INVESTING IN NON-PROFIT LEADERS OF COLOR SUMMER 2023 REPORT
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Power Fund invests in outstanding non-profit leaders of color working to increase the economic mobility of people living in poverty while addressing the connection between racial injustice and economic injustice through their work.
THE POWER FUND IS TRANSFORMING OUR IMPACT
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CASE STUDIES
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WHAT WE’VE LEARNED
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WHY WE LAUNCHED THE POWER FUND AND WHY IT REMAINS IMPORTANT
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WHO ARE THE POWER FUND LEADERS AND WHERE THEY ARE CREATING IMPACT
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OUR FUNDING PARTNERS
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WHAT’S NEXT
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DESCRIPTION OF THE POWER FUND
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Transforming Our Impact
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Robin Hood believes that one’s starting point in life should not define where you end up. Every New Yorker deserves a fair shot. But to make that a reality, 35 years of experience has taught us that we need to keep proximity to the work, to the people, and communities we serve. Across the city, Black, Latinx, and Asian New Yorkers are roughly twice as likely to live in poverty compared to white New Yorkers 1 . Through their proximity and lived experiences, Power Fund Leaders are implementing unique solutions borne out of the communities they serve. In short, Power Fund Leaders are social entrepreneurs and innovators. As a result of The Power Fund , we are forging new relation- ships and connections. We are working in communities that were once previously underrepresented in our grant- making portfolios and expanding the types of services we support to address the various facets of poverty. We’ve cultivated a stronger ecosystem of poverty-fighting organi- zations by reaching both the leaders of today at more established organizations and the leaders of tomorrow at newer and smaller nonprofits. The Power Fund enables Robin Hood to be stronger, more adaptable, and even more effective. Over an 18-month period, Robin Hood made nearly $11 million in new investments to 23 leaders of color at 22 organizations and granted more than $750,000 in capacity-strengthening services through our Management Assistance program. Additionally, our Management Assistance’s board placement team facilitated the placement of new members to the board of directors at 7 Power Fund organizations. SINCE 2020, ROBIN HOOD’S GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS LED BY PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE UP BY 60% Since Robin Hood launched the Power Fund, the number of grants and amount of funding we give to organizations
led by people of color has risen significantly. In July, 2020, about 30% of our total grants and 20% of total dollars went to leaders of color. Today, organizations led by people of color constitute 48% percent of both our total grants and total grant dollars awarded. That increase includes grants made with Power Fund dollars as well as other grants we’ve made, and also reflects changes in the field, as a new, more diverse generation of leaders take on executive roles in the non- profit sector. Of the new grants made through the Power Fund, Robin Hood has renewed 80% of them – because the organiza- tions delivered the intended results. That renewal rate is higher than Robin Hood’s renewal rate as a whole. And it reinforces for us the premise of the Power Fund – that holding ourselves accountable to finding and funding effective leaders of color does not compromise standards for grantmaking but is entirely consistent with our commitment to achieving a measurable impact on poverty. WE’RE MAKING MEANINGFUL INVESTMENTS AND REACHING NEW COMMUNITIES The average Power Fund investment is about $450,000 with nearly 70% of the funding going towards general operating support. The inaugural cohort ranged from organizations at earlier stages of development with a grassroots focus to larger and more established nonprofits. These partnerships helped us expand our reach into parts of the city like Red Hook, Coney Island and Jackson Heights, Queens where we previously had little to no footprint – and they enabled us to deepen our relationships with populations of New Yorkers experiencing poverty such as African, South Asian, and Indo-Caribbean immigrant communities, and workers in the gig economy.
THE POWER FUND IS TRANSFORMING OUR IMPACT
1 Robin Hood Poverty Tracker. ‘Winter 2023 Annual: The State of Poverty and Disadvantage in New York City, Vol. 5.
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WE’RE SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND POLICIES ACROSS THE FIELD TO INFORM A MORE EQUITABLE ALLOCATION OF PHILANTHROPIC AND GOVERNMENT FUNDING
These grants enabled Power Fund Leaders to participate in conferences, training, coaching, and workshops. Power Fund Leaders invested in their communications efforts, including sharpening their public speaking skills and refining their narrative as it connects to their organization’s mission. These opportunities allowed members of the Power Fund cohort to build new management skills, and create new networks. THE POWER FUND IS KEEPING US NIMBLE AND AT THE FOREFRONT OF A CHANGING LANDSCAPE Over the course of our 35-year history, Robin Hood has adapted our grantmaking to address the changing land- scape of poverty in New York City – from reaching New Yorkers affected by the AIDS epidemic and high rates of teen pregnancy in the 1990s, to equipping children and adults with the skills and tools needed to thrive in a new digital economy in recent decades. The Power Fund has been no different. In the 21st century, poverty has taken on new forms: Asian Americans are the fastest-growing immigrant group in New York City fighting to overcome poverty, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gulf between Black and white unemploy- ment in New York City is more divergent than it has been in the last 100 years. The Power Fund helps ensure that we are engaging with leaders and organizations that emerge from evolving challenges within New York City communities.
