California Black Freedom Fund

Making
Racial Justice Real
in California

Photo by Hamilton Families, courtesy of San Francisco Foundation.

About the Fund

The California Black Freedom Fund is a five-year, $100 million initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

The first state-based fund of its kind, the California Black Freedom Fund prioritizes investments in the courageous and visionary grassroots advocates and community leaders who are transforming our cities, our state -- and our world.

By creating and accelerating a new statewide ecosystem of Black-led organizations confronting racism and anti-Blackness, this fund aims to effect the culture, policy and systems changes necessary to realize equity and justice in California.

Learn more by downloading the California Black Freedom Fund concept paper.

Download Paper

Why It Matters

Since the Great Migration, millions of Black Americans have settled in California, searching for opportunity and a better life for their families. Today, California has the sixth largest Black population in the country, but trails in funding infrastructure and building the capacity of Black-led organizations.

The racial justice uprisings that have swept the nation after the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many more have shifted policies and culture across the country and in our state, giving us a glimpse of what a new, racially just California could look like.

Now, we have the opportunity to make lasting change. The California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) is founded on the belief that increasing the capacity and effectiveness of Black-led organizations will, in turn, enhance the freedom and self-determination of Black people most impacted by structural racism in order to drive California as a whole toward systemic transformation.

Black-led, movement-building organizations in California are addressing the multiple and intersecting harms of systemic racism, police violence and racial inequities our communities face. For example, organizations focus on stopping police violence, promoting education equity, improving health outcomes, championing voter registration and civic engagement, and crafting policies around increasing access to housing. These organizations need resources, now and in the future, to continue and strengthen their work.

Philanthropy has the opportunity to sustain, build upon and accelerate the Black-led racial justice movement underway in California. Doing so requires investing in Black-led organizations to build and strengthen their organizing power within our communities.

Grant Support

GRANTMAKING APPROACH

CBFF supports Black-led organizations through fast, flexible, and responsive philanthropy that meets their biggest challenges. Our grantmaking addresses organizations’ key concerns and mitigates obstacles preventing Black power-building in California to ensure our grantee partners’ success.

Responding to Shifting Demographics

With many Black communities moving (or being priced out of) urban centers, CBFF is using census data to track where Black Californians are living and working. CBFF utilizes this data to inform grantmaking and supports Black leaders as they seek to engage and organize their communities.

Providing Flexible Funding

CBFF offers flexible grants for operating costs because we trust in Black-led organizations to use resources that best support their short and long term goals.

Investing in Wellness and Healing

Black-led organizations are on the frontlines, suffering from and responding daily to injustices. This work takes a toll on staff and leaders, who report being mentally and physically exhausted. As a result, CBFF supports Black-led organizations in their efforts to provide healing and wellness opportunities to staff so they can continue their important work to fight for equity and justice.

Read Grant Reports

See Full List of Grantee Partners

THE LEGAL EDUCATION, ADVOCACY, and DEFENSE (LEAD) FOR RACIAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE
The LEAD for Racial Justice Initiative aims to provide robust and relevant legal education, as well as accessible tools, to nonprofit organizations serving communities of color to help them fully understand the legal landscape and their ability to conduct and invest in vital racial justice work.

Learn More

Current Fund Partners

The California Black Freedom Fund has set a goal of raising $100 million over the next five years through a mix of foundation, corporate and individual donor support. As of February 2021, nearly two dozen funders have joined this important effort as fund partners. To learn about how you can join us as a fund partner, please email Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Updates & Stories

Unity and Progress – A Commitment to Our Communities

California Black Freedom Fund has signed on to the following statement alongside the CEOs of California’s leading philanthropic organizations. “On this historic election day, we stand united as leaders of California’s leading philanthropic organizations—unwavering in our commitment to our communities, no matter the outcome.Freedom. Hope. Equity. Opportunity. These are California’s values—these are America’s values. They […]

The California Black Freedom Fund and the California Community Foundation Partner to Distribute $2 Million to Black Powerbuilding Networks in Southern California

August 27, 2024—Today, the California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF), in partnership with the California Community Foundation (CCF), announced grant awards of $2 million to the California Black Power Network and the Black Equity Collective. These investments are part of CBFF and CCF’s continued commitment to providing resources, capacity-building support, and strategic guidance to Black-led organizations […]

Announcing our LEAD for Racial Justice initiative

In late May 2024, California Black Freedom Fund, in partnership with legal experts, advocates, and philanthropic leaders, announced the launch of our Legal, Education, Advocacy, and Defense (LEAD) for Racial Justice initiative, providing racial justice organizations in California with the tools they need to safeguard their vital work for our communities. In light of recent […]

