PROSPERITY NOW RACIAL WEALTH DIVIDE INITIATIVE:

Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project Lessons Learned and Key Findings

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PROSPERITY NOW RACIAL WEALTH DIVIDE INITIATIVE:

Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project Lessons Learned and Key Findings

AUTHORS // Ebony P. White and Lillian D. Singh

Ebony P. White, Director, Racial Wealth Divide. Ebony provides tailored technical assistance and capacity building to nonprofits of color to increase their understanding of the racial wealth divide, build economic assets for their communities, and highlight best practices. As lead implementer of the Building High Impacts Nonprofits of Color Project, she supports knowledgeable and intentional understanding, awareness, and the impact of programs and policy as it relates to the Racial Wealth Divide, as well as strengthening Prosperity Now's racial wealth divide analysis in its work. White brings a unique perspective and lens drawn from her extensive experience in advancing race and culture through the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Project during her tenure at the Kellogg Foundation, as well as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion for greater understanding in communities and organizations. Ebony holds a Master of Public Administration degree with a Nonprofit Leadership Management emphasis from Western Michigan University.

Lillian D. Singh, Vice President of Programs & Racial Wealth Equity. Lillian pioneer's national multi-stakeholder economic and wealth equity-focused initiatives within nonprofit intermediary organizations. As chief architect of the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project, she leverages her strengths in racial economic analysis, program design, grassroots capacity building, and power-building strategies to catalyze nonprofit leaders of color as they address systemic and institutional inequalities. She is a member of Prosperity Now's leadership team, where she provides vision, leadership, and management accountability to a multidisciplinary staff and workstreams driving impact towards financial resilience and racial economic equity. Trained researcher, licensed investments and securities representative, Lillian holds a BA in Urban Planning and a MA in Sociology, both from Stanford University.

About Prosperity Now & The Racial Wealth Divide Initiative

Prosperity Now believes that everyone deserves a chance to prosper. Since 1979, we have helped millions of people, especially people of color and those of limited incomes, to achieve financial security, stability and, ultimately, prosperity. We offer a unique combination of practical solutions, in-depth research and proven strategies, all aimed at building wealth for those who need it most. We recognize the devastating impact of the racial wealth divide on people and our economy, and we strive to equip organizations of color and others with the capacity, tools and cultural competency necessary to address structural and systemic barriers facing families of color. Gary Cunningham is our President and CEO.

The views and opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of JPMorgan Chase & Co. or its affiliates.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 4

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. & PROSPERITY NOW'S COMMITMENT TO NONPROFIT LEADERS OF COLOR ................. 6

BUILDING HIGH IMPACT NONPROFITS OF COLOR PROJECT OVERVIEW ....................................................................... 6

An Intentional Design ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Four Core Program Objectives ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Program Strategies ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 9

EXAMINING THE PROJECT APPROACH . ................................................................................................................................. 9

Theory of Change ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Cohorts Composition ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Demographics of Organizational Leaders ................................................................................................................................................. 15

Strategy Design: Personal Leadership Development and Organizational Capacity Building .................................................... 12

Strategy Design: Racial Economic Equity Workshops Rooted in the Data ...................................................................................... 13

Strategy Design: Leveraging In-City and National Networks ............................................................................................................... 13

REFLECTIONS AND PROJECT IMPACT ................................................................................................................................... 15

Measuring Impact, Reflections, Assessment ............................................................................................................................................. 15

Personal Leadership Development and Organizational Management..……………………………………………………………………………….15

LEARNINGS AND ANALYSIS FOR THE FIELD ........................................................................................................................ 17

Varied Levels of Systemic and Structural Barriers .................................................................................................................................. 18

Leadership and Continued Learning Mindset ......................................................................................................................................... 22

The Role of Philanthropy ................................................................................................................................................................................ 23

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................................. 25

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................................ 26

APPENDIX A (Advancing The Racial Wealth Equity Field: Emerging Practices, Training Tools, and Research) ......... 27

APPENDIX B (Project Cohort Organizations) ........................................................................................................................ 29

APPENDIX C (Project Logic Model) ........................................................................................................................................ 30

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// Key Findings and Recommendations Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project (The Project), managed by Prosperity Now and funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co., is a national Project to address the Racial Wealth Divide. The Project was piloted in 2016 in two cities, working with just ten organizations, and twenty nonprofit leaders of color. The Project has expanded into eight cities and formed a national network consisting of forty-six nonprofits and ninety-five nonprofit leaders of color.

This report is driven by the need to shift popular narratives, ecosystems, and implicit biases and assumptions that negatively impact nonprofit organizations led by people of color. The findings aim to lift up the experiences of nonprofit executives of color working in communities of color and offer recommendations on how best to support them as they address the racial wealth divide. The section below summarizes critical lessons we learned from implementing The Project over the last five years and recommendations for nonprofit sector professionals, corporate and private foundations, and policymakers interested in advancing racial economic equity in partnership with nonprofit executives of color.

Varied Levels of Systemic and Structural Barriers

• There is no Silver Bullet to Address the Racial Wealth Divide. Nonprofit partners offered various program services in the cities, reflecting the complexity and interactions among social, institutional, political and systemic forces of the racial wealth divide.

• Community-centered Investing Across Racial and Ethnic Lines is Vital. Nonprofit executives that reflect their constituents' racial and ethnic diversity are better positioned to serve communities of color, given their connection and understanding of the economic realities on the ground.

• Understanding and Assessing the Ecosystem is Key. This work requires multiple elements of the ecosystem to be assessed to determine a city's readiness and entry point of engagement. The ecosystem should be considered through four lenses: macro-ecosystem, the nonprofit sector, philanthropic funding and the atmosphere created by the intermediary.

• Racial Disparities – Look Beyond Clients to Institutions. Our research shows that racial discrimination, bias and prejudice compound over time and show up in the infrastructural investments and operating budgets of nonprofits of color in multiple ways. These organizations typically reflect the wealth of their communities.

Leadership and Continued Learning Mindset

• Nonprofit leaders of color often feel isolated in the nonprofit sector. Being connected to a network of leaders of color allows for risk-taking, vulnerability, collective healing and space to tap into one another for group understanding, peer learning and mutual inspiration.

• Leadership development and self-care are areas of neglect and investment in the nonprofit sector. Self-care and leadership development are essential investments for a healthy mind, body and soul. Nonetheless, executives of color embrace professional and personal growth channels infrequently because of the pure trauma they manage day-in and day-out in their respective ecosystems.