WE’RE STRENGTHENING OUR GRANTEES’ ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY Our Management Assistance team facilitates an
Through the Power Fund, we’ve made four field-building grants to research institutions to solidify the case for investing in leaders of color. These include: the Brookings Institution and the New School to identify approaches of racial equity impact assessments from around the country; Nonprofit New York in partnership with Candid and SeaChange Capital Partners to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the leadership demographics of the non-
profit sector in New York City and surrounding counties; Nonprofit Quarterly to develop tools and training to support the communications efforts of leaders of color, including, opportunities for publication and distribution within the Nonprofit Quarterly’s widely distributed journal; and Echoing Green to identify and cultivate evaluation practices that promote equity.
organizational assessment with each grantee to help identify how to strengthen each organization’s overall capacity and further their goals in key areas like strategy, leadership, finances, governance, and systems. These assessment tools are used to develop a roadmap to structure Robin Hood’s support during the grant period. These supports include: governance and board placement; fundraising, marketing, and communications; real estate; mergers; operations; strategy, planning, and data analytics; technology; culture and diversity, equity, and inclusion; as well as talent acquisition. WE’RE EMPHASIZING LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Leaders of organizations with limited resources and capacity often face constraints that prevent them from prioritizing and cultivating their own professional development amidst balancing critical day-to-day functioning of the organization. This dilemma thwarts learning, growth, and innovation. To address these issues, Power Fund Leaders received an additional $50,000 grant for leadership development, a resource meant to benefit the mission of each grantee organization under 501c3 purposes. We purposefully made this grant self-directed because no one knows a leader’s needs, goals, and aspirations better than the leader themselves.
CHERYL DORSEY PRESIDENT ECHOING GREEN AND POWER FUND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE MEMBER GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT:
“Racial inequity is a structural problem that denies effective leaders of color the resources needed to implement change in their communities. This inequity is often perpetuated by a lack of research into how these disparities present themselves in philanthropic giving practices. We believe that quality research can galvanize institutions to let their dollars follow the data – to invest in the best people and strategies that help advance their missions. Ultimately, the population-level impact that philanthropy seeks to achieve cannot happen without funding more leaders of color. Beyond making sizeable investments in individual leaders, we hope that a lasting legacy of the Power Fund is the body of evidence we produce to help drive change at scale.”
“The Power Fund underscores the importance of partnership in fighting poverty. This mission was never meant to be something we tackled alone, and Robin Hood’s success is a testament to the tireless efforts of our team working in partnership with our grantees. The Power Fund has made us an even stronger organization by connecting with new communities and expanding the services we support. When we invest in leaders of color at organizations that serve low-income New Yorkers, we optimize Robin Hood’s mission and become better poverty fighters ourselves. It is both the right thing to do and a smart investment, and we hope that our experience will inspire our partners in philanthropy to join us in this important work.”
In addition to adopting strategies that help us more equitably make funding and support available to community partners, we added elements to our grant program to attract organizations with diverse leadership at the forefront of change.
DAVID PUTH BOARD MEMBER & CO-CHAIR OF POWER FUND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Case Studies
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LINA LEE COMMUNITIES RESIST CASE STUDY
Communities Resist is a community-based legal services and advocacy organization. “We represent low-income tenant associations across Brooklyn and Queens that are facing issues of disrepair, harassment, and discrimination. We go up against the most predatory landlords across New York City to protect those who have been historically, socially, and economically deprived of legal services. “Our partnership with Robin Hood has helped us grow as an organization in so many ways. The Management Assistance team helped us to achieve a major goal of our organization: to lease our own office space for the first time. Previously, our full-time team of more than 20 was jumping around from one working space to another just trying to make ends meet. Robin Hood helped us find and secure an office in a location that is convenient for our tenants at a time when our services are most needed. “Robin Hood also helped us integrate technology into our organizing work. The COVID- 19 pandemic suspended our traditional door-to-door outreach, but with Robin Hood’s support we were able to reach more New Yorkers. Whether it was teaching seniors how to use Zoom, or making our videos and workshops available to tenants who could not attend live, Robin Hood helped us to continue our work during unforeseen changes and grow as an organization. Through the Power Fund, several colleagues and I took part in a leadership development program that helped us to keep thinking strategically about how we can help even more tenants in Brooklyn and Queens. In the four years since our founding, we were able to more than double our client base from 1,500 to 4,000 clients as a result of Power Fund investment beginning in 2021. Without Robin Hood’s support, we would not be in the continued state of growth that we are in today.”