Announcing CBFF’s 2024 Chinedu Valentine Okobi Sabbatical Program Participants

We are excited to announce the inaugural cohort of the Chinedu Valentine Okobi Sabbatical Program: Kaci Patterson, Laneesha Senegal, and Tamisha Walker! The Chinedu Valentine Okobi Sabbatical Program was created to honor the life and legacy of Chinedu Valentine Okobi, a devoted father, poet, brother, son, and Morehouse graduate, who was tased and beaten to […]

Statement by Marc Philpart following the Fearless Fund ruling

This week, using a Reconstruction-era law originally intended to protect formerly enslaved people from economic exclusion, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 against the Fearless Fund, a grant program intended to level the extremely uneven playing field for Black women entrepreneurs. Many of us in philanthropy […]

Introducing our 2023 Impact Report!

The Black Freedom Fund was first established as an inflection point for racial justice grantmaking in 2021. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police, the philanthropic sector galvanized in response, pledging commitment to the work to advance racial equity and justice. Today, the Black Freedom Fund has continued to grow […]

Honoring the Legacy of Chinedu Valentine Okobi

Chinedu Valentine Okobi was a poet, devoted father, Morehouse graduate, son, and brother – today, February 13, would have been his 42nd birthday. In October 2018, Chinedu was killed by San Mateo County sheriffs who tased and beat him to death. In honor of Chinedu, his family has invested funds to create the Chinedu Valentine […]

Round 7 Funding grants $3.5 million to 75 Black Powerbuilding organizations

This Black Futures Month, we’re honored to announce the awardees of our seventh round of grantmaking, an investment of $3.5 million dollars into 75 Black Powerbuilding organizations across the state of California! When we put out our request for proposals last summer, we received an incredible response — over 260 applications, four times the number […]

Support the Fearless Fund’s Right to Give

California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) has joined our peers in philanthropy, Council on Foundations, and Independent Sector, in pushing back against the lawsuit against the Fearless Fund, an organization led by Black women that helps combat underfunding in venture capital by providing grants, tools, and mentorship to women of color. We know this lawsuit is […]

Activists, Policymakers Join To Discuss ‘Freedom’ From Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence Awareness Month may be over but the conversation continues. On October 30th, California Black Freedom Fund co-hosted a panel discussion and podcast recording with Blue Shield of California Foundation called, “Let’s End DV: Heal, Restore, Prevent.” The event focused on the disproportionate impacts of domestic violence on Black women and their families in […]

#FundBlackFreedom in Black Philanthropy Month and Beyond

Author: Marc Philpart As California Black Freedom Fund celebrates Black Philanthropy Month, we are looking ahead at the future of serving Black communities in California and beyond. It has been a busy few months as our team and partners have been campaigning for a $100 million state budget request to help establish an independent Black […]

California Black Freedom Fund on Reparations and Affirmative Action

“Yesterday, California took early strides for justice for Black people by presenting its first-in-the-nation attempt at making reparations for the legacy of slavery real. As legislators translate these recommendations into policy, we affirm the wisdom, clarity and courage of our grantees and partners in influencing a self-determined future where all Black people thrive. Meanwhile, on […]

Announcing RFP for Round VII Grants

California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) is thrilled to release the RFP for our seventh round of funding. CBFF’s approach is to provide multi-year, operational grants to increase Black-led organizations’(BLOs) access to the practical resources and tools needed to continue driving transformative, multi-sector, policy change.

Strengthening Democracy and Building Black Futures!

We closed out Black History Month with an inspiring funder reception on “Strengthening Democracy and Building Black Futures”, hosted in partnership with Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) and co-sponsored by ABFE Leverage the Trust: CA and the Black Funders Network. Held in Oakland at the Oakland Museum of California, it was an honor to bring together […]

California Black Freedom Fund: Philanthropic Sign-On Letter in Response to Police Violence

By Marc Philpart, Executive Director, California Black Freedom Fund We, the undersigned, lead philanthropic institutions throughout California that came together to seed and establish the California Black Freedom Fund. Established just two and a half years ago following the brutal murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and countless others, the California Black Freedom […]

Our Fifth Round of Funding Supports Black Power Building in Los Angeles

The California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) has hired Marc Philpart, renowned advocate for boys and men of color, their families and communities, as its first executive director. Beginning April 27, Philpart will oversee the five-year-long initiative to raise and distribute $100 million so that California’s growing ecosystem of locally rooted Black-led organizing efforts have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

Introducing our 2022 Mid-Year Impact Report!

We’re excited to share CBFF’s 2022 Mid-Year Report: Demonstrating Impact, where you’ll find information and data from two years of grantmaking, as well as inspirational stories from some of our grantees and network leaders.

