assets.

Charlotte is in the midst of a hyper-local movement that I’d argue is really just a new way of approaching the concept of community.  It is a movement often characterized by the Millennial generation, but in some ways is too easily dismissed as a tag for a sub-segment of the population.  If you see yourself in the activities listed above, congratulations, you are a part of it regardless of your age or whether you would self-identify yourself that way.

I perceive this movement as alive and vital to the future of Charlotte, and yet it is one where the nonprofit community is under-represented. This is disconcerting because there is nothing more hyper-local than the ambition of our region’s nonprofits, which are so often laser focused on improving the experience of living here.

There are certainly exceptions.  An organization like Sustain Charlotte exists to educate, engage and unite citizens to solve Charlotte’s sustainability challenges, and they are doing a very good job of it.  Participants can sign the 2030 Vision and then join the Community Corps to help make it a reality.  When I think of hyper-local, I often think of Sustain Charlotte as a model of community engagement.

Another nonprofit embracing the movement is The Red Boot Coalition, with its aim to provide safe places where people can engage in honest sharing and compassionate listening.  Frustrated by the us-versus-them rhetoric that dominates discourse these days, Founder and VisionGiver Molly Barker set about bringing together those who are polarized to find common ground. Just an utterly beautiful expression of hyper-localness – in our neighbors we can find our humanity.

But what of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s other 3,500 tax-exempt charities?  How are they embracing an increasing focus on hyper-local that shows up in the many varied choices we make as residents on a daily basis?  Some are right in the white-hot center of the action while others are off to the side wondering how anyone finds the time to do any of it.

Increasingly, there are two Charlottes; one comprised of people who just exist here, and another of those who truly live here.  The former is highlighted by a well-worn path between a holy trinity of one’s workplace, children’s school and house of worship.  But as was mentioned last night, you can find that in any city in America.  What is the difference between Charlotte and Atlanta if those are the primary destinations in your weekly travels?  The traffic?  Is that all that separates us?

I’m of the opinion that real status as a local resident requires engagement in the hyper-local movement in some way – that you don’t really live here until you actually live here.  If we hold ourselves and those we meet to this standard, we engender a community of people who actually care about one another.  It is too easy to just exist in Charlotte and never fully embrace the opportunity, engage in the civic life and care about a fellow neighbor.  For nonprofits, it can be quite a hill to climb.

But back to last night – who knew that a grapefruit and gin cocktail could be so tasty? Or the company so varied? Or the conversation so meaningful.