Case Studies
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BERNELL K. GRIER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR IMPACCT BROOKLYN CASE STUDY
Impacct Brooklyn is a community development organization focused on housing, economic development, education, and community organizing. “The Power Fund’s leadership grant helped to elevate the organization and my voice as a leader. With this grant, I was able to take a personal retreat that gave me the time and space to reflect on the organization. It was during that retreat that I realized we needed a new staffing plan to elevate staff into positions of leadership. Many of my colleagues also participated in professional coaching through this grant, which gave them the confidence to step into their new management roles and also expand their networks. The bonds my team built with the coaches were so strong that some colleagues continued collaborating with them after the grant period was over. “The leadership grant also helped us to strengthen our strategic communications. Robin Hood connected us with communications experts who helped us distill our messaging and think through new audience targets for engagement. I was able to hone in on how to best tell my story and the story of the organization. This support helped me maximize my remarks in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which sparked many donations to the organization. Additionally, this communications support prompted us to redesign our newsletter to make it more accessible to readers and reach more in our community. I have been frequently stopped by neighbors and small business owners to share that the new newsletter is an important source of information for them.
“Our partnership with the Power Fund has helped us to deepen our focus on the communities we serve and expose new audiences to our work.”
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LESLIE-BERNARD JOSEPH, CEO CONEY ISLAND PREP CASE STUDY
Coney Island Prep is a small network of K-12 public charter schools in Southern Brooklyn, serving over 1,200 scholars. “We serve a predominantly low income-population. The majority of our students are Black and Latino, the first generation in their family to go to college and qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. “We tried to make sure our schools feel like an oasis, but the truth is that our kids are impacted by the realities of poverty every single day. Our students are light years behind where we would have expected them to be if we did not experience three years of constant interruptions in their educational learning. But because of Robin Hood’s Management Assistance Team, we’ve been able to over-hire and over-staff to provide students with the wraparound support they need, including additional social workers on every single campus and apprentice teachers. “This multi-step process was a true collaboration and started with Robin Hood sitting down with our leadership team to map out how they could best support us in achieving our organizational goals. With this plan in place, the Management Assistance team supported our search for a Chief Talent and Equity Officer to improve recruitment and retention, helped us think through how to best incorporate our communications planning and storytelling into our fundraising practices, and more. “The bottom line is that Robin Hood’s support has been absolutely game changing. It has elevated who we are as an organization and what we are able to do for our kids and their families.”
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color What We’ve Learned
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LESSON NO. 1
LESSON NO. 2
To increase access to our resources among leaders of color, we benefitted from diverse experts with relation- ships to a talent pool that often lacks connections to major philanthropic giving. We brought together a diverse, first-rate group of experts with backgrounds in research, social justice, advocacy, education policy, and more to form a governance committee. Throughout the first two years of the Power Fund, this group identified the leaders on the frontlines of direct service in their communities, provided strategic advice, and informed our grantmaking practices and the design and implementation of the Power Fund.
Setting intentional goals to invest in leaders of color and to capture data on leadership composition can help create accountability and is more likely to produce long-term changes. Prior to launching the Power Fund, Robin Hood had not systematically captured demographic data for the leadership teams of our community partner organizations. By making an intentional commitment to invest in leaders of color and to capture demographic data (see Figure 1), we were able to hold ourselves accountable while realizing noteworthy diversification among our funding partners.
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED
FIGURE 1: LEADERSHIP DEMOGRAPHICS FOR ROBIN HOOD PORTFOLIO VS. GREATER NYC POPULATION
n Greater NYC Population in Poverty
n Robin Hood Portfolio
n Greater NYC Nonprofit Sector
As % of the total dataset / populaton
64%
47%
36%
24% 24%
22%
16%
14%
11%
7%
6% 7%
4%
4%
3%
0% 0% 0%
White
Black or African American
Hispanic or Latinx
AAPI / Asian Multi-Racial / Multi-Ethnic
Native Am. / Indigenous
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LESSON NO. 3
LESSON NO. 4
LESSON NO. 5
LESSON NO. 6
Investing in capacity strengthening and general operating support is critical to long-term success. The Power Fund provided our partners with over $750,000 in Management Assistance grants alongside pro bono support. 70% of all Power Fund partners received funding for capacity building, spanning 32 distinct projects. In addition, 68% of Power Fund grant dollars provided general operating support. This funding allowed organizations to invest in hiring key personnel including leadership and to prioritize data and evaluation capacity that supports the long-term stability and success of organizations. Our Management Assistance and general operating support were most beneficial to organizations with a smaller footprint who were less likely to have access to the resources needed to ensure growth and stability. Our partnership helped raise the profile of these organizations to get added funding that had not been available to them previously. These lessons will inform the Management Assistance team’s efforts in the next phase of the Power Fund, as well as with our entire portfolio of grantees.
