The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color Urvashi Vaid and Ashindi Maxton The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color By Urvashi Vaid and Ashindi Maxton iv The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color © Copyright 2017 Urvashi Vaid and Ashindi Maxton Recommended Citation: Vaid, Urvashi and Ashindi Maxton. (2017). The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color. New York: The Advancement Project and The Vaid Group LLC. Permissions: We are grateful to the following organizations for permission to use charts and data for this report: U.S. Trust, Statista; Economic Policy Institute; Pew Research Center; Emmanuel Saez, University of California at Berkeley; and TargetSmart. Contact: Urvashi Vaid and Ashindi Maxton, c/o The Vaid Group LLC, 225 Broadway, Suite 2100, New York, NY 10007 www.thevaidgroup.com v Acknowledgements his report was made possible with support from the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Open T Society Foundations, the Arcus Foundation, and the New York Women’s Foundation. This project and report originated from discussions among Judith Brown Dianis, Executive Director, Advancement Project; Luz Vega- Marquis, President, Marguerite Casey Foundation; Ai-jen Poo, Executive Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Adrianne Shropshire; and Urvashi Vaid. The authors are grateful for the conceptual, research, and editorial support provided by our partners in the People of Color (POC) Donor Collaborative: Tuhina De O’Connor and Hali Lee, Co-Directors of Faces of Giving; Nitika Raj; George Suttles; Brent Swinton; and Mario Lugay. Thank you to Johanna Sanders, Maryam Fikri, Jamaa Bickley-King, and Ineke Ceder for research assistance. Many individuals shared time, reflections, research, ideas and reviewed drafts (listed in Appendix C). We especially thank: Emmett Carson, Silicon Valley Community Foundation; Chris Cardona, Ford Foundation; Bill Vandenberg, Open Society Foundations; Alandra L. Washington, Kellogg Foundation; Jean Miao; Ana Gloria Rivas-Vázquez; Diana Campoamoar, Hispanics in Philanthropy; Christopher Harris; Luna Yasui and Lourdes Rivera, Ford Foundation; the late Paul Connolly, Bessemer Trust; Gara LaMarche, Rob Stein, and John Stocks, Democracy Alliance; Donna Hall and Jenifer Ancona, Women Donors Network; Steve Phillips; Brent Swinton and Giovanni Cozzarelli, Advancement Project. We are grateful to Lisa LaRochelle and Jurek Wajdowicz of Emerson, Wajdowicz Studios. vi The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................. v SUMMARY | Why High Net Worth POC Donors? ...................... 1 Summary of Findings 2 Summary of Recommendations 3 High Net Worth Donors of Color Matter ................................. 5 Project Background 5 1 | High Net Worth Donors of Color: By the Numbers .......... 7 2 | The Racial Wealth Gap Matters .................................... 14 Growth in Racial Wealth Gaps 14 3 | Research on Giving by Racial Group ............................ 16 3.1 African American Donors 16 Cultural Context 18 Key Considerations for African American Donors 19 Donor Organizations 20 3.2 Arab American Donors 20 Cultural Context 21 Key Considerations for Arab American Donors 23 Donor Organizations 23 3.3 Asian American/Pacific Islander Donors 23 Cultural Context 25 Key Considerations for Asian American Donors 31 Donor Organizations 32 3.4 Latino Donors 32 U.S. Hispanic Groups by Population 33 Cultural Context 34 Key Considerations for Latino Donors 36 Donor Organizations 36 3.5 Native American Donors 36 Cultural Context 38 Key Considerations for Native American Donors 39 Donor Organizations 39 4 | Insights: HNW People of Color as Donors .................... 40 4.1 HNW and UHNW people of color give generously, especially to increase opportunity 40 Contents vii 4.2 HNW POC individuals are engaged in creating and building wealth 43 4.3 Significant numbers of HNW POC are successful entrepreneurs or business owners 44 4.4 HNW and UHNW POC individuals provide significant financial care for extended families 45 4.5 Evidence suggests generational differences in giving by HNW and UHNW individuals 46 4.6 HNW and UHNW POC are networked by race and ethnicity in a wide range of social and professional networks 49 4.7 Despite economic privilege, HNW and UHNW people of color face barriers based on race and ethnicity 50 4.8 HNW and UHNW people of color have diverse political identities 51 4.9 HNW and UHNW people of color give philanthropically outside of the framework of existing donor networks, philanthropic affinity groups, or ethnic funds 52 4.10 The community of formal and informal advisors who support HNW and UHNW people of color have a significant impact on the structure and accessibility of their giving 54 4.11 HNW and UHNW POC individuals are often not targeted by nonprofit fundraising strategies, which may result in confirmation bias 55 4.12 HNW donors of color are represented in sports and entertainment industries 56 5 | Recommendations for Action: Networking HNW Donors of Color ................................ 59 Conclusion.......................................................................... 64 APPENDIX A: Defining Terms 65 APPENDIX B: Project Background and Methodology 66 APPENDIX C: Interviews and Consultations 69 APPENDIX D: A Brief Case Study of Gill Foundation’s OutGiving: The Power of Organized Donors 71 APPENDIX E: High Net Worth Meets Income Inequality 73 APPENDIX F: This Report in Context 75 APPENDIX G: Understanding & Organizing HNW Donors of Color: A Bibliography 76 Links 106 viii The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color 1 SUMMARY | Why High Net Worth Donors of Color? t no other time in American history has corresponding needs for new resources. This ‘‘ giving among communities of color been research on HNW donors of color was motivated A more critical to achieve the parity that by three concerns: previously excluded people due to race, culture n The glaring absence of HNW people of and identity, nor have donors of color been more color from all formal donor networks empowered … The question for us all is how to and philanthropic partnerships aimed at reach these donors effectively…” ERICA HUNT1 organizing individual donors. While a few People of color (POC) who are affluent, high networks have made efforts to identify, net worth (HNW), and ultra-high net worth consult with, and/or otherwise engage people (UHNW)2 donors are apparitional in the field of of color with wealth, these efforts have not philanthropy — rare and unusual phenomena, a been sustained nor have they aimed at high spectral presence whose existence itself requires net worth or ultra-high net worth individuals. proof. Their presence in the literature, study, and n The dearth of knowledge about the practice of philanthropy is so rare as to be ghostly. philanthropy of people of color who are Their priorities, interests, and experiences are affluent, HNW, or UHNW. Information on invisible in discussions of HNW philanthropy. how HNW donors of color organize their When African American, Hispanic, or Asian philanthropy, what priorities and concerns American individuals make major philanthropic motivate their giving, and whether they gifts, they are not connected to gifts made are organized in networks that leverage by other people of color, or seen in a broader their influence in the philanthropic or philanthropic context. HNW people of color are political universe is shockingly outdated and treated as anomalies, rather than animators of a fragmented in nature. field of giving that is hiding in plain sight. n The continued and surprising lack of diversity At the same time, the need for HNW donors in philanthropy as a whole and the ways that of color in the philanthropic ecosystem has never this directly impacts communities of color.3 been more apparent as communities of color face Few people of color lead foundations, serve on previously unimagined new threats along with foundation boards, or even sit at philanthropic 1 Erica Hunt, former President, 21st Century Foundation, quoted in Coalition for New Philanthropy, 2007, p. 2. 2 The terms affluent, high net worth (HNW), and ultra-high net worth (UHNW) have different meanings in general usage. In this report the terms are used to identify individuals with a specific level of assets — defined in the text and in Appendix A. Similarly, the term “people of color (POC)” is used in this report to describe and group non-white donors. It is not necessarily a term that individuals apply to themselves. See Appendix A for an additional discussion of these terms. 3 See, e.g., Jessica Chao, et.al., 2008; Avis Atkins and Orson Aguilar, 2012; Paul Bachleitner, 2011; Paula Dressel and Gregory Hodge, 2013; Audrey Haberman, et al., 2014. 2 The Apparitional Donor: Understanding and Engaging High Net Worth Donors of Color decision-making tables. This absence affects but they emphatically do exist in significant decision-making. It is notable in a moment numbers, are engaged in giving at high levels in which there is an urgently high level of on issues affecting their lives, and, in some racism, economic disparity, nationalism and instances, may represent new resources for social xenophobia, violence, over-policing, and and racial justice initiatives, as well as for a broad