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• People learn best when they see the immediate benefit and can apply content to current situations. A training methodology that was both customizable and culturally appropriate allowed executives of color to have their personal and organizational needs fulfilled. The Project training met the organizations' immediate needs, and paired with individual consulting, enhanced the likelihood of successful transitions from training theory to application.

The Role of Philanthropy

• Allyship and partnership, not extraction. Create the space to develop trust and a genuine understanding of each other's priorities, goals, assets and limitations. Seek ways to position organizations of color as experts and significant partners leading the work.

• Power Dynamics – the blind spot to self-reflection. Funders should consider how power dynamics affect the way they engage with organizations of color. Be intentional, accountable and steadfast in your commitment to both learning from people who have the most experience with the brokenness of our systems. While at the same time, acknowledging that nonprofits of color, just like communities of color, have been asked to do too much with too little. Therefore, a willingness to invest in power-building strategies through multi-year, general operating support, along with essential direct services funding is essential for systems change.1

• Evaluating an organization because of its financial balance sheets is not an equitable assessment of its merits or abilities. Funders should recognize that ideas about a nonprofits' "effectiveness" or "readiness" has emerged from White-dominated organizations which has perpetuated or even exacerbated the racial funding gap between White-led nonprofits and organizations led by people of color.2 Therefore, as commitment to racial equity deepens, funders should collaborate with community members to develop a new concept of "effectiveness" and "readiness," one that acknowledges this dynamic and integrates racial equity.

• Apply a racial equity, diversity and inclusion lens internally and externally. Looking both internally and externally can produce immediate gains in employee satisfaction and new business solutions, specifically for promoting greater equity and inclusion in your programming strategies.

1 Travers, J. (2020, April 14). Funding Racial Equity and Justice in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond. Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved from https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/4/14/funding-racial-equity-and-justice-in-the-covid-19-era-and-beyond 2Enright, K. (2017, December, 04). We Need A New Definition of Effectiveness. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/we-need-a-new-definition-of-effectiveness_b_5a257faee4b04dacbc9bd956

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// JPMorgan Chase & Co. & Prosperity Now's Commitment to Nonprofit Leaders of Color

In the seminal article, A Strong Nonprofit Sector is Key to Thriving Communities3, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Office of Nonprofit Engagement (ONE), shared the impetus for investing in Prosperity Now to launch the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project.

This unprecedented effort brought together a wide range of people and resources and required a significant leap of faith from all partners. In 2015, JPMorgan Chase & Co. was among just a handful of corporations publicly investing in nonprofits of color as a strategy to bridge the racial wealth divide. In the press release announcing the investment, JPMorgan Chase & Co issued a call to action for the philanthropic field: "We need to address the lack of economic mobility to ensure long-term inclusive growth in our communities. Strong, community-based nonprofits are a cornerstone of any successful strategy to reduce the racial wealth divide and create widespread opportunity. Instead of asking nonprofits to do more with less, investing in nonprofits by providing training, resources and access—so together, the private, public and nonprofit sectors can begin to work together to tackle the racial wealth divide effectively."4

// Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project Overview

An Intentional Design

The Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project was designed with an acute awareness of the systemic and institutional challenges, some implicit and others explicit, that nonprofit executives of color encounter. In early 2016, not much was written and researched on the unconscious bias inadvertently impacting nonprofit leaders of color. Though less mainstream, The Project was designed to engage these challenges, through a

3 Camper, N. (2016, July 1). A Strong Nonprofit Sector is Key to Thriving Communities. The Aspen Institute. Retrieved from https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/a-strong-nonprofit-sector-is-key-to-thriving-communities/ 4 Prosperity Now. (2016) JPMorgan Chase & Co. Joins with Prosperity Now to Help Bridge the Racial Wealth Divide. Retrieved from https://prosperitynow.org/blog/jpmorgan-chase-co-joins-prosperity-now-help-bridge-racial-wealth-divide-0

“ “ JPMorgan Chase recognizes that a robust nonprofit sector is essential for strong and resilient communities, especially as the firm works to advance racial equity and support an inclusive economic recovery from the pandemic. Funding for nonprofits tends to focus on building and expanding programs rather than investing in organizations' core infrastructure, organizational growth and leadership development. That’s why, in 2015, the firm invested in Prosperity Now to emphasize the need to support nonprofit leaders of color, help build their capacity, and strengthen their networks in order to shape the policies that directly impact the communities they serve.

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racial equity lens, in order to improve the conditions for nonprofit leaders of color. Below, we highlight the critical challenges experienced by organizations led by leaders of color, in which this Project aimed to elevate and address.

The Racial Organizational Capacity Gap: Disproportionately, nonprofit leaders of color are forced into a vicious cycle of attending capacity building trainings but then receiving smaller grants as a precondition for more desirable multi-year unrestricted dollars. A Bridgespan and Echo Green joint report suggested a reason – "funders often lack understanding of culturally relevant approaches, leading them to over-rely on specific forms of evaluation and strategies that are familiar to them." This creates a challenging paradox for nonprofit leaders of color because, "It takes funding to build capacity and to measure effectiveness yet being strong on these dimensions is a common precondition for securing funding. A sober look at root causes would recognize that historic underfunding in their organizations and communities of color more broadly are more often the culprit."5 Constructing a best-in-class leadership development and organizational capacity building training component as part of The Project was a strategic assets-based approach to debunk the deficiency frame that the executives "lacked [the] capacity for trustworthy investments."

The Racial Leadership Gap: The research from the Building Movement Project, specifically, the Race To Lead report series, has challenged the entire nonprofit sector to evaluate narratives about racial leadership gaps. The research captures systemic biases and barriers – not individual deficits – that limit opportunity, access, and advancement for leaders of color who aspire to executive leadership roles.6 Those who are successful in reaching career milestones usually find themselves a minority, which can be lonely and stressful. Therefore, establishing an ecosystem of communal understanding where the executive can learn and design is critical.7 Simultaneously constructing opportunities for the executives to have more equitable access to social networks8 that enable connections to the philanthropic community and other powerbrokers is intentional. We create opportunities for the executive leaders to "sit at the table" and be in the room with influencers through strategically curated, city-level roundtable discussions with funders, policymakers, and majority-led nonprofit leaders to harness public, private, philanthropic and political partnerships.