Broadening funder networks and building greater transpar- ency about funding priorities can help build better funding pathways for organizations led by people of color. White staff members have historically accounted for the overwhelming majority of U.S. foundation presidents, full-time executive staff and program officers 2 . Similarly, 68% of all foundation program officers are white and 84% of all board members of nonprofits and foundations are also white 3 . This lack of diversity has an impact on the grantmaking process. Potential partners are often sourced from social networks and personal relationships, which can translate into people of color having difficulties receiving funding or scaling their programs. Through the Power Fund, we strived to broaden our networks and expand the pipeline of potential partners through a variety of methods. Staff asked for input from existing community partner organizations with leaders of color and funders with a focus on supporting nonprofits at an early stage of development. Our pipeline broadened through Robin Hood’s COVID-19 Relief Fund. That Fund allowed for a large-scale open application process which brought in more than 1,900 applications, including nearly 30% that were new to Robin Hood. This list was reviewed to identify prospective leaders and organizations as a potential fit for the Power Fund. The process of building new sourcing strategies and intentionally expanding our referral pathways helped to expand our network and pipeline of potential partner organizations.
Providing investment over a longer time frame enables greater impact and increases the likelihood of lasting change. Our inaugural Power Fund grants provided support over 12-18 months. While our grantees took full advantage of the services offered through the Fund, additional time is required for organizations to ramp up programs or see the full impact of hiring key staff members with our support. In addition, many of our partners also chose to stagger their Management Assistance resources over a period of time. Since our first Power Fund investments, we have renewed funding for 80% of our Power Fund partners. These organizations demonstrated meaningful progress during their initial grant period. We recognize that they, like many partner organizations in our portfolio, need sufficient time to achieve their goals and deepen their work in the communities they serve. Some community partner organizations successfully achieved grant-funded activities intended only for a discrete time period and renewals were not necessary. In a handful of cases, we did not renew funding because an organization was not able to fully use Robin Hood funding or was not able to achieve reasonable progress.
Supporting the pipeline of leaders of color beyond the CEO or executive director can help build future leaders and strengthen leadership teams. One of our goals with the inaugural cohort of the Power Fund was to support experienced and new leaders. While staff of nonprofits may reflect the communities they serve, people of color are less likely to be in senior leadership positions according to research from Nonprofit New York, Candid and SeaChange Capital Partners. The Power Fund included funding to support the ongoing professional development of the CEO or executive director of each partner organization. But we began receiving requests to support other leaders within the organizations and quickly realized that providing professional develop- ment for the broader leadership team, including middle managers, was more effective than restricting support to a single person. By broadening our approach, we deepened the capacity of the organization as a whole and helped strengthen the talent pipeline. The expanded offerings ranged from coaching for leaders throughout our partner organizations and cohort training for middle managers to support their growth.
EPILOGUE
There is still significant work to be done. Organizations with leaders of color continue to face barriers in accessing both philanthropic and government resources. To ensure our efforts continue to be a space for learning and growth, we continue to set specific goals to source high-impact organizations led by people of color and to gather demographic data on leadership team composition. These checkpoints create transparency and accountability in our work and enable us to share strategies and benchmarking data with other philanthropies that similarly look to broaden their traditional sourcing and funding approaches.
2 ‘D5 State of the Work 2016.’ Accessed July 9, 2023. https://www.d5coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/D5-SOTW-2016-Final-web- pages.pdf 3 Cheryl Dorsey, Peter Kim, Cora Daniels, Lyell Sakaue, and Britt Savage, “Overcoming the Racial Bias in Philanthropic Funding,” Stanford SOCIAL INNOVATION Review, May 4, 2020. D5 Coalition.
