Last Fall, Borealis Philanthropy announced our decision to sunset our Racial Equity in Philanthropy (REP) Fund. Today, we are pleased to announce that $6 million was awarded to all 25 of the Fund’s grantee partners, each of which is working in creative and manifold ways to advance the adoption of racial equity policy and practice across our sector.
In dispersing these resources, the REP Fund aims to support our grantee partners’ near-term financial stability as they work toward transforming philanthropic behaviors and shifting power to communities. The award amounts prioritized those organizations led by people of color and which represented historically under prioritized communities and/or geographic regions.
Given the level of political retrenchment since the global uprisings of 2020, the volatility of today’s sociopolitical landscape, and the impact of both on philanthropic giving, REP Fund grantee partners no longer need (nor can they afford) for Borealis to stand in, or unintentionally widen, the gap. A new level of commitment and philanthropic investment is required to meet this critical moment—one that includes long-term, direct funding to support philanthropy-serving organizations to scale and further shift the philanthropic landscape in support of transformational racial justice movements.
For this reason, we continue to urge our funder colleagues to invest deeply in REP grantee partners:
- Funders for LGBTQ Issues
- Funders Together to End Homelessness
- Grantmakers for Southern Progress
- Hispanics in Philanthropy
- Justice Funders
- National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
- Native Americans in Philanthropy
- Neighborhood Funders Group
- Nonprofit Quarterly
- PEAK Grantmaking
- Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
- United Philanthropy Forum
- Women’s Funding Network
As the REP Fund marches towards its official wind down in 2025, we are working to document, with curiosity, what feels possible and what might come next—at Borealis and beyond—to better serve the necessary work of philanthropy-serving organizations. We look forward to sharing more with you soon. Until then, please contact Bianca Carter, Interim Director of Borealis’ Racial Equity Initiatives, to learn more about how you can support REP’s grantee partners.