The Racial Funding Gap: The racial funding gap between organizations led by White nonprofit executives and those led by people of color is well documented by numerous researchers, philanthropic experts, and racial justice leaders. Arguably, the cause of this gap is structural and institutional racism. In 2009, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) reported that to maximize impact, at least 50% of grant funding should be directed to low-income communities, specifically communities of color and other disadvantaged

5 Dorsey, C., Bradach, J., & Kim, P. (2020) Racial Equity and Philanthropy: Disparities in Funding for Leaders of Color Leave Impact on the Table. The Bridgespan Group. Retrieved from https://www.bridgespan.org/bridgespan/Images/articles/racial-equity-and-philanthropy/racial-equity-and-philanthropy.pdf 6 Building Moving Project (2019) Nonprofit Executives and the Racial Leadership Gap: A Race to Lead Brief. Retrieved from https://www.buildingmovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ED.CEO_Race_to_Lead_Brief_.pdf. 7 Goughnour, C. & Singh, L. D. (2019) The African American Financial Capability Project: An Implementation Blueprint. Prosperity Now. Retrieved from https://prosperitynow.org/sites/default/files/resources/AAFCI_Implementation_Blueprint.pdf 8 Dorsey, C., Kim, P., Daniels, C., Sakaue, L., & Savage, B. (2020, May 4) Overcoming the Racial Bias in Philanthropic Funding. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/overcoming_the_racial_bias_in_philanthropic_funding

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groups.9 After revisiting the study in 2019, NCRP found that between 2009 and 2015, giving to marginalized people by the country's 1,000 largest foundations increased from 28% to 33%. However, investment for structural and systems change to combat injustice declined to less than 10%.10 As a result, organizations of color are typically under-resourced, creating challenges for community and sector leaders to make lasting structural change. We develop, design and release Racial Wealth Divide City Profiles to normalize conversations about racial economic inequities. These profiles serve as advocacy arsenals that position the executives to engage local government, funders and other decision-makers on racial economic disparities and solutions to address them.

Four Core Program Objectives

To address the national challenge of a broad and deep racial wealth divide, the core program objectives for the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project are to: (1) Enhance organizational management capacities of nonprofit executives of color, (2) Improve racial wealth equity analytical competencies, (3) Extend and deepen social networks and visibility opportunities, and (4) Increase the overall organizational funding pipeline and funding allocations.

9 Singh, L. and Lassiter, V. (2020) Exploring The Experiences of Leaders of Color and Philanthropy. Prosperity Now. Retrieved from https://prosperitynow.org/resources/exploring-experiences-leaders-color-and-philanthropy. 10 Dorfman, A. (2019, May 10) Philanthropy Has Changed How It Talks – But Not Its Grantmaking – in the Decade Since NCRP’s ‘Criteria’ Was Released. PhilanTopic. Retrieved from https://pndblog.typepad.com/pndblog/2019/05/philanthropy-has-changed-how-it-talks-but-not-its-grantmaking-in-the-decade-since-ncrps-criteria-was.html

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Program Strategies

The Building High Impact Nonprofit of Color Project strategies to achieve the goals mentioned above include:

1. Leadership Development and Organizational Capacity Building: We create an organizational development approach designed to build leadership and organizational capacity and provide targeted and individualized training to cohort organizations. This training is provided by consultants of color and those who engage in capability-building work through a race-conscious lens.

2. Racial Economic Equity Trainings Rooted in The Data: We produce Racial Wealth Divide City Profiles to support both leaders of color and local stakeholders to improve their understanding of the connection between assets and the racial wealth divide. Leaders of color are trained around the importance of leveraging data to show that socioeconomic inequity results from systems that perpetuate inequality rather than individuals' behaviors or choices.

3. Leveraging National and In-City Networks: We provide networking and convening opportunities, so nonprofit executives of color can build relationships within and across networks. These opportunities also increase their access to key influencers and decision-makers in their respective cities and beyond.

// Examining the Approach of Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project

The Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project is informed by the knowledge, that racially neutral policies (intentional and unintentional) and institutions led us to today's racial economic inequality. Therefore, it will take similar coordination, investment and courage to move this work, and ultimately generations of families forward. If the impacts of racial economic inequality are felt in every aspect of life, including health, the built ecosystem, education and social networks, then the most critical agents of change are community members and those working in communities, fueled by the sustained commitment of institutional stakeholders -- political, philanthropic and civic leaders, for example – in support of a movement to bridge the racial economic divide.

Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project Theory of Change11

11 Dillard, D. (2020) Prosperity Now RWDI: Our Framework to Achieve Racial Wealth Equity. Unpublished.

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Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color City Cohorts Composition

The Criteria: Participating organizations serve low- to moderate-income individuals, families and communities who are primarily people of color, most of their organizational leaders are people of color. We define an organization of color as one where the senior leadership (executive director, president or CEO) self-identifies as a person of color (non-White). Organizations assessed during this phase were evaluated against two considerations: capability and capacity to engage and implement changes to their programs and policies (i.e., financial standing, staff size, stable leadership) and a clear benefit and alignment between organizational needs and The Project offerings.

Stakeholder Outreach: We engaged various stakeholders in each city to fortify our pipeline of potential participating organizations. We engaged national social justice organizations such as the National Association from the Advancement of Color People (NAACP), National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD) and the National Urban League, and other community anchor institutions like the United Way and Community Foundations. Whenever possible, we engaged financial institutions, federal reserve partners and government agencies. Telephone Interviews with Organizations of Color: Through primary research and recommendations from stakeholders' interviews, roughly two dozen organizations were vetted and invited to participate in telephone interviews. The telephone interviews yielded critical information about the organization, including current programs and services, geographic reach, opportunities for growth (internally and externally), tenure of leadership, staff demographics, annual budget, understanding of their role in the racial wealth divide and past capacity building and leadership development experiences. Conducting Site Visits: After initial phone interviews, eight to twelve organizations received invitations to participate in site visits. Each site visit aided our understanding of the organization's ecosystem and formed the beginning stage of what we aimed to be transformational partnerships. The organizations not selected were encouraged to stay connected to The Project and participate in all city-level events hosted in the city. Invitation-only Roundtable Application Overview: Nearly all organizations invited to participate in site visits were subsequently invited to participate in an invitation-only roundtable discussion. During this discussion, organizations were made aware of other potential cohort members. Organizations could ask questions and gain additional clarity regarding The Project (time commitment, capacity building training, capstone project expectations). Organizations were provided the application and offered a few weeks for submission. Cohort Member Selection: Ninety-eight percent of all the organizations submitted applications for participation in The Project. For the first two cohorts, we reviewed each applicant's ability to articulate organizational need and capacity to engage in The Project, leadership sustainability and commitment, and community engagement and partnership footprint. Starting with cohort three, we created a rubric that provided the reviewing team a tool to assess each applicant against the criteria above. Five to six organizations are selected to form a cohort. Cohort Organizational Assessment: Upon selection, each cohort member agency completed baseline organizational capacity building assessments, which were used by the training consultants in designing the capacity building training content and curriculum. Elements included strategic planning and organizational management, communications, resource development, talent management and human resources. In 2020, a training track focused on financial management and policy and advocacy was included. The nonprofit