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color Why we launched The Power Fund and why it remains important
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While the tumult and change of the global pandemic, and the period of renewed racial reckoning that now characterize 2020 were tipping points for launching the Power Fund, new evidence about the lack of philanthropic investments in organizations led by people of color propelled us to act. A report by Echoing Green and the Bridgespan Group, detailed the challenges of underinvestment in nonprofits led by people of color, demonstrating how foundations can play a role in addressing or perpetuating inequities through their grantmaking practices. The research showed that although philanthropic giving increased by nearly 400 percent over the last two decades, only 1 out of every 10 dollars went to nonprofit organizations led by people of color, and even fewer dollars were directed to organizations led by women of color. 4 These events and findings set the stage for a prompt national conversation about race, equity, fairness, and opportunity. They also begged for a moment of introspection and self-examination among philanthropic funders, and more so, new commitments to funding for racial equity and racial justice. Nationally, philanthropic institutions committed more than $6 billion towards racial equity and racial justice initiatives, collaboratives, and organizations in the immediate aftermath of 2020 5 , much of that funding representing significant increases in funding levels over prior decades. However, most funding is earmarked for short-term causes between 2 and 10 years, and despite the Echoing Green and the Bridgespan findings, most funding went to organi- zations led by white leaders. Critics tend to point out that grants made by most philanthropic institutions did little to share or transfer decision-making power with or to communities of color. 6 At Robin Hood we were not immune to the influence of the moment. We took a measured approach to helping advance racial equity, focused on learning as we go. We
understood that we needed to remain faithful to Robin Hood’s core operating anchors – to let data inform our investments; scale programs that work; close racial gaps and disparities; use direct service funding, management assistance, research, policy, and advocacy as integrated tools to affect change; and recognize the unique strength of our experience and expertise within communities across New York City’s five boroughs. We looked to support, highlight, and elevate every opportunity to foster innovation, finding new ways to solve the complex problems of poverty. Through our Power Fund partnerships, we’ve begun to correct for the underinvestment in nonprofit organizations led by people of color, which has detrimental impacts beyond the organizations themselves. In a city where 4 out of 5 people living in poverty are people of color, the practice of underinvestment adversely impacts the predominantly Black, Latinx, and Asian communities that we aim to reach. Since launching the Power Fund, Robin Hood funded a report detailing the demographic analysis New York City’s nonprofit leadership and its surrounding counties, In Every County, Across All Budget Sizes: White Overrepresentation in New York City Area’s Nonprofit Leadership . The report, released in April 2023 and prepared by Nonprofit New York in partnership with Candid and SeaChange Capital Partners, cites significant overrepresentation of white nonprofit leaders in comparison to the general population, and overrepresentation among white nonprofit CEOs was especially notable compared to the general population. Our desire, driven by both empirical and quantitative research, to rebuild a “new” New York City that is inclusive, welcoming, and provides opportunity for every New Yorker, justifies why the Power Fund remains relevant today and why Robin Hood seeks to integrate its principles into our core grantmaking portfolio.
WHY WE LAUNCHED THE POWER FUND AND WHY IT REMAINS IMPORTANT
4 Bradach, Jeff, Cheryl Dorsey, and Peter Kim. “Racial Equity and Philanthropy.” The Bridgespan Group, May 4, 2020. https://www.bridgespan.org/ insights/library/philanthropy/disparities-nonp rofit-funding-for-leaders-of-color. 5 “Two Years after Historic Uprisings, Where does Philanthropy’s Commitment to Racial Justice Stand?” Inside Philanthropy, August 31, 2022. https:// www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/8/31/two-years-after-historic-uprisings-where-does-philanthropys-commitment-to-racial-justice-stand 6 Same as above.
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WHO ARE THE POWER FUND LEADERS AND WHERE THEY ARE CREATING IMPACT
LARAY BROWN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CEO ONE BROOKLYN HEALTH SYSTEM (OBHS)
LaRay Brown is the Executive Director & CEO of One Brooklyn Health System (OBHS). Prior to becoming CEO of OBHS in 2017, Ms. Brown spent 28 years with New York City Health and Hospitals (H+H), the largest municipal healthcare system in the nation. Ms. Brown, the first Black woman to lead a private hospital in New York City, is a seasoned healthcare leader who served as a member of Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid reform and health care transition teams and is on the Board of the New York Health Foundation.
GISELE CASTRO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR exalt
Gisele Castro has dedicated her career to creating and leading organizations focused on ensuring equity in justice for court-involved youth. As Executive Director of exalt , she has led the organization from its incubation phase, tripled its budget in under four years, and has established exalt as a thought leader in the field. Ms. Castro’s 20 years of experience has helped position exalt in becoming an alternative to incarceration, having a profound effect on the youth they serve. Ms. Castro is an adjunct faculty member of New York University and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of SparkYouth NYC.
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BERNELL GRIER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR IMPACCT BROOKLYN
DR. NANCY GUTIÉRREZ
PRESIDENT & CEO THE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Bernell Grier joined IMPACCT Brooklyn, a community development organization, as Executive Director in 2016, bringing with her 30 years of experience, including her tenure as Director and Vice President of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Affordable Housing Program and her time as CEO and COO at Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Inc. Ms. Grier holds an MBA in Sustainability from Bard College and a B.A. in Economics from City University of New York, City College.
Dr. Nancy Gutiérrez is the President and CEO of The Leadership Academy, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization
dedicated to cultivating culturally responsive leadership in school and system leaders. She proudly began her career as a teacher and award-winning principal in her home community of East San Jose, CA. Dr. Gutiérrez holds an Ed.L.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She teaches at Harvard, NYU, American University, and Latinos for Education and serves on the boards of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC), The Hunt Institute and brightbeam . She was a Fall 2019 Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow and was named one of the top 100 most influential leaders in education in New York in 2020 by City & State.
