Join us for the next installment in the Research Seminar Series with Assistant Professor, Claire Dunning.
Abstract: The dual crises of covid-19 and police brutality in 2020 have prompted conversations in the nonprofit sector about giving. To these active conversations about racial justice in the United States and the ways that philanthropy and the nonprofit sector can, or perhaps should, respond, this paper analyzes an example from the past. It looks at a different moment of crisis, reflection, and experimentation in philanthropy in the late 1960s and early 1970s when a new model of giving emerged. In the spring of 1968, two groups of Bostonians launched a philanthropic experiment designed to address economic and racial inequality in the region. A group of wealthy, white suburbanites started the Fund for Urban Negro Development to direct donations to the Boston Black United Front Foundation, a new entity started by black power activists in the city. Both separately and together they considered the ways in which racial privilege or discrimination had shaped their communities and what they owed each other in a region where their members lived miles and yet worlds apart. The partnership between these two entities lasted only a few years, but the archival records enable a unique opportunity to explore the ways in which philanthropy served to both breakdown and reinforce categories of racial difference.The paper engages academic literatures on funder-grantee relationships from history and nonprofit studies, and connects lessons from the past to current practices today.
Please do not forget that the sessions are meant to be informal and collegial. The expectation is for interactive engagement with the speakers and each other. All are welcome. Feel free to circulate the announcement among colleagues and students who may be interested.