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executives engaged in self-assessment, evaluating their organizations. This data was used to modify the training modules, the key areas of focus for the group training and individual consulting pairings. DEMOGRAPHICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS

The selected cohorts were racially and ethnically diverse and reflected their cities and communities. The diagrams below represent the 46 organizations and 95 leaders in The Project. Sixty-five percent of the nonprofit executive leaders were women compared to 35% men. There were two unique instances where a White nonprofit executive participated in the city cohorts; however, the nonprofit executive director or president and CEO were executives of color.

DEMOGRAPHICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS

6 5

11

69 10 10

6

5

2

2

4

22

23

12

11

0

3

6

9

12

15

Miami New Orleans Baltimore Chicago Dallas Wilmington Minneapolis Seattle

Racial Breakdown of BHINC Leaders

Black Latinx/Hispanic Asian White

66

18

73

Racial Demographic

Black Latinx AAPI White

62

Gender Demographic

Women Men

38

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Strategy Design: Personal Leadership Development and Organizational Capacity Building

Undeniably, nonprofit executives of color and their organizations receive less and lower philanthropic investments because they are perceived to lack organizational capacity. We anchored the program design in organizational capacity building to address this widespread, often unspoken critique of organizations of color. Prosperity Now staff interviewed several potential organizational capacity building providers and selected the Georgetown Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership (CPNL) as our partner. We hoped this selection would legitimize the nonprofit executives' ability to deliver high-capacity services, given the CPNL's national and global reputation.

The CPNL staff were thought partners with some experience working with organizational leaders of color. We worked with CPNL faculty to shape the training curriculum as it was important that it reflected the unique challenges for organizations of color. CPNL served as the capacity building partner for two years, during 2016 and 2017, providing group training modules on board governance; strategic planning; evaluating social impact; advocacy, development and fundraising, and communications.

A NECESSARY PROGRAM DESIGN PIVOT

In 2018, we designed and implemented a culturally resonant, transformational capacity building engagement approach. Recognizing that transformational capacity builders must "center relationships, create gracious space, and move at a speed that allows people to become unguarded and creative"12 we grounded the capacity building training in a focus on personal leadership development. We partnered with David Mensah, a Principal Partner of WAVE Consulting and Training LLC, to provide an ontology-based training that utilizes the proven Breakthrough Action™ Leadership (BAL) practice of being responsible, self-reflective and creating collective leadership. We continued to strengthen the organizational capacity building component by hiring a training team comprised of highly regarded and established business executives of color who understood the nuanced challenges of being a nonprofit executive of color. The organizational capacity building training modules were codified to focus on: personal leadership, resource development and fundraising, human resources, strategic planning and communications.

In 2020, financial management was included as part of the core training curriculum. This training positions the nonprofit executives of color to receive an individualized review of their financials and organizational

12 Nishimura, A., Sampath, R., Le, Vu., Sheikh, A., and Valenzuela, A. (Fall 2000). Transformational Capacity Building. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/transformational_capacity_building

Use of the word "capacity building" does not signal the view that the nonprofit sector is "weak" or lacks the human capital needed to succeed. Rather, it underscores the importance of having access to the talent necessary for growth or for solving a complex problem—often requiring new and untried solutions—to realize an ambitious vision and mission.

Source: Blueprint for Enterprise Capital: A Strategy for Aligning Capital & Capacity to Magnify Nonprofit Impact: A Strategy for Aligning Capital and Capacity to Magnify Nonprofit Impact. Yale International Center for Finance. Retrieved from https://www.enterprisecapital.info/

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statements plus training in the essentials of financial analysis and lessons in how to attract and structure capital to build financial strength and resilience. In partnership with Prosperity Now's in-house advocacy and policy experts, a policy-advocacy bootcamp component was added as a training module. In this training, leaders of color study best practices for educating policymakers and decision-makers and building strong coalitions that effectively elevate community voice.

Capstone Development: Next, the nonprofit executives are matched with content coaches for four months of coaching sessions focused on operationalizing their capstone projects. The capstone's purpose is for each nonprofit executive of color to apply the knowledge and tools they have gained to address a challenge or an opportunity in their organization.

Strategy Design: Racial Economic Equity Workshops Rooted in the Data

In each city, we host "cohort only" workshops. These training sessions provide a "safe space" for the organizational leaders to convene and are anchored by information found in local data profiles. The Racial Wealth Divide City Profiles help the nonprofit executive leaders better understand and assess financial challenges and opportunities facing residents in their communities. The workshops cover: 1) Data is Power--Revising the Racial Wealth Divide Data Profiles; 2) Understanding Your Ecosystem–Allyship, Partnership and Threats; 3) Developing a Collective Action Framework at the Local Level, and 4) Developing Your Organizational Elevator Speech.

Strategy Design: Leveraging In-City and National Networks

In each of the target cities, the nonprofit executives of color collaborated with JPMorgan Chase & Co. local teams to organize and launch three cross-sector, externally-facing events. Those events help the executives gain access to key decision-makers, integrate them into their work, shape public policy and become effective advocates for social change.

Funders Roundtables: The goals of these roundtables are to:

• Create a space for foundation and corporate funders to discuss how they see the racial wealth divide affecting the community development efforts that they fund;

• Provide space to explore how funders perceive investments in nonprofits of color as part of a key strategy in bridging racial wealth inequality;

• Identify some of the issues that are at the root of inequality in neighborhoods, such as recidivism, lack of financial counseling, etc., which are often challenging to fund;

• Discuss the role that the funding community can play in supporting nonprofits of color in advancing solutions in the policy and advocacy landscape.