LESLIE-BERNARD JOSEPH
LIGIA GUALLPA
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CONEY ISLAND PREP
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WORKER’S JUSTICE PROJECT (WJP)
Leslie-Bernard Joseph, born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, is an educator, attorney, and social impact leader. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Coney Island Prep, a K-12 charter school serving over 1,100 scholars across four campuses. Mr. Joseph began his career teaching fifth grade in the Bronx through Teach For America, before joining the founding team at Coney Island Prep as the school’s first Dean of Students. He has also worked as an associate at the law firm Skadden,
Ligia Guallpa, the daughter of a former day laborer and a garment worker, is the Executive Director of the Worker’s Justice Project (WJP). For more than ten years, she has been organizing New York City’s day laborers, construction workers, domestic workers, and, most recently, app-based delivery workers to build a government and economy that works for all of us. Ms. Guallpa is currently leading some of the most critical issues of our time, including immigration, workers’ rights, climate change, and inequality. Under her leadership, WJP has 12,000 members and is growing, and has built three comprehensive workers’ centers in Brooklyn to provide education, organizing tools, and a variety of resources to amplify members’ voices in the workplace and the community.
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; as an associate at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company; and as a managing director at the Harlem Children’s Zone, where he led a portfolio of 8 programs serving approximately 4,400 students across HCZ’s K-12 pipeline. Mr. Joseph received his A.B. in Politics and African American Studies from Princeton, where he served as both student body and Black Student Union president. He holds a J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School and an M.Ed. from Stanford Graduate School of Education. While at Stanford, Mr. Joseph was a 2013 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow. He is also an alumnus and former trustee of Prep for Prep, a non-profit organization in New York City.
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AMAHA KASSA FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AFRICAN COMMUNITIES TOGETHER
MARISSA MARTIN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE ADVOCACY INSTITUTE
Amaha Kassa is the Founder and Executive Director of African Communities Together, a national membership organization of African immigrants and their families connecting African immigrants to services and fighting for their civil rights. The organization was founded in 2012. Mr. Kassa has worked as a labor and community organizer for 25 years. Mr. Kassa is a licensed attorney who earned his law degree from UC Berkeley and his master’s in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School. He is an immigrant from Ethiopia.
Marissa Martin is the Executive Director of the Advocacy Institute, an organization committed to supporting the legislative advocacy of social justice and movement-building organizations in New York State. Ms. Martin has over a decade of experience working in nonprofits and government where she has managed operations, policy, and data teams, as well as led advocacy campaigns centered on the Asian-
American community, young people, and immigrant communities. Currently, Ms. Martin serves as a board member of All Together Now, a support organization for adoptive families and an Advisory Board Member of Also-Known-As, Inc., a volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to creating innovative educational programs and community-building activities for those on their adoption life journey. Ms. Martin is a Licensed Social Worker (LMSW) and holds a master’s in social work from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, with concentrations in Community Organizing, Planning and Development.
LINA LEE
MORGAN MONACO FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE RED HOOK INITIATIVE (RHI)
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER COMMUNITIES RESIST
Lina Lee is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Communities Resist. Ms. Lee has extensive experience representing low-income immigrant tenants facing eviction, harassment, and housing discrimination in some of the most gentrified neighborhoods in NYC. Ms. Lee was previously a deputy director at Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A and a staff attorney at the MinKwon Center, where she represented Asian immigrant tenants across NYC in dire need of culturally and linguistically accessible legal services. Ms. Lee received her B.S. from Cornell University and J.D. from Boston University School of Law.
Morgan Monaco was the Executive Director of the Red Hook Initiative (RHI) at the time she was named a Power Fund Leader. Ms. Monaco has over 13 years of government experience at the intersection of environmental sustainability and social justice. Prior to joining RHI, she served as the Deputy Director at the Mayor’s Office of Operations and helped to create OneNYC, which combines sustainability, equity, and resiliency policy into one plan for NYC’s future. During her tenure at
NYC Parks, she oversaw environmental sustainability initiatives and directed the MillionTreesNYC campaign. Ms. Monaco began her career on the Development team at StoryCorps, a national oral history project. Ms. Monaco has a master’s in public administration and Non- Profit Management from NYU Wagner, as well as a B.A. in International Studies from Vassar College. Ms. Monaco transitioned to a new leadership opportunity as the president of the Prospect Park Alliance and Park Administrator.
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MICHAEL D. NIEVES PRESIDENT AND CEO HITN-TV
MARJORIE PARKER
PRESIDENT AND CEO JOBS FIRST NYC
Michael D. Nieves is the President and CEO of HITN-TV. Under his leadership, HITN has added over 10 million new Latinx households to its viewing audience, launched an award-winning election coverage program, and received three Emmy nominations. Mr. Nieves served as strategic and policy advisor and consultant to numerous elected officials and campaigns across New York City and State. Prior to government service, Mr. Nieves was principal and owner of Nieves Associates and CEO of Michael Nieves Consulting where he advised candidates and elected officials. Mr. Nieves’ numerous civic and community involvements include the boards of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago, the New York Puerto Rican Parade, and New York City Public Schools Community School Board #32.