Reflection on the Two-Year Anniversary of George Floyd’s Murder

Two years ago this week, George Floyd was brutally murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis. His killing sparked national outrage and a global uprising. Around the world, people grieved, marched and protested the systemic racism and patriarchal violence that enabled his public death. In response, lawmakers, funders, companies and other civic leaders made commitments to address the routine state violence facing Black communities and right the historic wrongs.

California Black Freedom Fund Hires Marc Philpart as First Executive Director

Recording: Investing in Black Organizers on the Front Lines

Meet California Black Freedom Fund’s New Grant Partners

How Philanthropy Can Make a Lasting Commitment to Racial Justice

In this period of continued racial reckoning in America, we are reflecting on the days after Michael Brown was killed by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in 2014. The death of an 18-year-old Black boy and the lack of police accountability for the killing led to a wave of righteous protests across the country, along with pledges from philanthropy to invest more in Black-led movements for justice.

California Black Freedom Fund Invests Nearly $9 Million in 74 Black-led Power-Building Groups Around the State

The California Black Freedom Fund today announced nearly $9 million in general operating grants to 74 Black-led groups across California as part of its commitment to resource, connect and strengthen Black-led power-building organizations in the state.

Rev. Samuel Casey

“Foundations and society often expect Black organizations to do more with less than their counterparts. They tell us to make bricks without straw. And that just isn’t sustainable. It’s time to build and invest in movement building specifically for Black communities.”

Powering Black Organizing and Movement Building in California

The Recording of the Virtual Event – February 2021 Webinar.

CBFF Black Organizing PSA

The California Black Freedom Fund is a Five-Year, $100 Million initiative to ensure that Black Power-Building and movement-based Organization have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

Funders Join Together to Launch $100 Million California Black Freedom Fund

New Fund Invests in Black Power-Building and Organizing in California. February 4, 2021 — Today, philanthropic organizations and funders joined together to launch the California Black Freedom Fund, a new $100 million initiative to provide abundant resources to Black-led power-building organizations in the state over the next five years.

Hear from Our Funder Partners

“To make racial justice and equity real in California, philanthropy needs to elevate its investments in Black organizers who are focused on advocacy, organizing and holding our institutions accountable — something that we call power-building. The vision of California Black Freedom Fund is to bring justice to our communities by making sure Black-led organizations are sufficiently supported and strong, and their leaders are galvanized.” Lateefah Simon, President, Akonadi Foundation

Angela Glover Blackwell

“We all have come to realize that we’re not going to make change incrementally. It has to be transformative. So, unleash and catch onto the tail of your radical imagination and let that take you into the future that we need. Fund radical imaginations all across the country for sustainable transformative change.”

Ben McBride

“My own story makes me committed to ensuring that no more Black boys and Black girls have to stand under the moonlit sky, staring down the barrel of a gun in fear for their life. This is what frames my call to be responsive, to reduce violence and why I’m a deep believer and proponent of the California Black Freedom Fund.”

Kaci Patterson

“If we are ever going to really fully deliver on the promise of California as the golden state, it means that Black people and Black communities have to be at the forefront of that change. We have to center their experiences, the life wisdom of Black people who know what it’s like to be marginalized and who can actually take us to the promised land.”

Shimica Gaskins

“We’re constantly being told that our ideas are not innovative enough when, in fact, we are trying to reverse the impacts of racism and solve problems that have been persistent for generations, which is the very core of innovation.”

Take Action

CA State Budget Request: #FundBlackFreedom

CBFF is requesting up to $100 million from the state’s general fund to ensure the resiliency of Black led and/or Black serving organizations in the state. This funding will:

Resource, bolster and strengthen Black-led and serving networks and grassroots organizations throughout California through regrants.
Build the organizational infrastructure for an independent Black operating foundation serving the Black community.
Provide seed funding for an endowment to the Black Freedom Fund.

Share your support and urge Governor Newsom to secure our $100 million goal in state funding to support organizations that are closest to the issues as well as the solutions. This is the kind of investment California can afford to make and one that our communities deserve.

Share your support

In this moment of reckoning for racial justice, we have a shared opportunity and responsibility to marshal our resources in order to tackle systemic racism in communities across California. These unprecedented times call for all of us—including philanthropy—to respond in new ways.

Through the California Black Freedom Fund, private, corporate and community foundations and individual donors have the opportunity to prioritize investments in Black-led organizations as a strategic imperative and turn this moment into a sustained movement. Join us in building the capacity and power of Black organizers and advocates to make justice real in California.

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Making Racial Justice Real in California