Presidents and Senior Staffers Explore Their Responsibility Amid COVID-19, Protests

In the weeks before the June 8-9 virtual convening of the Presidents’ Forum on Racial Equity in Philanthropy, as data revealed racial, ethnic, and economic disparities in how COVID-19 affects communities, a sense of urgency began to surface around the need for philanthropy to center racial equity in its response. 

The pandemic illuminated long-standing, broken societal systems grounded in racism. These systems impact the availability of health care, raise issues of cost and insurance, and exacerbate cultural issues affecting those seeking care. These systems ultimately fail those most at risk of becoming sick, losing their jobs, and even losing their lives. In the context of the pandemic, foundation leaders faced the need to make immediate and critical decisions, often pivoting from the strategic plans they had established for their organizations and grantees earlier in the year. 

More broadly, many organizations created new personnel policies to enable staff to work remotely. Working parents scrambled to figure out how to work effectively with small children at home, while essential workers — disproportionately BIPOC — continued to operate without the privilege of sheltering in place while the coronavirus spread across the nation.

Several participants at the convening shared that they were also impacted personally, with a family member, colleague, or friend diagnosed with COVID-19. While the physical ailment of COVID-19 laid bare disparities, the human pandemic of unadulterated racism reared its own ugly head through multiple violent crimes against Black people.

Exactly two weeks before the convening, on May 25, a white police officer murdered George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, while three other white Minneapolis PD officers watched on for nine minutes, even as witnesses called out that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death, and the death of countless other Black men, women, and children – Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and far too many more – sparked peaceful protests that continued for weeks across America and internationally.

By the time the Presidents’ Forum opened its session on June 8, 31 chief executives and senior staff members from 19 philanthropic organizations arrived feeling exhausted, sad, angry, and unsettled. Still, others shared a sense of hope, power, and inspiration emerging from the hundreds of thousands of people in the streets saying enough is enough. 

The Presidents’ Forum offers a space for open, candid, and confidential conversations around tough issues and specifically focuses on race equity in the philanthropic sector. Kate Wolford, former president of the McKnight Foundation, shared the story of McKnight’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) organizational journey with the group. 

“Countering and reframing risk is a key role of the CEO,” Wolford said. “We must hold the ‘both/and’ in this work and ask ourselves how we become good accompaniers.”

Building internal champions on the board is critical to moving the organization forward. Wolford framed her messaging to her board in terms of relevance, credibility, and effectiveness, and this messaging seemed to move several board members forward.

Former president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Sterling Speirn discussed the process of how the board in 2007 publicly declared that the Kellogg Foundation would become “an effective anti-racist organization that promotes racial equity.”

As one former trustee recalled, “When I joined the board, there was a struggle to even talk frankly about Black and white issues. There was an underlying sensitivity about having programs specifically related to Blacks rather than all populations. We ended up doing some racial equity work but under the radar.” 

Interviewed before the convening, the current Kellogg president and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron said, “Our work in racial equity has become our DNA. So we’ve taken a concept, and we’ve actually been able to transform our entire organization around this concept.” 

Participants spent most of day two of the convening in small-group dialogue, where they continued to share their organizational approaches to centering racial equity. One president noted the challenge of working in a virtual space: “As an introvert, it’s easy to take a back seat.” Participants expressed a sense of overwhelm and a pressing need to “show up” given the unprecedented challenges we are witnessing.

One president reflected on his experience last year with the Presidents’ Forum in Montgomery, Alabama, where we hosted a gathering at the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice. He expressed the desire to return to a physical space that is a powerful reminder of our past and present circumstances around race in America.

The Presidents’ Forum also invited participants to meet in race caucuses according to how they identify — BIPOC or white affinity spaces. Both people of color and white people are needed to work collectively for racial equity, but they have different work to do, precisely because of their different experiences with and location relative to white culture and privilege. Meeting separately by race provided the space for this work to happen. 

One white president shared his concern that the white leadership wasn’t speaking honestly enough, even to each other. One asked, “What is it that we really need to say to our Black colleagues in this moment?”

In three small groups, participants offered Wise Council to one another around specific challenges and gave ideas for resolving those challenges. One group discussed challenges around bringing board members along, particularly when board members were unaware of their own privilege. The other two groups discussed how current events required a radical reset, even if their organizations had been on a racial equity journey for several years.

To close the session, participants met in their foundation groups and shared their commitments to bold next steps. “I’m going to stop being afraid and take the risk to jump into hard conversations,” said one foundation CEO. 

“My takeaway is to be even bolder than before. I will share my learnings with my board. I will use the case study from Kellogg to help inspire my board,” said another. “It is going to take hard work and dedication, and we have to be patient. It is important to engage board and leaders to develop a shared vision.” 

Despite the unplanned transition from an in-person gathering to a virtual one for the fifth multiday Forum session — and the associated challenges of meeting digitally — participants demonstrated a depth of commitment to achieve real change and leaned into the proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” 

Please contact Sara Padilla at spadilla@khandassociates.com to learn more about the Presidents’ Forum on Racial Equity in Philanthropy. 

Upcoming Presidents’ Forum events include:

White affinity discussion: a space where white funders can come together to work explicitly and intentionally on understanding white culture and white privilege (Monday, July 6 | 1-2 p.m. CT)

COVID-19 and philanthropy: the leadership racial equity imperative – what does it mean to center BIPOC leadership? (Tuesday, July 7 | 3-4 p.m. CT)

COVID-19 and philanthropy: the leadership racial equity imperative – immediate, emerging, and long-term strategies for developing equitable internal policies (Wednesday, August 5 | 3-4 p.m. CT)

COVID-19 and philanthropy: the leadership racial equity imperative – Topic TBD (Tuesday, September 8 | 3-4 p.m. CT)

A virtual convening of the Presidents’ Forum: what happens now, and what lies ahead? (Monday, November 9-10 | 10 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m. CT both days)