Leaders at these curated events are also able to showcase how their services are advancing economic and wealth equity and connect with funders who are interested in the same issues.

Effective Collaboration Roundtables: The goal of the effective collaboration roundtables was to explore strategies to succeed in nonprofit collaboration within the context of the growing racial wealth divide. In each city, we invited panelists and stakeholder partners to discuss effective practices of nonprofit collaborations within and across racial lines. These roundtables highlight the value of engaging organizations of color in addressing the challenges of racial economic inequality.

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Civic and Elected Officials Roundtables: The goals of the civic and elected officials roundtables were to bring about cohesion among community-based organizations, government agencies and elected officials and foster a common understanding of the importance of applying a racial equity lens when developing policy. If the roundtables were successful, participants would see themselves as an integral part in addressing racial wealth inequality in the city. Improving policy that impacts low-income, low-wealth Americans is critical to nonprofit organizations' ability to advocate for sustainable systemic and structural change. The intended outcomes of the roundtables:

• City government to gain better understanding of the racial wealth divide challenges in their city;

• Cohort leaders and their strategies to gain visibility;

• Leaders to develop an understanding of city economic development approach and commitment, as well as feel more empowered to engage civically; and

• Participants to hold exploratory conversations so that fresh partnerships might emerge.

Local and National Convenings: The goal of these events was to nurture networking and convening opportunities so organizations of color can build relationships within and across networks. Lack of networks and connections is consistently a key pain point for leaders of color, one that they cite as limiting their growth and development. Prosperity Now and JPMorgan Chase & Co. intended to leverage their networks by connecting participants to key influencers and decision-makers in their respective cities and beyond, thereby strengthening the networks of nonprofit participants. Leaders participated in Prosperity Now's bi-annual summit conference, National Community Reinvestment Coalition Annual conference and other regional conferences.

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// Reflections and Project Impact Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color: Measuring Impact, Reflections, Assessment

As stated, The Project seeks to address the racial wealth divide by supporting leaders of color who are working in nonprofits serving communities of color. The support is focused on building organizational management, deepening connections to the asset development field and increasing fundraising opportunities. The Project also seeks to change the operating conditions of these organizations by supporting relevant stakeholders in learning about racial wealth inequality and partnering with nonprofits of color to address it. Thus far, we have successfully worked in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Miami and Wilmington, DE. We are serving organizations in Minneapolis and Seattle through 2021. Appendix B captures a complete list of the organizations. Below, we highlight the impact and success stories of The Project. We administered a survey to which more than half of the participating organizations responded. The graphs below depict whether or not leaders reported increased competency in organizational management and personal leadership, increased networks and partnerships, increased funding, and an increased application of a racial economic equity lens to their work.

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT & ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

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Watch Video: https://youtu.be/-p_Y6Yb3_XM Watch Video: https://youtu.be/jBo_g2jir4A

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Watch Video: https://youtu.be/xO-rOk8_TDw

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/YPQRrmC23L4

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// Learnings and Analysis for the Field

Varied Levels of Systemic and Structural Barriers

There is no Silver Bullet to Address the Racial Wealth Divide. To address the significant financial insecurity facing families, communities and institutions of color, we committed to working long-term with place-based nonprofits of color across service deliveries. Our goal was to strengthen and leverage their analyses, expertise and capacity as a means to acquire the resources needed to address growing racial and wealth inequality. Leaders identified a variety of pressing challenges that their constituents face because of racial economic inequality. We found that it was critical to work with organizations that provide programming beyond traditional financial capability services. Participants were diverse, reflecting the complexity and interactions among social, institutional, political and systemic forces of the racial wealth divide.

PRIMARY FOCUS AREAS OF NONPROFIT PARTNERS

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CHALLENGES LIFTED UP BY ORGANIZATIONS FOR THEIR CLIENTS DUE TO RACIAL ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES

Community-centered Investing Across Racial and Ethnic Lines is Vital. Nonprofits of color are particularly well-positioned to serve communities of color because of their connection with and commitment to the people they serve. The selected organizations in each city reflect the local racial and ethnic diversity. For instance, in Miami, we have leaders of Haitian and Cuban descent. In New Orleans, we had two Vietnamese-American serving organizations, and in Seattle, organizations serving refugees of Somali, and Asian descent. There have been investments focused on specific racial and ethnic groups. However, this Project invests in the leadership of people of all nationalities and ethnicities, which often raises the question: "Why invest across racial lines and focus on communities of color?" Simply, the issue of the racial wealth divide and disinvestment in the nonprofits that serve people of color is larger than one racial or ethnic group. In each city, we met with community leaders and stakeholders, which equipped us to develop a profile to understand the city's economic, community and socio-demographic aspects. The issues facing each city are different, and this also necessitates working across race and ethnic lines. Such differences include foundation- and state-giving histories, macro and microeconomic differences, and histories of migration and immigration, to name a few.

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Racial Disparities - Look Beyond Clients to Institutions. Our research confirmed that racial discrimination, bias and prejudice compound over time and show up in the infrastructural investments, as part of operating budgets, and on the balance sheets of nonprofits of color in many ways. Most importantly, when intentionally included, funded, and supported, our organizational partners of color can learn innovative, promising practices from wisdom gleaned from the community. However, organizations that serve communities of color also likely reflect the wealth of that community. For example, our partners reported the following:13

• Nonprofits of color receive less foundational support than nonprofits that are led by Whites. This level of foundational support is due to issues of networks, historical trends, and bias. From our work, we know that, even so, nonprofits of color deliver the same if not better outcomes as White nonprofits.

• Nonprofits of color, when soliciting individual donations from persons of color, are disadvantaged in their ability to solicit large gifts, given the wealth and income limitations of people of color.

• Nonprofits of color routinely receive capacity building support without matching funds for operational and implementation support.

• Nonprofits of color and their staff are often paid less than those working at White-led organizations.

Understanding and Assessing the Ecosystem is Key. This work requires assessment of multiple elements to ensure The Project is viable and effective in accomplishing its stated goals. The environment can be broken down into four categories: the macro-environment, the nonprofit environment, the philanthropic funding environment, and the environment created by the intermediary.

