Happy Black Philanthropy Month (BPM)! As part of agentsC’s multi-year association with BPM, this month, I'm re-exploring The Duality of Giving, reflecting on the rise and reach of African philanthropy as a global phenomenon, and considering what it means for the future of giving.

This article is an invitation to join me in discovering the unprecedented rise and recognition of African philanthropy as a force for social and environmental transformation in our world today, not just for one month but for all the months. Before our opinions have a chance to form, we must first be curious. I'd like many more of my peers to be both curious about and interested in Black philanthropy, because I believe it is a gateway to understanding the future of generosity and to supporting us as we change and adapt our fundraising practices. Black Philanthropy and Afrocentric fundraising are practices we should all be stakeholders and investors in.

What should we know and how can we identify opportunities to engage people of African ancestry on their terms as they practice traditional Western forms of philanthropy, while also demonstrating the uniqueness of a totally African interpretation of generosity?

African philanthropy is one of the world's most generous, and least recognized giving traditions.

Firstly, we can pay attention. Secondly, we can document. Thirdly, we can amplify what we see. There are a multitude of global stories, statistics, and surveys that signify contemporary African philanthropy as one of the world's most unique and prolific forms of giving. So why do so few fundraising, philanthropic, and financial services organizations have programs curated around African/Black philanthropic culture?

Part of the answer is inertia: fundraising continues to be taught around traditional Western practices. The major gift, direct marketing, capital campaign, and named endowments. African traditions like giving circles, mutual aid, remittances, Ubuntu, Harambee, and Stockvel are not built into fundraising or financial services training. There's also a visibility problem. The evidence of the power of Black philanthropy exists in academic journals and global giving indices, but rarely reaches the rooms where fundraising strategy actually gets written. Our current definition of "best practice" is really “Western Practice”, and this needs to change as the demographics of our populations become more diverse.

Its growth and global giving indices and stories rarely reach fundraising strategy and practice

During Black Philanthropy Month, Black folks all over the world are collectively acknowledging ourselves as among the most generous people on the planet, including in the USA, where the highest levels of cash donations reside. BPM follows July, where the Black Feminist Fund marked its fifth anniversary, for the first time, in London UK. On September 2, I’ll be delivering a keynote video at the IFC Pop-Up, Cape Town, where African fundraisers will network, share, and be equipped with tools for fundraising leadership on the continent and around the world. Fast Forward to October 1, agentsC Inc. will launch our sixth annual Giving Black Conference and Soirée. You are invited!

As someone who grew up in a Black community surrounded by abundant examples of African and Caribbean generosity, I often reflect on what philanthropy means to me. I describe philanthropy in African terms as, a reciprocal exchange of generosity, rather than transactional support from one to the other or pity for someone else. Admittedly philanthropy practiced by people of African ancestry can be like most other cultural philanthropies, paradoxical: seemingly worlds apart, and at other times definitively rooted at home. And yet, it’s our job to try to better understand what we are seeing and to try to shape and inform its direction.

We should recognize, document, and amplify Black philanthropy all year round

Let’s acknowledge that we are at the dawn of a new era of generosity in Black culture. One that can both fund and underpin our desire to improve our world. African approaches to generosity are both ancestral and contemporary. They deserve a rightful place of belonging in the many global narratives about giving. The Duality of Giving shows us that such is the generosity of African people that we support on average six causes a year including our donations to charities, family, friends, and faith groups.

We can do so much more to harness this scale of giving that is continually growing and already at unrivalled and unprecedented levels. To begin, let’s stem the paucity of curiosity, let’s all tell our stories, let’s delve into the research, then let’s get practical by building and testing Afrocentric donor programs, bringing our fundraising practices into the realities of the universality of cultural diversity in the 21st century.

If you'd like to know more about Black Philanthropy Month, Giving Black, Black Philanthropy, or Afrocentric fundraising programs, you can DM me at mide@agentsC.ca to request a conversation.

Happy Black Philanthropy Month… I am Black Philanthropy…I am Excited!

Olumide Akerewusi. 🖤 🖤🖤