If you had any form of connection to the internet in 2020, then you likely witnessed George Floyd’s tragic death. His murder, along with the unjust killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, sparked a global reckoning with racial injustice and galvanized calls for change. In the months that followed, many foundations and philanthropists publicly pledged millions of dollars toward Black-led organizations doing the work of fighting for racial justice, health equity, and community care.

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But nearly five years later, the urgency behind that moment feels uneven at best.

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Funding for Black communities reached its peak at 1.9% of overall philanthropic giving in 2020 (still nowhere close to meeting the population share of Black people in this country). This percentage slightly decreased in the following years, dropping to 1.3% in 2022 (NCRP, 2025). And while some organizations have seen steady support, others are left navigating new restrictions, waning attention, or complete loss of resources.

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What the Research Shows

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My research project titled Reclaiming Health Narratives: Community-Centered Philanthropy, supported by the Georgetown-Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice, explores the evolving relationship between local funders and Black-led CBOs within the context of health equity and racial equity in Washington, DC. This project is not only about capturing the current moment of philanthropic shifts. It is also about understanding what has led us here and where we go from here.

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Through qualitative interviews with leaders of Black-led CBOs and local funders, I have been working to uncover how health equity is being defined, interpreted, and applied in funding decisions. I am examining the reasons behind shifts in funding commitments post-2020 and the perceived impact of these changes on Black-led organizations' ability to secure and sustain resources.

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My work also explores how funders are engaging with Black-led CBOs, the barriers they face in race-based grantmaking, and how recent legal and societal developments have influenced their strategies. At the same time, I am documenting how Black-led CBOs understand their contributions to health equity. They are addressing the social determinants of health in their communities, navigating challenges in the funding landscape, and employing creative strategies to carry their work forward.

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The Reality on the Ground

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In conversations with Black-led community-based organization leaders across the District, I heard a consistent reality: the heightened visibility of 2020 did not necessarily translate into long-term stability. While a few leaders noted that their funding has remained steady since 2020, others described a stark shift. One leader shared that recent changes in government priorities, particularly during the Trump administration’s executive orders aimed at curbing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, have led to federal grants disappearing entirely.

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“These are grants that literally no longer exist,” the leader explained. “We’re talking about nonprofits that provide emergency housing, health care, and disability support. Losing their funding overnight.”

In response, some funders have turned to rapid-response grantmaking. These short-term emergency funds are aimed at filling immediate gaps. While these grants can be critical for organizations serving communities in crisis, this approach often leaves Black-led CBOs without the long-term investments they need to build infrastructure, retain staff, or plan for sustainable impact.

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Some leaders expressed how difficult it is to raise funds for work that centers on issues like domestic violence, mental health, and trauma—topics that are essential to community wellness but are often underfunded because they aren’t deemed “safe” or “popular.”

As one leader put it, “Planning and executing our plans to address these challenges, without significant financial resources, has become our top priority. Yet, we have seen meaningful progress even without an increase in funding.”

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Health Equity Begins in the Community

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These organizations are not waiting for systems to fix themselves. They are building community-rooted solutions every day. They emphasize mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being as central to health justice, using healing-centered practices to help individuals and communities process harm. They create culturally grounded, supportive spaces for resilience, frame wellness as essential to advocacy, and organize around systemic change.

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As one community leader shared, “So health equity is about social determinants of health, of which there are many. Whether it's us farming or catering in the community. By using everything in our ecosystem to support and grow, we collaborate and cooperate across the board for holistic health and health equity.”

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This holistic approach extends beyond clinical care. Black-led CBOs are addressing food insecurity, housing instability, community safety, and access to education—factors that deeply shape health outcomes. They are advocating for long-term public investment, engaging in budget justice, and demanding accountability from systems that have historically excluded them. Importantly, they are investing in intergenerational leadership by uplifting youth and elders alike as decision-makers, organizers, and stewards of community knowledge.

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To truly support health equity, philanthropy must invest in this work with the same intentionality, consistency, and respect it often reserves for more institutional models of care. That means centering lived experience as expertise, funding wellness as justice, and backing those already leading the way.

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We Need Funders with Staying Power

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Philanthropy cannot rely on crisis response alone. If we are truly committed to addressing systemic racial injustice, as so many proclaimed in 2020, we must confront the barriers Black-led CBOs face in accessing funding. These barriers include limited access to funder networks, underinvestment in organizational infrastructure, and grant processes that often favor white-led institutions with more capacity to meet burdensome requirements.

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We need funders who are willing to expand beyond one- or two-year grants and think about what true partnership looks like over a five- or ten-year horizon. We need funders who trust Black-led organizations enough to provide general operating support, not just project-restricted dollars.

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And we need to ask ourselves: What would it look like to build a funding model designed not just for reaction, but for resilience?

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As federal and local policy landscapes shift, and as public appetite for race-explicit funding becomes more politically fraught, the philanthropic sector faces a critical decision point. Will we retreat to race-neutral models out of fear of controversy? Or will we double down on the long game—investing in Black-led organizations not just when headlines demand it, but because their leadership is essential to building healthier, more just communities?

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This research just scratches the surface. I look forward to continuing to learn from both funders and Black-led CBOs about how we can collectively strengthen the current model of equity-focused philanthropy—one that moves beyond moments of crisis and invests in the leadership and infrastructure already transforming communities from within. 

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Who will be brave enough to fund the future?