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Episode Summary “...while we know that systemic racism is real and we know that funders aren’t really supporting and investing in brown and black communities, when you see the data, it's staggering. And it's amazing to me how complacent we can get sometimes, even in our advocacy.” Community foundations are supposed to serve their communities! But many community foundations use the same donor-centrism philosophies that our nonprofits do, centering white communities and wealth. In this episode, Heather Infantry, a fundraiser, executive director and organizer, tells us the story of how she called out her local community foundation and started a huge transformational shift in her community of Atlanta, Georgia.
Episode Notes
A long time advocate for justice and the arts, Heather identifies as a “foot soldier for Black liberation,” and has had incredible success organizing a disruption of her local community foundation. She’s amazing and we can all learn from the incredible work she outlines for us in this episode. Here are links for content mentioned in the show (and sign up for our mailing list?):
Transcript Here's the link to read the transcript and follow along.
Larry Muri
10/11/2020 06:34:01 am
Hi again, this is second time I have commented on your Pod Cast.
Michelle Shireen
11/3/2020 04:59:48 pm
Thank you so much for your thoughts, Larry! Heather is FANTASTIC and I'm so glad you enjoyed hearing from her.
Dianne Thomas
11/2/2020 10:59:30 am
Outstanding interview! I lived in Atlanta for more than 20 years and just left this past February. As a Black fundraiser for largely small and medium-sized social service, education and advocacy nonprofits, I applied for funding from CFGA and was awarded on occasion. I am however quite familiar with their biased practices, particularly with respect to arts organizations. To Heather's point, there is an alarmingly opaque veil of silence and culture of complicity by Black leaders, both in the city AND at CFGA, that perpetuate the blatant, long-standing neglect she describes. I laud her decision to activate--she has begun a movement that will hopefully reverse decades of mistreatment and put true "community" into CFGA.
Michelle Shireen
11/3/2020 05:02:19 pm
Dianne, thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us! We definitely have a long way to go and Heather's story and movement are only the beginning!
Marlie Whittle
11/9/2020 11:15:27 am
This was my favourite episode to date. Thanks Michelle and Heather!
Les
12/5/2020 03:09:39 pm
Thank you Michelle and Heather! This was episode was so inspiring and insightful. And yes please do a whole ep on DAFs! Comments are closed.
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