New Data Shows Racial Justice Funding Faded Quickly and Favored Larger Organizations, According to Candid and ABFE
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, setting off a global racial reckoning at a time when much of the world was already grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
His death, coming after a string of high-profile killings of unarmed Black Americans, including Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery earlier that same year, became a defining moment that pushed corporations, philanthropies, universities, and institutions across the country to publicly commit to addressing racial inequities.
Billions of dollars were pledged in the months that followed. New initiatives were launched. Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts expanded rapidly.
For a moment, it appeared that long overdue investment into Black communities and Black-led organizations was finally materializing.
But within a few years, questions began to emerge about what those commitments actually produced. By 2023, concerns were growing. By 2024, they were harder to ignore. Now, new data suggests many of those early doubts were justified.
Report Finds Funding Was Short-Lived and Concentrated
A new report from Candid and ABFE, titled “From Transaction to Transformation: Three Ways Foundations Can Invest In Black-Led Nonprofits for Lasting Change,” found that the surge in funding for Black-led nonprofits after 2020 was both narrow and short-lived.
“Black-led nonprofit leaders are being asked to meet rising community needs while navigating an increasingly hostile environment toward race-explicit work, often without the flexible, sustained funding needed to build staff, strengthen infrastructure, or plan for the long term,” said Susan Taylor Batten, president and CEO of ABFE.
According to the report, most of the increased funding was concentrated among a small group of larger Black-led organizations and lasted less than two years, primarily between 2020 and 2022.
Smaller nonprofits saw little to no meaningful increase in support, reinforcing existing funding patterns rather than expanding access across the sector.
Researchers noted that much of the funding came in the form of one-time donations instead of sustained investments, making it difficult for organizations to hire staff, build infrastructure, or develop long-term programs.
“The importance of monetary investment—or financial support—for nonprofits cannot be overstated,” the report stated. “Most nonprofits run on shoestring budgets; without ongoing grants… their ability to serve communities is immediately put at risk.”
The findings are based on foundation grantmaking data from 2016 through 2023, along with surveys of more than 3,500 nonprofits and interviews with nonprofit leaders and funders.
Political and Legal Pressures Add to Funding Challenges
At the same time, the broader political environment has made sustaining race-focused funding more difficult.
As companies and institutions pull back from DEI commitments amid legal challenges and political pressure, some funders have grown more cautious about supporting Black-led work.
“While foundations navigate legal risks around language use and funding priorities, Black-led nonprofits face existential threats to their identities and missions,” the report noted.
The result is a growing gap between need and support. Many organizations are being asked to do more with less, even as the communities they serve continue to rely on their programs and services.
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Report Calls for Long-Term Investment and Structural Change
The report’s authors argue that meaningful change will require a shift toward long-term, multi-year funding, stronger relationships between funders and nonprofit leaders, and greater investment in smaller, community-based organizations.
Without those changes, they warn, future moments of national attention are likely to follow the same pattern, with large promises that fail to translate into lasting structural support.
