Submitted by Marjory on Tue, 2010-10-19 17:12

Filed under:

• Social Change in Oregon
• Racial Justice
• Philanthropy

Oregonians concerned about racial disparities in education, healthcare and housing have a new tool to help our communities talk about ways to close those gaps. Last week Grantmakers of Oregon & SW Washington (GOSW) released a new study that documents the percentage of Oregon foundation grants benefiting communities of color.

The report uses 2008 data to look at the percentage of foundation grants that were explicitly intended to benefit communities of color in Oregon, and those that went to organizations that serve a majority people of color. 

The final report will be available in November, and we’ll announce it as soon as it’s online.  In the meantime, here are a few highlights from the advance copy:

• People of color were just over 20 percent of Oregon’s population in 2008, according to the U.S. Census. The population of Asians, African-Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos grew at a faster rate in Oregon than in the country as a whole between 2000-2008.
• There were 780 active private and community foundations in Oregon in 2008, and their total giving was over $350 million.  Of the grants made in Oregon, an estimated 9.6 percent reached communities of color.
• Five Tribal funders were also included in this study.  Together, they awarded nearly $7 million in grants in 2008, with an estimated 13.2 percent of those grants reaching communities of color. 
• The median grant size for grants to communities of color was $15,000, compared to a median grant size of $10,000 for grants not explicitly focused on reaching minority groups.

It’s not surprising that the percentage of grants reaching communities of color is lower than the percentage of the population those communities represent.  Similar studies in other parts of the country have found that to be the case again and again.

What's helpful about these numbers is that they offer a snapshot of where funding is going now, and a way to monitor trends over time.  But ultimately, numbers are just a tool to inform our discussions and actions, not an end in and of themselves.  If 20 percent of foundation grants benefited communities of color but the racial disparities in education, healthcare and housing documented this year by the Urban League and the Coalition of Communities of Color persisted, we would still have a long way to go to create a just and equitable Oregon. 

This is a conversation we take very seriously at MRG, where more than 40% of our funding goes to groups that are led by people of color (not just serving communities of color), and where we prioritize organizing and advocacy in order to create long-term, systemic change.

So yes, let's talk about the number of grants serving communities of color.  But let's not stop there.  Let's ground our conversation in a discussion of why serious disparities exist between the experiences of people of color and white people in Oregon.  Let's examine who is leading the groups that foundations fund, not just who they serve.  Let's talk about how foundations can support capacity building in communities of color (kudos to Meyer Memorial Trust for launching a new $1 million initiative to do just that) and what capacity building looks like in different cultural contexts.  Let's talk about funding advocacy so that communities of color and other marginalized groups can lead the way to creating systems that work for everyone.

In other words, let's not stop at counting numbers.  Let's engage one another in a discussion about our vision for a just and equitable Oregon, and how we can work together to get there.