Black Philanthropy Month 2023: Building momentum & growing the movement

The second annual celebration of Givebutter Gives Back for Black Philanthropy Month was a smashing success!

Black Philanthropy Month (BPM) is a global celebration of Black giving and a call to action for funding equity and greater investment in Black philanthropic leadership that happens every August. Givebutter joined in the movement in 2022 with an initiative to lift up and support Black-led organizations churning out change in their communities—and to do our part as a nonprofit fundraising platform to raise awareness about racial inequities in charitable giving. 

With Director of Community and Partnerships Floyd Jones at the helm, the initiative won an Anthem Award, and, kneadless to say, the team couldn’t wait to make year two even butter. 🧈

Black Philanthropy Month 2023 in review 

Like the first year, Givebutter invited Black-led nonprofits and organizations that primarily support Black communities to submit their summer fundraising campaigns by the end of August to be considered for a $5K donation for the Most Creative Campaign. Additionally, five more organizations would be chosen as the Most Active Campaign for a $1K donation.

More than doubling the number of participating nonprofits from the previous year was an extremely pleasant surprise!

In 2022, Givebutter received applications from 150 campaigns, which raised more than $327K in donations. This year, nonprofits submitted 350 campaigns, which raised nearly $800K from more than 2,500 unique donations for Black-led nonprofits on Givebutter!

Everyone stepped it up this year to make their campaigns the best they could be. Givebutter’s Success Team even led special Office Hours dedicated to Black Philanthropy Month campaigns, and all throughout August, changemakers joined in these hands-on workshops to learn about the most effective fundraising strategies and receive tips, suggestions, and direct feedback on their campaigns. 

In addition, Givebutter spread the word about this initiative online and with special events like “Fundraising From the Margins,” a panel discussion at the Nonprofit Marketing Summit, in which facilitator Floyd Jones invited participants to speak about their experiences as people of color in the nonprofit fundraising space. 

This year, Givebutter also joined in a larger effort (led by none other than Floyd Jones!) called BackBlack, a multi-platform initiative that aims to direct capital and build awareness for Black-led nonprofits. Check out Floyd in their launch video below! 

We’re thrilled to see momentum building and more organizations joining in this movement and pushing the conversation forward. 💛

Most Creative Campaign 🏆

With hundreds of fantastic campaigns in the mix this year, choosing only one organization to receive the honor of Most Creative Campaign—and a $5K donation—was quite a challenge. The Givebutter judges looked at four criteria to make the final decision: story effectiveness, use of features, supporter engagement, and overall creativity. 

We are thrilled to introduce you to 2023’s Most Creative Campaign: 

Help Us Build a Place of Hope! 🇰🇪

God's Secret Service Agents Foundation (GSSA) is a fully volunteer-run organization that creates opportunities for its members to make an impact anonymously (like secret agents!) for causes across the globe.

GSSA launched a fundraising campaign on Givebutter to finish building a multigenerational community center in remote tribal Kajiado, Kenya. They pulled out all the stops to make it a success, including a strong story section that showcases their goal and the impact it will have, and campaign updates shared on their supporter wall that keep donors updated and invested in their project.

With an additional $5K donation from Givebutter, they are now over halfway toward their goal!

Most Active Campaigns ⚡️

In addition to celebrating the Most Creative Campaign, Givebutter also honored several campaigns from Black changemakers who worked hard and showed strong community engagement this summer.

These next five organizations had the highest number of unique donations between June 1 and August 28 and each received a donation of $1,000 from Givebutter:

1. 25 Steps Towards Change 💛

The Hope Gain Center is a Black-led nonprofit that works to reduce barriers to employment for people with mental health disabilities. To celebrate two years of service, they launched a campaign to raise $2,500 and “250 Acts of Kindness.”

By encouraging donations as well as other ways of supporting their cause—like sharing the campaign, attending an event, and volunteering—their efforts definitely paid off! They’ve raised more than 250% of their goal from (fittingly) 250 supporters.

2. Norview Cardinals 2023 Fall Season 🏈

With a lively team fundraising campaign, this youth football program based in Virginia, which serves mostly Black families, has received donations from nearly 200 supporters to offset the cost of their fall season so that every kid can play.

The goal bar and team leaderboards on their page, along with consistent donor engagement on their supporter wall, show that "every little bit helps" as they build momentum towards their goal.

3. A Day’s Wage: Support Creative Justice this Juneteenth 💸

This compelling fundraiser from the Seattle-based nonprofit Creative Justice shines a bright light on the racial wealth gap. It calls on non-Black salaried professionals who are enjoying paid time off on the new national holiday of Juneteenth to donate their wages to fund the work of Black-led community organizations.

Funds raised will help further the mission of Creative Justice, which works to end the school-to-prison pipeline through healing arts programs and provides direct services and restitution relief.

4. Build Book Coves 🏫

Nonprofit organization Caribbean With Purpose launched a strong peer-to-peer campaign for their summer months of giving fundraiser. They're almost halfway to their $25K goal, which will fund their holistic educational resources for kids in Jamaica and other under-resourced Caribbean communities.

Check out the beautiful video featured on their page that showcases their mission and impact!

5. United Against Domestic Violence 💛

Life Renewed is working to raise $25K to open its first domestic violence shelter, which will serve as a safe haven for women and children in their North Carolina community.

With peer-to-peer fundraising and a livestream event, this virtual campaign has brought in more than 80 individual contributions from supporters who are invested in building a brighter future for families in crisis.

Celebrate Black changemakers all year with Givebutter

Givebutter is proud to be the fundraising platform for so many organizations that are making a difference and transforming communities worldwide. Black Philanthropy Month 2023 has ended, but we will continue to support Black changemakers and campaigns from other marginalized communities throughout the year—and we hope you’ll join us!

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