The macro-environment includes an understanding of the historical, social and political realities of a certain locality. In cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, we found many similarities that allowed for conversations about race and White supremacy to be discussed. Both cities have complex histories of race and disinvestment in the city core. As a result, the nonprofits and community stakeholders (including funders, elected officials and others) are well positioned to see the racial component of the economic disenfranchisement occurring in those cities. In Miami, we were met with a different perspective. Many in Miami's overwhelmingly immigrant population, choose to align with their nationality before their race or ethnicity. We found that the effectiveness of this program depends on the level of shared understanding of the cities' past and present racial economic disparities.

The nonprofit ecosystem is essential to consider before engaging in a community. Although nonprofits in some fashion have existed in the United States since colonial times, it has only been since the 1950s that today's nonprofit organizations were created as we know them. 14 Today, some communities have more established nonprofit organizations than others, especially in the Northeast and the industrial Midwest, where they tend to possess more legacy wealth and established institutions. However, individual groups have widely varying levels of resources.15 Organizations of color typically don't have legacy wealth or the connections needed to engage with established institutions. This reality, paired with the increasing needs of communities of color and

13 Ibid. 14 Hall, P. D. (2004) Historical Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizations in the United States. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management, 2nd Edition, Pg. 3-38, Ed. Robert Herman, et al. Jossey-Bass. 15 Maciag, M. (2019) Where Nonprofits Are Most Prevalent in America. Governing the Future of States and Localities. Retrieved from https://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-nonprofits.html.

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decreasing government resources, places additional strains on nonprofit leaders to be seen and engaged on an even playing field.

The state of the philanthropic funding ecosystem is also a key to this work's success. In some cities, the philanthropic sector inequitably allocates funding to nonprofits of color, and therefore, there is a lack of representation in their funding strategies. In other cities, the philanthropic sector may be perpetuating disparities found among nonprofits – i.e., White-led nonprofits receive more funding and more consistent funding than nonprofits of color. In these cases, the work to build the capacity of nonprofits of color is stymied by a reluctance to support nonprofits of color due to a mix of past dependency, bias and network pressures. Essentially, if the nonprofit sector in a community is not prepared or interested in addressing inequities, nonprofits of color can receive multiple rounds of capacity building and never receive additional funds to build out programs with the necessary staff and resources.

Lastly, the ecosystem created by the intermediary – Prosperity Now, and the staff of the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative. By creating a safe space to build trust and where there was no judgment among organizations, leaders moved from competition to alliance and collective power. This program was not built on a collective impact model, but leaders developed a shared understanding of their racial economic disparities, built a unified voice and explored strategic approaches to shifting policies and practices in their cities. As a national intermediary, we use our platform to elevate organizations' work and create opportunities for the nonprofit executives to be recognized for their expertise and solutions.

Our partners confirmed that the racial wealth divide appears in operations and service provisions. During our racial wealth divide overview and training, our leaders discussed a variety of ways in which racial economic inequality creates barriers.

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RACIAL ECONOMIC INEQUALITY: IMPACT ORGANIZATIONS STAFF AND DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS

Leadership and Continued Learning Mindset

Nonprofit leaders of color often feel isolated in the nonprofit sector. Leading a nonprofit, especially a community-based entity working on behalf of vulnerable communities, comes with many challenges. Likely, the greatest challenge of all is the reality that the majority of nonprofit executives are White. So the continued fight to combat structural and systemic inequities, many executives of color feel the pressure of not having the luxury to take risks or have candid conversations with their White peers. We found making space for open conversations is critical to the vitality of nonprofit executives of color. In these spaces, we forge a new frame of reference—one that encourages the executives of color to tap into their intuition and their spirituality, as opposed to suppressing them; one that allows them to reinforce the meaning and purpose of their work, as well as the inherent value of how they approach that work; one that is rooted in struggle and resistance as opposed to compliance and subservience.16 Additionally, leaders were able to tap into one another for communal understanding, peer learning and joint inspiration.

16 Robinson, A.J. and Singh, L. (2020) What We Talk About Among Our Peers. Prosperity Now. Retrieved from https://prosperitynow.org/resources/what-we-talk-about-among-our-peers

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Leadership development and self-care are often ignored or neglected areas of investment. Understanding the programming and operational functionalities of an organization is critical. However, leaders of color (and funders) don't always see the benefit of taking the time to invest in themselves. Some may even say it's not fair to take time or resources from their constituents because the need is so great. Others might say, there are more important things to invest in. Either way, self-care and leadership development are important investments for a healthy mind, body and soul, but they also create space for self-reflection which is necessary for professional and personal growth. Leadership development is the ongoing investment in activities, connections and people through the practice of being responsible, self-reflective and creating opportunities for collective leadership.

People learn best when they see the immediate benefit and can apply content to current situations. Through the assessments, interviews and training, we were able to obtain specific knowledge of the unique challenges – internal and external--faced by each organization. In partnerships with our expert consultants, we were able to customize each training to the cohort to address current and timely challenges. We learned that in-person training needed to be paired with individual consulting to increase the probability that the new concepts and tools would be put to use. A recent study showed that people usually forget 75% of new information if it is not applied within six days.17 Pairing each organization with a consultant on their capstone project helped the organizations move from theory to application. When given a chance, these organizations wanted to take on transformational system-level projects, such as designing a new source of fundraising income and building new platforms for evaluating their program impact.

The Role of Philanthropy

Partnership, not Extraction. We addressed a piece of collaborative building that many projects miss. We created space for groups, funders and other stakeholders to develop trust and a genuine understanding of each other's priorities, goals, assets and limitations. Too many times, leaders of color are tapped to provide input into the design of a project but not necessarily tapped to lead or partner at a significant level. This time, through candid conversations, leaders were positioned to be the experts on the challenges and solutions that affected their communities. They were given the tools and confidence to engage with decision-makers, lift-up concerns about funding and community investment, seek new partnerships and have authority over designing roundtable discussions with corporate and private funding institutions. Power Dynamics – The Blind Spot to Self-reflection. Funders and nonprofit organizations speak different languages, and observers offer many reasons to account for the disharmony. The two sectors need each other to reach common goals through the exchange of grants and other resources. So, what does it take to get organizations of color and funding institutions on the same page? Through our philanthropy roundtables, Prosperity Now became an intermediary, using our network and brand to ground conversations in the racial disparities that exist in communities and investment strategies that can make a difference. As a result, we were

17 Glaveski, S. (2019) Where Companies go Wrong with Learning and Development. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/10/where-companies-go-wrong-with-learning-and-development

"It was one of those pivotal/energizing life and career experiences that are too few and far between. It is not often that anyone tells us we/our rebellious qualities and our causes are worthy and critical."

