Five essential insights from the 2022 Black Leadership in Social Impact summit

Author Kylie Adair
Speakers shared powerful points, from the difference between philanthropy and reparations to the role wellbeing plays in the fight for Black equity

Why It Matters

Black changemakers make important contributions to the world of social impact every day. A better, more effective, and more equitable sector means listening closely to the perspectives of these Black leaders.

Black History Month just wrapped up, but there’s no time like every day of the year to reflect on the innovations of Black social impact leaders. 

Last week, Future of Good co-hosted with the Foundation for Black Communities a summit on that very topic. The Black Leadership in Social Impact summit brought together 38 speakers and hundreds of changemakers from around the world to celebrate and highlight Black leaders’ work — and to talk about the systemic change needed to enable more Black leaders to flourish.

The two-day summit was packed with ideas and insights that could change the way social purpose work is done. It was about inclusion — as Rosemary Sadlier, former president of the Ontario Black History Society and the recipient of the Order of Ontario, said in her opening of the summit, “if you’re in an organization, it might be time to look around and [ask] how easy it is for Black Canadians to gain entry and participate.” 

But it was also about self-determination and the groundbreaking work happening outside of white-dominated and white-created spaces. As part of the introduction to his performance opening day two of the summit, Toronto-based writer and poet David Delisca said, “Black leadership is essential. It’s communal. And it’s a beautiful exchange.” 

Here are five essential insights from the summit:

 

Black history is Black power 

The opening panel of the summit was about Black power, and the ways it’s fostered among Black communities. Knowing and celebrating Black history — something Canadians know far too little about — is key, all the speakers agreed.

Dr. Dorothy Williams spoke on the panel. Williams is a leading researcher on Black Canadian history, the author of three books on the subject, and the founder of Blacbiblio, an organization that creates Black Canadian history resources for parents, teachers, and children. 

Black communities in Canada have been “dispossessed because of the obfuscation and the erasure of our only history on this territory we call Canada,” Williams said. “By doing that, it continues to give the dominant culture the power. Learning about who you are in very concrete terms…about those shoulders we do stand on…that is sankofa for me,” she continued, referencing the word from the Akan tribe in Ghana for knowing one’s history. 

“When I teach in school, particularly for the Black students, just getting this information is empowerment,” Williams said. “It’s like, ‘Wow, I can walk down the streets of Montreal. I belong here, man. This is my space.’ Why? Because sankofa gave them that power.” 

 

 

Rito Joseph, who leads tours of Montreal’s Black history, also said a deep understanding of Black history creates a sense of belonging. “Black power is knowing,” he said, “where we come from, knowing our history, and then having the power to stand amongst other people, knowing we are where we’re supposed to be.”

Emilie Nicolas, a columnist and human rights and equity consultant, said that for anyone, knowing more Black history expands one’s humanity. “If you’re grounded in Black history, you understand that respect is important, dignity is important, human rights are important, people’s right to self-determination is important,” she said.

 

Black traditions and methods of giving are valid and effective 

The summit’s keynote speaker, in conversation with Future of Good editorial fellow Sherlyn Assam, was Dr. Jaqueline Bouvier Copeland, the founder of Black Philanthropy Month. Copeland shared, among other topics, about long-held traditions of giving in Black communities.

“Today, for many reasons, you see an explosion in Black giving circles. And that is true across the world,” Copeland said. Copeland is based in the United States, and pointed out that in the 90’s, there was a 200 percent increase in Black immigration to the country. “People brought their languages, they brought their customs, and they brought their giving circles. This is an ancient, I suspect millenia-old, [tradition] throughout the Black world.” 

In a session on building anti-racist philanthropy and social finance, speakers also shared about traditions of giving and mutual aid in Black communities around the world. “For me, this is not something new,” said Malvin Wright, a member of the board of directors of VERGE Capital. “This is something we’ve done since time immemorial.” Wright referenced traditions like adashe, a Nigerian group savings tradition. Paulette Senior, president and CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, spoke about the Jamaican giving circle-style concept called partner. Liban Abokor, a working group member of the Foundation for Black Communities (who co-hosted the summit with Future of Good), said he’s convinced the concept of ridesharing services started in Black communities. (Wright agreed, laughing: “You’d come out from your grocery store and there would be a random stranger, a random Black man with a vehicle, offering you and your mom a ride home for like $5 or $10. That was Uber.”)

Copeland said Black giving is expansive. “It’s not just about money — it’s a way of life. It’s about how we love ourselves, each other, and make that real with mutual support,” she said. “We see giving circles focused on giving grants, but we also see new associations that have emerged, especially during COVID, where, actually, Black giving of money has gone down, just because we’ve been hit so hard by the COVID pandemic…we see people reforming mutual aid associations which may not be based on money, but perhaps a babysitting arrangement between a group of women in a neighbourhood, or food-sharing, bartering. These are usually not studied officially as philanthropy, but people are sharing capital.”

 

There’s a difference between philanthropy and reparations 

But Abokor was clear on one thing: “I despise the word philanthropy,” he said. “It’s based on…standards of altruism. I have never given or donated. I have returned…because I’ve gotten, I’ve received, I’ve benefited. So, what I’ve taken from the pot, I’ve simply returned for others to benefit from as well.” 

