The Schmidt Family Foundation, alongside other funders, has signed the Donors of Color Network’s (DOCN’s) Climate Funders Justice Pledge, which asks funders to dedicate at least 30 percent of our climate change funding to BIPOC-led groups within two years, and to increase transparency of our climate change funding activities. (BIPOC refers to Black, Indigenous and other people of color.)
In The NonProfit Times, Richard H. Levey writes:
The pledge reflects the idea that while BIPOC communities are hardest hit by climate change, efforts to support leadership within these communities are often lacking. According to Donors of Color, a scant 1.3% of funds from climate change-focused organizations goes to leadership within the community.
“The faces of climate disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans or Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, are people of color who are the front face of climate disaster,” DOCN Executive Director Ashindi Maxton told The NonProfit Times. “They find themselves the most at the mercy of a government sector and nonprofit philanthropic sector that isn’t meeting their needs.”
According to Maxton, leadership at traditionally funded environment-focused groups lacks representative BIPOC input, meaning that key concerns or opportunities are at risk of being overlooked.
Read the full article. Learn more about the pledge and who has pledged so far.