- Building High Impact Nonprofit of Color Leader

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able to shift the power dynamics that usually limit our leaders' ability to engage in an authentic way and help the funders to be receptive to emerging solutions. Funding institutions should consider how power dynamics affect how they engage with organizations of color. First, build mutual trust and respect with organizations and communities impacted by the issues you wish to address. Second, assess how your practices are limiting your work in communities of color. Lastly, develop goals and strategies to hold yourself accountable for strengthening the organizations and communities where you're investing. Leaders of color must have a seat at the table, a voice at the table and the opportunity to influence outcomes -- if not lead. Use your connections to bring foundation leaders, policy decision-makers, media and others to the table so that communities of color and the leaders who represent them can tell their own stories and be part of the solutions. So, be intentional, accountable and steadfast in your commitment to focusing on organizations of color and keeping them at the center of all work, as both muse and recipient of the work. Evaluating an organization by its balance sheets is not a fair way to assess its merits or abilities. The size of the organization does not limit its ability to be effective in communities of color. You do not have to be a large organization to have great impact. You just need to have the desire, effective strategies and resources. Too often funders overlook organizations led by people of color, mistakenly concluding they don't have the ability and readiness to absorb substantial investments. Funders should recognize the different ways readiness can show itself. They should offer aid at different stages by adjusting the mix and timing of capacity building support and delivery of capital, arranging alliances among funders and partners. They also should persuade institutional givers to help build readiness for enterprise capital over time.18

Apply a racial equity, diversity and inclusion lens internally and externally. Corporate and private foundations are increasingly being expected to show their commitment to racial equity, diversity and inclusion by incorporating policies and practices internally as an employer and externally through programming. While looking both internally and externally can produce immediate gains in employee satisfaction and new business solutions, for purposes of this report, we will explore what ways you can contribute to promoting greater equity with organizations led by leaders of color. Some recommendations include:

• Addressing the racial wealth divide by innovative funding and/or correcting market failures like supporting businesses of color.

• Committing to assessment practices that look at equity, not just equality. • Committing to funding organizations that reflect the communities you are looking to invest in. • Reviewing your grant requirements and assessing if your requirements are keeping organizations that

do quality work from applying. • Trusting the organizations to do the work and provide general operating funding. • Leveraging your social capital and connections so organizations have greater access to 'power-

players' at various stages. • Insuring organizations of color can engage, partner and apply for funding at the same level as White-

led organizations.

18 Ibid.

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// Conclusion People of all races and ethnicities are demanding racial and economic justice. We have experienced a collective racial reckoning. There is greater acceptance that systems and structures drive racial and economic inequities. There has been a significant groundswell in a movement for multi-sector system change, and it is led by people furthest from economic and wealth equity. The events of 2020 shocked the very foundation of our democracy and forced us to face the reality that the only way to solve racial wealth inequity is to move beyond rhetoric to action.

Since 2015, eight cities, 42 organizations, and nearly 100 nonprofit executives of color have participated in the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project. Undeniably, this unprecedented moment and this Project affirm that "Strong, well-resourced nonprofits that are connected to the decision-making infrastructure in their communities can catalyze growth and opportunity."19 This is not a "traditional capability building approach." We are not "traditional capability builders." Our engagement allowed nonprofits executives of color to innovate, which has led to radical changes in their communities. We built trustworthy relationships with these leaders. We addressed the root causes of racial economic inequality through the use of racial wealth divide city profiles. We cultivated networks, both locally and nationally, to generate power to position the leaders as racial wealth equity change agents. We exposed the chronic disinvestment in communities of color and partnered with them to increase general operating grants and unrestricted individual donors. 20

Still, even with this Project, we have much work to do before achieving transformative improvements. in the lives of nonprofit executives of color and the organizations where they serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), low- and moderate-income, and low-wealth people. The experiences of the nonprofit executives of color demonstrate that philanthropy itself is a system that has benefited from systemic racism and played a role in perpetuating it.21 However, to solve the complexity of the challenges, the grantmaking landscape cannot reform or improve itself without the perspective of nonprofit executives of color or our lived experience, input, and expertise. Nonprofit executives of color are on the frontlines, prepared to chart a path forward.

19 Camper, N. (2016, July 1). A Strong Nonprofit Sector is Key to Thriving Communities. The Aspen Institute. Retrieved from https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/a-strong-nonprofit-sector-is-key-to-thriving-communities/ 20 Nishimura, A., Sampath, R., Le, Vu., Sheikh, A., and Valenzuela, A. (Fall 2000). Transformational Capacity Building. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/transformational_capacity_building 21 Villanueva, E. (2021). Retaining Future Spending Is the Wrong Priority. Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/retaining_future_spending_power_is_the_wrong_priority#

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// Acknowledgements Prosperity Now Staff

The authors would like to thank Cat Goughnour, Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Jessika Lopez, Kylie Patterson, Madelaine Santana, Roberto Arjona, Sandiel Thornton and Immanuel Ahiable for their contributions to the Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project and this program.

Leadership and Organizational Management Consultants

Cheryl S. Clarke Mark Dessauer Valeria Lassiter Chief Executive Officer Vice President Chief Executive Officer National Visionary Leadership SpitFire Strategies Lassiter & Associates, LLC Project BIO BIO BIO

Andrea Levere David K. Mensah Alonford James Robinson Jr. President Emerita Principal Partner Founder and CEO Prosperity Now DKBWAVE Training & Consulting Symphonic Strategies™ Inc Executive Fellow, Yale School BIO BIO of Management BIO

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// APPENDIX A

Advancing The Racial Wealth Equity Field: Emerging Practices, Training Tools and Research

Much of our national dialogue about bridging the racial wealth divide is focused on the economic indicators and the financial health of individuals and families. The last five years of investment and support by Prosperity Now's Racial Wealth Divide Initiative in supporting organizations led by leaders of color to address racial economic and wealth equity in communities of color, has revealed a clear need for focusing more energy, resources and discourse on communal financial health at both local community and national policy levels. We need to increase our capacity as individuals and institutions to understand, apply and teach others the impact of racial economic disparities in policies and practices that undermine the ability of organizations and families of color to fully develop into their best selves. The reports, tools and resources below, published by Prosperity Now, provide guidance to organizations, service practitioners, funding institutions, policymakers and other stakeholders interested in operationalizing economic equity in their support of organizations led by leaders of color. Operationalizing Racial Economic and Wealth Equity Through Programs, Policy and Advocacy: The racial wealth gap, racial wage gap and other systematic deprivations create pressures on individuals of color and their families. The generational effects of racial economic and wealth inequality have also placed a strain on service providers who need to address complex issues from multiple perspectives. As multigenerational issues surface and take hold in communities, service providers are being asked to do more with the same or fewer resources, even when the issues are beyond the scope of their missions. In exploring the Workforce Development and Policy and Advocacy reports, Prosperity Now provides tools to help practitioners achieve racial economic equity goals and inform and develop policy and advocacy agendas that advance economic and wealth equity. Link to full blog: Operationalizing Racial Economic and Wealth Equity Blog