Marjorie Parker serves as the President and CEO of JobsFirstNYC. Ms. Parker has more than 25 years of experience overseeing adult and youth services initiatives and consulting for nonprofit organizations. Ms. Parker served as deputy executive director before assuming leadership of JobsFirstNYC in 2017. Prior to joining JobsFirstNYC, she was the deputy executive director of programs at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow. Ms. Parker has also held positions at the CUNY Research Foundation and New York City Department of Youth and Community Development. She serves as the current Board Chair of Reconnect NYC and is a member of the South Bronx Rising Together Leadership Council. Ms. Parker holds a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University, a master’s in public administration from New York University, and holds a Certificate in Executive Education, Senior Leaders Program, from Columbia University Business School.
RAMON PEGUERO, ESQ.
JOSE ORTIZ
PRESIDENT & CEO COMMITTEE FOR HISPANIC CHILDREN & FAMILIES (CHCF)
FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER NEW YORK CITY EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING COALITION (NYCETC)
Ramon Peguero, Esq. is the President & CEO of Committee for Hispanic Children & Families (CHCF), which combines education, capacity-building, and advocacy to strengthen the support system and continuum of learning for children and youth. Prior to that, Mr. Peguero served as the Executive Director of Southside United H.D.F.C. (also known as Los Sures), the largest multi-service organization in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He has over 30 years of experience working in grassroots organizations that tackled the most challenging issues facing low-income residents in New York.
Jose Ortiz, Jr. was the Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) at the time he was named a Power Fund Leader. Prior to joining NYCETC, Mr. Ortiz served as the Managing Director of External Affairs, Partnerships, and Business Development at Pursuit, a workforce nonprofit that prepares underserved and underprivileged individuals without college degrees for software development jobs. Prior to that, Mr. Ortiz spent more than a decade leading youth & family programs, leadership initiatives, and conferences at the 92nd Street Y (92Y). Mr. Ortiz is now in a leadership position for the City of New York as a senior advisor for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development.
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color Who are The Power Fund Leaders and where they are creating impact
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color
28 THE POWER FUND
THE POWER FUND 29
EVIN ROBINSON PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER AMERICA ON TECH (AOT)
DR. JOCELYNNE RAINEY FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GETTING OUT AND STAYING OUT (GOSO)
Evin Robinson, is the President and Co-Founder of America on Tech (AOT). He is a member of the Forbes Under 30 Board of Directors, where he serves as a North East Impact Chair, and is also a Founding Member of Forbes Forum. Mr. Robinson graduated from Syracuse University and completed his Executive Education in Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Dr. Jocelynne Rainey was the Chief Executive Officer at Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO) at the time she was named a Power Fund Leader, an organization that partners with people affected by arrest and incarceration on a journey of education, employment, and emotional well-being and collaborates with NYC communities to support a culture of nonviolence. Ms. Rainey is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of manage- ment and leadership experience in the nonprofit sector. Prior to joining GOSO, she was the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. In December 2021, Ms. Rainey joined the Brooklyn Community Foundation as it’s President and CEO.
CHELSEY ROEBUCK
JERELYN RODRIGUEZ
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER EMERGING LEADERS IN TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING INC (ELITE)
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO THE KNOWLEDGE HOUSE
Chelsey Roebuck is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Emerging Leaders in Technology and Engineering Inc (ELiTE) where he is dedicated to addressing STEM education inequality as a means to close the achievement gap and provide opportunities for economic mobility for thousands of youth across the Americas and Africa. Mr. Roebuck earned an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2013, was on the Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ in Education List in 2016 and was honored alongside President Obama as the recipient of the Evelyn Kamen Rising Star Award in 2017. Mr. Roebuck graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Columbia University in 2010.
Jerelyn Rodriguez is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Knowledge House. Ms. Rodriguez co-founded The Knowledge House in 2014 after years of education experience, including coordinating STEM after-school programs and serving as the National Program Director for Students for Education Reform. Ms. Rodriguez, a Columbia University graduate, served on Mayor de Blasio’s NY Workforce Recovery Strategy Group and serves on the boards of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, KIPP Foundation and Creo College Prep.
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color Who are The Power Fund Leaders and where they are creating impact
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color
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DR. EDWARD SUMMERS
JESSICA SANTANA PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER AMERICA ON TECH (AOT)
PRESIDENT AND CEO THE THINKUBATOR
Dr. Edward Summers is the President and CEO of The Thinkubator, an innovation and workforce nonprofit based in the Bronx. Prior to The Thinkubator, Dr. Summers served as the inaugural Executive Director of The Bronx Private Industry Council (PIC) Powered by HERE to HERE, a coalition of Bronx businesses that focused on creating long-term talent pipelines to support their local hiring needs. Dr. Summers also served in executive-level management roles at several colleges and universities including Long Island University, Union College, and Marist College.
