‘What is ours to do, what is mine to do?’ 

This poignant question should be front of mind as we take stock of 2024’s elections, conflicts, climate disasters and setbacks. 

What if philanthropy was in service to Black feminist movements? What if philanthropy flanked Black feminist movements, providing untethered resources (funding and otherwise) that enabled organisers to sustain themselves and continue life building work. This is the political project we are working on at the Black Feminist Fund, and, as funders gather together for Moving Money Building Movements, we invite them to join us.

‘If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.’

Nearly 50 years since the Combahee River Collective produced the seminal Combahee River Collective Statement and this analysis reads as apt, future thinking, and powerful as it did in 1977.  Black women, girls and gender expansive people remain under attack, existing in a world that is not ‘remotely congenial’ to our existence and struggle, and in spite of this, remaining at the helm of movements that have transformed the world.

What makes Black feminist movements unique is the fact we are actively struggling against multiple, interlocking forms of oppression, from racism, patriarchy, ableism, classism and more.  To paraphrase Audre Lorde, Black feminists do not live single issue lives or face single issue struggles. As a result, Black feminist interventions inherently focus on addressing problems at their root.  

Since time immemorial, Black feminist movements have been instrumental in driving  societal progress and securing the freedoms enjoyed by all.

• In Brazil, Black feminists were instrumental in the creation of Brazil’s public healthcare system.
• This year alone, Black feminists in Ghana have been front and centre in the calls for government transparency, protests about punitive and homophobic legislation and the end to illegal gold mining that pollutes the water.
• In Senegal, Black feminists have led the calls for climate justice ahead of COP 29.  
• As Israel’s harrowing war campaign expands beyond Palestine and into Lebanon, Black feminists like Egna Legna Besidet are helping the most displaced access shelter, food and essential amenities. 

All of this is happening amidst the most dangerous, hostile and taxing environments, which have been fuelled by years of sustained and substantial funding from conservative funders. With an iron first, multiple African countries are creating or reinforcing draconian homophobic legislation. Vexatious challenges on affirmative action mean sectors  across the US (philanthropy included) are backpedalling on racial equity. Over 75 million Americans elected a leader who believes bodily autonomy is only for cis-gendered heterosexual men, and after years of socialising insular and xenophobic narratives, multiple European governments sit proudly on the right, competing to see who can propose the most racist immigration policies. 

‘Black feminist movements offer a solution to a world in crisis’, rehearsing the freedoms that usher in a reality that is safe, affirming and whole for everyone.

And yet, philanthropy continues to ignore, dismiss and underfund them, despite the stakes being so high. 81% of Black feminist movements do not have enough funding to reach their goals, and of the minuscule philanthropic funding that goes to feminist movements globally, just 0.1%-0.35% of this goes to Black feminist movements. Funding on its own will not be the healing elixir, however, funders can and should intentionally and strategically resource the movements that are rehearsing all our freedoms, and the onus cannot continue sitting with Black feminist funders.

Funding must sit within a power analysis that interrogates how multiple forms of oppression overlap and shape how we all experience the world (for better and for worse). Without this, the work self-stated progressive funders embark on is superficial, and will never combat the challenges we face.

A Black feminist worldview invites us to start from the margins, working all the way to the centre. A Black feminist worldview invites us to understand the world through an axis of both race and gender. To counter the patriarchal, hegemonic white supremacist systems we navigate, funders need to invest in all feminist movements othered by this default. For example,  Indigenous, caste-oppressed, Roma and Black feminists, all of whom are building alternative ways of being that are restorative for people and the planet.  

We can fund boldly, this means sustained, abundant funds that will enable holistic interventions. We can fund in ways that do not reduce the complexities of life to single issues and binaries. We can fund without the extractive, burdensome processes that risk and compliance-out the collectives, organisers and movements who deserve steadfast solidarity. We can see philanthropy as one tool, that recognises that the modern world came to be because of imperialism, theft and the most violent othering, and that philanthropy as a sector only exists because of this (continued) wealth accumulation. Therefore, it is our responsibility to redistribute not hoard.

This is how you practise Black feminism. This is love in action. This is justice. 

Vanessa Thomas is the Program manager at the Black Feminist Fund. Vanessa currently serves as a Trustee at Forward, a Steering group member for the Baobab Foundation, and is the Co-founder of Diasporic Development.