Rachel Pereira, a graduate of the School’s Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, and Fahad Ahmad, a candidate in the School’s PhD Public Policy, helped to prepare the research report Unfunded: Black Communities Overlooked by Canadian Philanthropy.
The report, released December 2, is the first to examine systematically the extent to which Canadian philanthropy has responded to the unique and intersectional challenges facing Black communities. On the basis of interviews with ten Black and non-Black philanthropic leaders, and a review of the funding portfolios of 40 Canadian foundations, it concludes that Canadian philanthropy has been largely absent in addressing those challenges. To correct this, the report recommends the creation of a dedicated Foundation for Black Communities – one that will “embody a transformational model of community philanthropy that centres the self-determination of Black people in Canada, leverages community assets, and utilizes an inclusive and trust-based decision process to determine resource allocation, and community and capacity building priorities.”