Isabelle Leighton, (center) executive director of Donors of Color Network, at a Donors of Color recent event.

“If you can’t make change with the person who lives next door to you, how can you make change across continents?”

Isabelle Leighton, executive director of Donors of Color Network, says, “Most change starts local.”

““If you can’t make change with the person who lives next door to you, how can you make change across continents?” Isabelle Leighton, executive director of @Donorsofcolor, says, “Most change starts local.” #communitybuilding”

She asserts that in her nearly two decades of experience in fundraising, nonprofits and philanthropy that her mission begins with “trying to build relationships with strangers to better understand why they should care.”

In the first study of its kind taking more than three years to create, the “Philanthropy Always Sounds Like Someone Else,” report highlights the giving practices as well as discrimination and bias experienced by more than 100 high net worth donors of color.

What needs to change is the racism prevalent in philanthropy, Leighton says.

According to the report, “Nearly every single donor interviewed personally experienced racial or ethnic bias that influenced their philanthropic/political giving.”

Of those interviewed, their total annual giving amounted to $56 million, with a median annual gift of $87,500. Most of them, or 65%, are first-generation wealth creators. Their communities and cultures informed their giving with 44.4% prioritizing social justice, 39.7% supporting women’s and gender rights, 36% giving for racial justice, and 34.9% supporting health.

When she first began her career, Leighton says, “I didn’t realize the ways in which good causes are funded. I saw all donors were white, founders were white, yet all practitioners doing the work were Black and Latina.”

“When she first began her career, Leighton, Executive Director of @Donorsofcolor says, “I didn’t realize the ways in which good causes are funded. I saw all donors were white, founders were white, yet all practitioners doing the work were Black and Latina.” #racialbias #discrimination”

As the daughter of a Taiwanese immigrant mother and a white academic father, with two younger brothers, Leighton says her personal story aligns with her professional mission, even though she says, “ I thought I would be a scholar in linguistics or literature.”

Leighton’s origin story begins when her father, who was at University of California-Davis studying math and chemistry, went to Taiwan for research. “While he was there he met my mother and they became pen pals for four years. She wrote in Chinese and he wrote in English. He learned Mandarin and they got married.” Truly an abridged version, but Leightpn says her mother then moved to California and her parents started their family.

After graduating from UC-Davis in 2005, Leighton says she moved to New York to find work. “I applied to 200 jobs. The only call back I got was from a non-profit in childhood literacy.” Working for three years at Literacy, Inc., Leighton says, “Turns out I learned so much about the field.”

She then moved to North Star Fund, where she worked from 2008-20014. Next she became the founding director of the Equality Fund at Asian Americans for Equality.

“I had never understood how powerful social justice work is,” says Leighton, who was co-chair of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in New York for six years. “This is a really challenging problem because of ethnic, intergenerational and class divisions.”

After studying with the Institute for Policy Studies, Leighton worked with Equal Means Equal and the social justice think tank, Political Research Associates until recently joining Donors of Color Network.

Read Gloria Feldt on women giving

“As we started to bring people together for the first gathering, it was the first time many reported being in a room filled with people like them,” Leighton says. “They said they felt powerful, joyful and seen.”

The recent Donors of Color report shows wealth disparities across the U.S. are staggering. “Philanthropy claims to be working to address this gap. However, research shows that 80% of funding goes to white-led organizations, leaving extra pressure on BIPOC donors to fill in the gap.”

“The recent @Donorsofcolor report shows #wealthdisparity across the U.S. is staggering: “Philanthropy claims to be working to address this gap. However, research shows that 80% of funding goes to white-led organizations, leaving extra pressure on #BIPOC donors to fill in the gap.” ”

Since first starting in fundraising, Leighton says she observed there “seemed to be a class and race divide,” around giving and who benefits from that philanthropy.

The report shows, “The overwhelming majority of the people interviewed (more than 80%) had earned their wealth themselves. Most had experienced a change in class status in their own lives while coming from families or communities that remained poor, low-income, or far less wealthy than they were. Only about one in 10 (9.75%) had inherited their wealth. About a quarter identified marriage as a source of wealth, with 7% identifying marriage as their sole source of wealth. Some donors reported having more than one source of wealth, including 15.9% whose wealth was both earned and from marriage.”

“Since first starting in #fundraising, Leighton says she observed there “seemed to be a class and race divide,” around giving and who benefits from that #philanthropy. #racialjustice”

Pervasive discrimination was a theme with all of the donors interviewed for the report. “The universality of the experience of racism, discrimination, and bias reported by each interviewee is a striking finding of this project. The donors of color we interviewed shared how their own and their family’s experiences with discrimination, bias, racism, and xenophobia had influenced their perspectives on wealth and giving. Black donors talked about generations of oppression, discrimination, and racialized poverty. Donors with immigrant histories spoke about global economic disparity, immigration policy, and xenophobia,” according to the report.

This month’s Black Women’s Equal Pay Day on September 21 is a reminder of pay and wealth inequity as it takes 220 calendar days in a year for Black women to earn the same as a white man for the same work.

“This month’s Black Women’s Equal Pay Day on September 21 is a reminder of pay and #wealthinequity as it takes 220 calendar days in a year for Black women to earn the same as a white man for the same work. #BlackWomenEqualPay”

The current political and cultural climate in the U.S. presents both challenges and opportunities for donors.

For instance, Leighton says, “When you look at abortion as an example, a lot of people who were involved with the issue felt there was a framing problem. It is not just about this one type of health care and policy strategy, It’s about a more general sense of health and safety needs of communities of color. It’s about the ability to have a living wage, safe neighborhoods and housing. It has a human rights as well as health care piece.” She adds, “But it is not about this one loss. We have the opportunity to come back to it and bring people together. “

While Leighton says she is optimistic, she is also realistic. “We need to be honest and humble. Everything is not going to get solved today, tomorrow or in the next two years. We want to shift the center of power toward racial justice.” She adds, “We have a tough job at Donors of Color Network to keep up the optimism. It’s our job to plant that seed today if you want that tree to grown.”

“While Leighton says she is optimistic, she is also realistic. “We need to be honest and humble. Everything is not going to get solved today, tomorrow or in the next two years. It’s our job to plant that seed today if you want that tree to grown.” #racialjustice #progress”

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com

Make Change: How and Why Donors of Color Impact The World For Good

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