Closing the race gap in philanthropy demands radical candour
The following article was published by the Guardian on September 7th, 2020 and written by Kennedy Odede.
Kennedy Odede: ‘Real transformation in African development means shifting power, moving away from traditional aid dependence.’ Photograph: Shofco
Mon 7 Sep 2020 03.30 EDT
Why should black founders jump through more hoops to earn funders’ trust?
I was in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, when I heard about the shooting of another black man, Jacob Blake, by US police. Close by is a mural of George Floyd, painted on a wall near where I grew up, a reminder that the current upheaval surrounding race in the US has global repercussions. Just as calls for racial justice echo in American and European streets, government offices and boardrooms, we must not forget that the legacy of racial injustice extends far beyond those borders and any honest reckoning must include open dialogue around race in international development.
In Africa, white-led institutions have shaped the development and social entrepreneurship landscape, deciding who succeeds and who fails. Only recently has there been a growing recognition of these imperialist dynamics, which uplift foreign-led practitioners more than local ones. There is a growing consensus that the future should and must be created and led by Africans, because real progress requires it to be on our own terms. And yet, this is just talk until funders shift resources and power, at scale, towards local solutions.
In my 10-year journey as co-founder of Shofco, working in Kenya’s urban slums, I have experienced the racial barriers that many Africans face. When speaking at Davos or Oxford, I’ve been told to “stop telling the same stump story,” which happens to be the story of my life. I’ve even encountered funders who suggest I step aside so my co-founder, who is white and American, can become CEO. They failed to see that lived experience and community ties are defining aspects of competence in places like Kibera. They cannot be imported.
All too often, black founders find themselves jumping through more hoops to earn funders’ trust and – if we’re lucky – sustained funding. According to research by Echoing Green and Bridgespan: “The unrestricted net assets of black-led organisations are 76% smaller than their white-led counterparts. The stark disparity is particularly startling, as such funding often represents a proxy for trust.” It seems black leaders are not “pedigreed” enough, not networked enough, to show up on funders’ radars. Even when we do fit the “profile” with advanced degrees or accolades, we’re held under a magnifying glass and scrutinised in ways that white counterparts are not. And when we do succeed, our funding is often restricted or smaller.
Addressing these systemic disparities begins with soul-searching and public declarations from funders, but it can’t stop there. Closing the race gap in philanthropy demands radical candour. Only when funders are open about identifying racial bias and holding the philanthropic community accountable, will emerging black leaders have equal chances for success.
Real transformation in African development means shifting power, moving away from traditional aid dependence. Research shows that only 3% of all humanitarian funding goes to local and national NGOs. Local organisations are hamstrung by smaller, restricted budgets because funders perceive them to be more susceptible to corruption or misappropriation. These are dangerous perceptions, promoting a culture of suspicion. Finding local NGOs that operate with accountability and compliance is more work-intensive for funders, but necessary for change.
In recent years, philanthropy’s preoccupation with scale has converged with a rallying cry for systemic change. This should be cause for celebration – a chance to truly dismantle systems that uphold inequality. Instead, we’ve seen a push towards funding the very few organisations large enough to absorb scaled “big bet” funds, and here, racial inequity is greater. Data on big bets for social change found that between 2010 and 2014, only 11% went to organisations led by people of colour.
The default assumption by many philanthropists is that local organisations have no broader relevance. My work was once described as “a wonderful fit for the environment in which you work, but should not be forced to fit our particular focus on scalability”. Had the funder instead asked, instead of pre-judging, they would have learned of the momentum we already had towards rapid national scale and of my vision for an Africa-wide slum transformation movement. Perhaps my own imagination would have been cut down by the reality of short, restricted funding cycles that defined my early years, if not for my optimism.
As a black community organiser who has achieved some success in navigating the business of philanthropy, I feel at the intersection of these dynamics. I have an obligation to open the door for the next generation of Africans beginning their journey as leaders and grassroots organisers.
I’m hopeful about what I’m seeing in the world at this moment, and what this time of reckoning might teach us about race and philanthropy if we are brave enough to face it.
We must not let this opportunity pass without progress. All I ask are three things of funders: challenge the belief that “local solutions cannot scale” and do the hard work of creating supportive ecosystems that develop solutions that scale; as you fund and award white founders working in communities of colour (at home and abroad), ensure you apply the same level of recognition and support to leaders of colour who possess the same or greater skills and knowledge of their environment; and lastly, mandate diversity within the teams that allocate resources and make investment decisions.
Kennedy Odede is the co-founder and CEO of Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco)