The Funding Difference: What We Can Learn From the United States

At Common Call, we understand that Black-led organisations work twice as hard to receive funding. We understand that in the United Kingdom more often than not the funding received is markedly less than their white-led counterparts, but is this truth universal? We take a look at the state of funding for Black-led organisations in the United States and ask whether we can learn from our differences and similarities.

​A 2020 study run by Funding Green and the Bridgespan group, looked at 140 non-profit organisations run in the United States and found that white-led organisations had budgets that were 24% larger than those led by Black people. When looking at donations made to be used for any purpose the organisations saw fit, these unrestricted donations were 76% smaller when offered to Black-led organisations than those offered to their white-led counterparts. Through the research conducted in the study, the answer to why these disparities were occurring was largely due to the difference in donations based on connections between Black-led and white-led organisations, stating that Black-led organisations traditionally have fewer relationships with influential organisations and people, making it more difficult to break into the community as new leaders often lack the ability and experience to forge relationships with potential funders.

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