Philanthropy Always Sounds Like Someone Else: A Portrait of High Net Worth Donors of Color

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) donors with high net worth (HNW) represent a transformational force in social change philanthropy. Their life experience, vision, and leadership are vital in a historical moment in which the salience of race and racism to every institution and system in U.S. society is glaringly evident, and in which new ideas and solutions are urgently needed. These individuals have the means and the ability to move large-scale resources to address the deep imbalance in racial equity giving. They have the interest and skill to fund and create systemic change. And they are getting organized and exerting leadership as never before.Yet this story about donors of color has never been told. Philanthropy Always Sounds Like Someone Else: A Portrait of High Net Worth Donors of Color (hereafter cited as "Portrait"), presents a qualitative analysis of interviews with 113 high net worth Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) donors, conducted over three years in ten cities across the U.S. This is, to our knowledge, the largest qualitative research project of HNW people of color ever reported in the philanthropic literature.The report takes its name from a reflection articulated by one interviewee and shared by others with whom we spoke, that philanthropy as a concept never seemed to include them as people of color. This makes sense. Philanthropy is about class. And class has long had a race and a gender. The racialization of wealth and philanthropy in the U.S. is why the stories in this report have not yet been told. And it is also the reason why so many of the people interviewed in our research keep traditional philanthropic networks and organizations at arms length