Only a fraction of the philanthropic funding pledged last year in support of efforts to advance racial equity has been reported as actual grants so far, a report from PolicyLink and Bridgespan Group finds.

Based on currently reported grant data collected by Candid, the report, Moving from Intention to Impact: Funding Racial Equity to Win (36 pages, PDF), found that of the $11.9 billion in philanthropic capital publicly pledged in support of racial equity in 2020, only $1.5 billion can be tracked to recipients to date. According to the report, without rigorous and transparent grant reporting on the part of funders, accountability — a necessity in racial equity work — is impossible and, in turn, raises three concerns: that the money may not have gone to the full range of work needed to support transformative change, that the funding is insufficient to address historic undercapitalization, and that 2020 was an anomaly in its heightened level of interest in racial equity and support for this necessarily multigenerational work will disappear.

What is needed, the report's authors argue, is a robust, sustainable movement and ecosystem in which funders consider both what and how they fund. Those funding racial equity efforts must acknowledge that today's movements are defining new ways of leading that are often distributed and networked; that while nearly all equity organizations are undercapitalized, certain types of efforts are particularly overlooked, including long-term community organizing, narrative change, professional development, and wellness care; and that there is persistent activity that is in opposition to equity that will only be overcome through sustained, durable support for equity efforts.

The report outlines practical steps funders can take to close the "intention gap" and better support racial equity, such as providing funding to re-granting organizations and learn alongside them; giving more to existing Black-, Indigenous-, and people of color-led grantees; expanding into underfunded areas; examining the foundation's governance, strategy, culture, and processes through an equity lens; reporting grants data promptly; and redirecting endowments to reduce harm and invest in communities.

"I am now worried that because we saw a flood of resources in 2020 that philanthropy thinks the job is done," the report quotes Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown as saying. "This is not a moment for philanthropy to pull out."

"Unfortunately, we heard from many movement leaders who are convinced that this funder interest is guaranteed to disappear, and soon," the report's authors write. "Fueled by this scarcity mindset, organizations across the equity ecosystem are currently scrambling to do as much as they can before the funds run out. But with philanthropy's widespread recognition that our need for equity and justice is indeed urgent, there is an opportunity to never return to a normal of funding practices that hold back transformative change."