• Through Policy and Advocacy Exploring Racial Economic Equity through Policy and Advocacy • Through Workforce Development Exploring Racial Economic Equity through Workforce Development

Designing a Way to Equity - A Financial Empowerment Project: This report highlights key lessons gleaned by Prosperity Now staff based on the experiences of the participating organizations during the 18-month Financial Empowerment Cohort engagement. It is aimed at organizations of color who have been contemplating how their programming can be enhanced to build the economic power of their communities. This report's lessons could also be helpful for any organization seeking to design an effective technical assistance process that includes a racial economic equity analysis and supports leaders of color within organizations of color. Link to full report: Designing a Way to Equity What We Talk About Among Our Peers: In 2018, Prosperity Now and Symphonic Strategies set out to determine what it would take to establish an ecosystem where nonprofit leaders of color can prosper—where they can flourish in ways that allow them to recharge spiritually and emotionally, to build and to strengthen their social capital, and to exchange knowledge and ideas to help them overcome known challenges. This is what we learned from a six-month pilot and what it may mean for the social sector in general. Link to full report: What We Talk About Among Our Peers COVID-19: New Crisis, Same Story! In April 2020, Prosperity Now's Racial Wealth Divide Initiative hosted three Listening Sessions with nonprofit leaders from across the country with a clear objective: we wanted leaders of

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color to share the ways that they have shifted program and service delivery and adapted their work in response to the COVID-19 crisis. We quickly learned they are doubling-down on existing programs and taking their services virtual. COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges their clients face with health care, employment, income, housing and education. The voices of these leaders and their experiences are captured in this new report. Link to full report: COVID-19: New Crisis, Same Story We also created a six-part video series highlighting the grassroots and community innovations that have been developed and piloted to address the challenges of racial economic inequality. We will feature nonprofit organizational leaders from Baltimore; Chicago; Dallas; Des Moines; Miami; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Seattle; St. Paul, MN; Tacoma, WA; and Wilmington, DE. Link to video series: New Crisis Same Story Video Series - Highlighting Innovations

Exploring the Experiences of Leaders of Color and Philanthropy: Nonprofit organizations led by people of color are best positioned to drive change in communities of color. They are more in touch with the cultural nuances that are required to work with -- and in service of -- people of color and to develop and advocate for community-informed policies and practices. However, studies show that nonprofit organizations and social enterprises led by people of color are less likely to secure funding support at the levels of their White counterparts. This article is written for individuals as well as corporate, foundation and government donors seeking to deepen their understanding of how to support local organizations working to promote racial wealth equity. This article is a collaborative effort of economic advocacy nonprofit Prosperity Now and organizational management consulting firm Lassiter & Associates, LLC. Link to full report: Exploring the Experiences of Leaders of Color and Philanthropy

The African American Financial Capability Project: An Implementation Blueprint. This blueprint reveals the insights of the three-year-long African American Financial Capability Project (AAFCI), funded by the Northwest Area Foundation (NWAF). Prosperity Now's Racial Wealth Divide Project (RWDI) helped 30+ partnering organizations build and implement community-centered financial stability pilot projects to improve and protect the economic security of African Americans in six cities: Des Moines; Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN; Portland, OR; Seattle and Tacoma, WA. The AAFCI Communities of Practice were each tasked with designing and implementing pilot projects to strengthen asset-building services, sharpening policy advocacy strategies and growing leadership capacity to benefit local communities. Link to full report: AAFCI - An Implementation Blueprint.

Communicating On Race and Racial Economic Equity Guide. This report includes many terms, phrases and grammar references to help the audience better understand the racial wealth divide and racial economic inequality. Prosperity Now's Racial Wealth Divide Initiative released a report in 2020 that is a compilation of best practices and recommendations from a wide range of resources that is helpful for naming, framing, defining and understanding the issue. To further understand the definitions of important terms and concepts used in this report, we ask that you reference the Communicating on Race and Racial Economic Equity guide.

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// APPENDIX B Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project Cohort Organizations

COHORT 1

New Orleans, LA 1. Ashé Cultural Arts Center 2. Good Work Network 3. Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center 4. Jericho Road Episcopal Housing 5. MQVN Community Development Corporation 6. PUENTES 7. Vayla New Orleans

Miami, FL 8. Hispanic Unity of Florida 9. Miami Children's Initiative 10. Partners for Self-Employment 11. Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center 12. ConnectFamilias

COHORT 2

Chicago, IL 1. Chinese Mutual Aid Association 2. Gads Hill Center 3. Greater Auburn-Gresham Development

Corporation 4. North Lawndale Employment Network 5. Spanish Coalition for Housing

Baltimore, MD 6. Bon Secours Community Works 7. Center for Urban Families 8. Druid Heights CDC 9. Job Opportunities Task Force 10. Latino Economic Development Center 11. Urban Alliance

COHORT 3

Dallas, Texas 1. Big Thought 2. Border Crossers 3. Business & Community Lenders of Texas 4. Dallas Leadership Foundation 5. Inspiring Tomorrow's Leaders 6. Shared Housing Center

Wilmington, Delaware 7. Christina Cultural Arts Center 8. Delaware Center for Homeless Veterans 9. Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council,

Inc. 10. First State Community Loan Fund 11. Kingswood Community Center 12. Latin American Community Center 13. Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League

COHORT 4

Minneapolis, Minnesota 1. African American Leadership Forum 2. African Development Center of Minnesota 3. Build Wealth Minnesota 4. Hope Community 5. Northside Economic Opportunity Network

Seattle, Washington 6. Africatown Community Land Trust 7. Communities Rise 8. Urban Impact 9. Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle 10. White Center Community Development Association

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// APPENDIX C Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color Project Logic Model

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