Jessica Santana is the Co-Founder and CEO of America on Tech (AOT). Before co-founding AOT, Ms. Santana worked as a technology consultant for global brands and was one of the inaugural technology anchors on Univision. A graduate of Syracuse University, she has received numerous accolades for her work in social entrepreneurship, including being named a 2020 City and State Brooklyn Hero for her community efforts during COVID-19.
ANNETTA SEECHARRAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CHHAYA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
DENNIS M. WALCOTT
PRESIDENT AND CEO QUEENS PUBLIC LIBRARY
Annetta Seecharran is the Executive Director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation. She has a 25-year track record of breaking down barriers and creating opportunities that rebalance power and access for those that have been locked out. Prior to becoming the Executive Director at Chhaya, Ms. Seecharran was the Director of Policy & Advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses and the Executive Director of South Asian Youth Action (SAYA). Before SAYA, she ran YouthNet International for the International Youth Foundation and created YouthActionNet, now a leading global initiative promoting youth social entrepreneurship. A Guyanese immigrant raised in the Bronx, Ms. Seecharran holds an M.A. in international political economy and development from Fordham University and a B.A. in political science from Manhattanville College. She serves as a New York City Civic Engagement Commissioner and is a long- serving board member of the New York Immigration Coalition.
Dennis M. Walcott – a lifelong resident of Queens and former kindergarten teacher – is the President and CEO of Queens Public Library, one of the nation’s largest public library systems with 66 locations in the most diverse urban area in the world. Prior to joining the Library, Mr. Walcott served as the state- appointed monitor of the East Ramapo School District and served in the Bloomberg Administration as the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education and the Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development. Before joining public service, Mr. Walcott served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Urban League for 12 years and the Executive Director of Harlem- Dowling West Side Center for Children and Family Services for five years.
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color
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BARIKA WILLIAMS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE ASSOCIATION FOR NEIGHBORHOOD & HOUSING DEVELOPMENT (ANHD)
OUR FUNDING PARTNERS
Barika Williams, who served as Deputy Director of The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD) until 2018, returned as Executive Director in January 2020. Between 2018 and 2020 she served as Assistant Secretary for Housing for the State of New York under Governor Cuomo, where she managed the Governor’s major housing priorities and annual budget. Ms. Williams holds a master’s degree from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
The Power Fund was seeded with an initial investment of $10 million by Robin Hood, with additional investments from partners, including BlackRock , Capital One , Macquarie Group , NBCUniversal , Salesforce , the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) , Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies , Warburg Pincus , and Wells Fargo , in addition to employee match program support from Bridgewater Associates , Goldman Sachs Gives , and Tudor Investment Corporation .
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color What’s Next
Investing in Non-Profit Leaders of Color
34 THE POWER FUND
THE POWER FUND 35
WHAT’S NEXT
CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR MAJORITY OF INAUGURAL COHORT OF POWER FUND PARTNERS Our inaugural Power Fund partners helped Robin Hood to learn and grow as an organization invested in equity; forge new connections in neighborhoods and communities; and support more critical services. This work has strengthened our efforts to fight poverty. As the Fund continues, we are renewing programmatic and management assistance support for most of our first cohort. As with all of Robin Hood’s grantmaking, we consider the fit between the organization’s activities and the impact we are aiming to achieve, as well as the organization’s progress in meeting goals for the prior funding period. Our high renewal rate for our first Power Fund cohort is a testament to the high caliber of the organizations, their operational excellence, and their effective program models. INTEGRATING THE POWER FUND INTO OUR GRANTMAKING PRACTICES The goal of the Power Fund is to fully incorporate its partnerships and lessons into Robin Hood’s grantmaking process. As we move closer to that goal in the next phase of the Fund, we plan to transition oversight of Power Fund grantmaking to be under the purview of our programs and policy teams, which fully integrates our new partners into the broader Robin Hood ecosystem – while emphasizing our priority to fund leaders of color in our core work. The Power Fund Advisory Committee, which led the selection process of the inaugural cohort, will remain in place for strategic and directional support.
PARTNERING WITH MORE ORGANIZATIONS LED BY PEOPLE OF COLOR In the next phase of the Power Fund, we expect to fund more organizations led by people of color that meet our standards for effectiveness and impact. Even though all leaders of color have been overlooked and underfunded, this inequity is not equally felt. We will be intentional in looking for partners in most need of our support, which includes early-stage organizations, first-time leaders of color at nonprofits that have historically had white leaders, and people with lived experience reflecting that of the New Yorkers they serve.
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