 

 

Abokor continued: “Names matter. When we call it philanthropy, it frames our discussion around reciprocity to become doing good, benevolence, the benefactor. And that’s something we should resist.”

Abokor even said if he and his co-founders had a choice, they wouldn’t have named the Foundation for Black Communities a philanthropic fund. “It would be known as a sovereignty fund. It would probably be known as a reparations fund. It would be named anything else. But, because of the way we conceive of these things, the way that our society is organized, we used a name and a term that made sense to most.” 

Abokor shared a way to shift dominant perspectives from philanthropy to reparations. “Every single foundation in this country benefits from the preferential tax treatment that we as…people who live in this country help underwrite — which means to me that every single foundation in this country, doesn’t matter what your issue is, you have a moral, and more importantly a fiduciary to see Black communities as a key constituency of your work.” He recommended foundations all adopt an equity benchmark, and that foundations who don’t achieve equity in their funding should have their charitable status taken away.

 

Consultation and collaboration processes are broken — or are they?

“People are focus grouped out at this point in the pandemic,” said Funke Olokude, executive director of Ribbon Rouge, on a plenary titled Black Equity, which focused on equitable social policy-making. “How can we rejuvenate people at a time like this?” (Olokude was referencing consultation processes, specifically in the context of policy-making — but non-governmental social purpose organizations consult communities all the time, too.)

In general, consultation processes are broken, speakers on the Black Equity panel all agreed. Rudayna Bahubeshi, a manager in Ontario Health’s provincial equity office, pointed out that policy-makers often only consult communities too late in the process, when a policy is already fully designed. “We’re more often — and I say we as policy-makers — perhaps seeking verification rather than an authentic opportunity to pivot and gain input.” 

Kwame McKenzie, the director of equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, pointed to an over-reliance on data to prove to policy-makers the issues racialized communities have been raising to them for many years.

 

 

But McKenzie said the cracks in consultation, co-design, and collaboration are not necessarily mistakes. Speaking about consultation fatigue, where communities are asked to participate in consultation after consultation without seeing real results — and getting tired of it — McKenzie said, “not only does it exist, but it’s a strategy. You can tick a box, ‘I’ve done the consultation, right?’ But also, the more you demonstrate to people that the consultation is meaningless, the fewer people turn up for consultation. So you can say, ‘Well, people aren’t engaged. We’ve done everything.’” 

Whether consultations are broken or doing exactly what they’re designed to do, Louise Adongo, executive director of Inspiring Communities, urged Black changemakers to create their own, entirely new processes. In the Black Power plenary, she said, “There’s been a lot of talk of bringing our own chairs to the table, sitting at the table, where the table is, building our own tables…And what I would say to ourselves and to Black leaders is let’s just get up from the table, go outside, and go have a conversation.” She continued: “If we’re shifting power and narrative, then let’s shift away from the table. Because the table is the problem.” 

Fast forward to the final plenary of the summit on Black Futures, and Kiana ‘rookz’ Eastmond, founder of Sandbox Studios and president of the Toronto Music Association, said something similar: “It’s about us removing ourselves from what the success touchpoints are in current society.” Eastmond urged for a collective, self-determined approach to Black communities’ empowerment.

 

Wellbeing is central to the fight for Black equity

Nicolas said, also during the panel on Black power: “If you’re versed as well in Black feminist and Black womanist theory, you understand as well how no revolutionary project can begin without the serious work of healing ourselves and healing our communities, and understanding how trauma…has also impacted ourselves. We need to address that, and that’s something that a lot of Black women have done.” 

The final plenary of the summit focused on Black futures — what they may look like and how Black communities might actively create them. In this panel, Dela Wilson, founder of Axle Impact Studio, said she’s struggled to visualize what Black futures look like to her — because of burnout. 

Wilson was a fellow on racial equity at the Atlantic Institute for a year. That period of time, Wilson said, “was the first time that I had enough space, I felt, to breathe and rest and be held to where I could visualize again.” 

Wilson explained: “There was a point where I went through the system of education — I went straight from college to law school to policy school, with the perspective that I wanted to fully understand the complexities of this massive system that I’m committed to deconstructing — but what I wasn’t expecting was the emotional toll that that would take on me in term ingesting that and pushing out and fighting every day. My creativity was stalled, and I had to work to get it back. For me, such a big part of Black futures is a space to create, a space to dream, a space where just existing is valued.” 

 

 

In a lightning talk, Cedric Brown, an Atlantic Institute racial equity fellow and executive director of global leadership programs at the Obama Foundation, said it’s important to dream big. “Take the liberty and luxury of imagining now what lies beyond the fight for equity,” he said. “Make that vision serve to nourish and nurture your continued hope, your continued work, and your continued brilliance.” 

And in her opening words for the entire summit, Rosemary Sadlier put this concept into perspective: “I am the dream of my ancestors,” she said.

Full video: Black Power Panel

 

Full video: Black Equity Panel

 

Full video: Black Futures Panel

 

Full video: Black Capital Keynote, Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland

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