The field of philanthropy lacks diversity, and there aren’t enough Black people on foundation boards or serving as senior executives. 

That was the message from Susan Taylor Batten, president and CEO of ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities and one of the speakers at the annual convening of the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative.

“The importance of what we call ‘affinity groups’ in the field of philanthropy is absolutely necessary, because we have to navigate a sector that is wealthy, privileged — well-intentioned, well-intentioned — but often needs that nudge and encouragement to change the way it does its work and to change the culture of giving,” Taylor Batten said.

About 80 people came to the Clinton Presidential Library Dec. 2 to hear from speakers including Taylor Batten and New York Times columnist Charles Blow, and to celebrate five years of supporting underfunded and underrepresented nonprofit organizations across Arkansas.

Taylor Batten called on fellow Black philanthropists to go beyond charity and pursue social and racial justice.

Mounting pressure to change or erase language about social justice and equity prompted her to give this advice to Black-led nonprofits and foundations:

“Be courageous in this moment, and quite frankly — lawyer up.”

Founded in 2020, the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative supports nonprofits that are led by and aim to serve Black Arkansans. 

The convening event took a political tone this year, as speakers addressed what Black philanthropy means amid a repressive Donald Trump presidency that has aimed to erase equity efforts made by nonprofits across the country. Speakers touched upon how important it is to continue to speak up and support equity efforts.

“We’re in daunting times,” Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative Chair Derek Lewis said to the room full of nonprofit leaders, philanthropists, executives and other professionals. “We’re in high-pressure times where some folks don’t believe in the definition of philanthropy, which is the love of humanity.”

Regardless, Lewis said, the work will go on. 

“We do have to defend our children, we do have to defend the things that our civil rights leaders left to us to sustain,” Lewis said.

Blow, author of “The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto” and The New York Times bestselling book “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” used his keynote to examine the unraveling of civil rights and liberties under the current presidential administration, and what is to be done about it.

“There are now so many communities under threat or openly under attack that it may be numbing some people’s ability or willingness to respond,” Blow said.

Among the many issues he listed was the violent targeting and arrests of immigrants, the erasure of LGBTQ+ rights, the harms of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” threats to the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the dismantling of the Department of Education.

Vice President J.D. Vance and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller have both threatened to go after nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations, blaming them after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

“Numbness is not a luxury we can afford in this moment,” Blow said. “We are faced with a bigger question — who are we in times of stress?”

Being silent during times of repression will not grant safety, Blow said. The oppressors will eventually come for everyone. Destruction must be met with urgent, defensive action, he said.

He pointed to how over 100 mostly liberal philanthropies, such as the Ford Foundation and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, are grouping together to fight off attacks by the Trump administration. The administration has threatened to take away the organizations’ tax-exempt status.

There is a current and overt attempt to overturn the progress made by marginalized groups in the last century, and that the struggle for equity continues, Blow said.

“You are the cavalry you’ve been waiting for,” Blow said, followed by a standing ovation.

After he spoke, Blow sat down with Stephanie Jackson, the publisher for NOIRE for a short fireside chat. NOIRE is a quarterly magazine that highlights Black Arkansans and their achievements.

Jackson and Blow talked about living under what they call “Jim Crow 2.0.”

A new book he is working on has caused him to study the original Jim Crow system, Blow said, and it has taught him that Jim Crow came about gradually and that many people didn’t quite recognize the extent of what was happening in that moment. 

Jackson said it feels like that is what is occurring today, to which Blow agreed.

“It was deep, fundamental changes on a state level,” Blow said. “That is very much what we’re seeing now.”

Blow said that the Supreme Court gutting part of the Voting Rights Act to let states alter their election laws years ago has allowed states to be more aggressive in handling elections, and it looks like it may heading toward gutting it further. He used Georgia, which in 2021 passed an election law that limits how and what people can do while waiting in line to vote, as example of what happens when states take things into their own hands.

Jim Crow grew because the ability for most Black people to vote was taken away, Blow said

Jackson then asked Blow how to be courageous in the face of the many challenges faced by nonprofits that seek to help marginalized people.

Blow pointed to civil rights organizers in the 1950s and 1960s who protested despite the risk of losing their jobs and/or lives. He said that organizers then did not know at the time that their protests and boycotts would work, but they kept them up regardless.

Blow said that there are too many risk-averse people today, and that courage requires risk-taking.

Jackson tied the conversation back to philanthropy, asking Blow how to take risks amid threats to jobs and even possibly being physically harmed.

“How do we ensure that we can take care of each other and use our dollars to take care of each other while we’re risking it all?” Jackson asked.

“It’s not going to be sure,” Blow said in response. “If you’re waiting for some strategy that’s going to be sure, you’re not really in the work. There’s no surety, there’s only right … You can maintain your position by doing the wrong thing, by giving in and knuckling under.”

Capping the event were the Morrow Black Philanthropy Awards to Sherece West-Scantlebury, Dr. Charlotte Lewellen-Williams and Naccaman Williams for their contributions to the philanthropy field in and beyond Arkansas. All three are either retired or retiring.

Interestingly, Naccaman Williams and West-Scantlebury are currently on opposite sides in a legal dispute about the strategy and direction of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, where West-Scantlebury is CEO and Williams sits on the board.

Lewellen-Williams was awarded first. She is originally from Jonesboro and was the first Black woman to receive her master’s and doctoral degree in public health from the University of Arkansas for Medical School Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health. She was a professor of public health and director of the Center on Community Philanthropy at the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of of Arkansas, where she worked as an academic for almost 20 years. In her work at the Center on Community Philanthropy, she spearheaded projects that centered around equity and fairness. She announced her retirement from the Clinton School in August.

Upon receiving her award, Lewellen-Williams thanked those who have helped her along the way. She spoke on courage and never giving up, and encouraged philanthropy to get out of its comfort zone and to build up a younger generation of philanthropists. She said she was unapologetic about focusing on equity in her work.

“We need that next generation of activists,” Lewellen-Williams said.

Williams told of how he worked his way up as a poor teenager to put himself and his brother through college to becoming a director within one of the largest foundations in the United States, the Walton Family Foundation.

Williams has worked in philanthropy for about 34 years and retired earlier this year from being director of special projects at the Walton Family Foundation, a role he held for about 30 years. He serves on the board of several organizations, including the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Arkansas Food Systems and the Arvest Foundation.

Williams said that his philanthropic work has been inspired by the Arkansas community that helped care for him and his brother.

West-Scantlebury has been in philanthropy for over three decades, most recently serving as chief executive officer for the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. She is retiring from the foundation at the end of this year, after leading it for 18 years.

“ABPC was born from a desire to strengthen a tradition that has always been present in the Black community — collective care, shared responsibility, shared possibility and the belief that we rise higher when we do it together,” West-Scantlebury said.

She said she was proud that the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation was a founding funder of the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative.

“We need to be here 20-30 years from now,” West-Scantlebury said. “This organization has to succeed, not just today, but in our future.”

She said that her journey in philanthropy has been shaped by brilliant partners across Arkansas and the country, many of whom were in the room Tuesday evening.

West-Scantlebury thanked Lewellen-Williams and Williams, saying that she was grateful to be honored alongside them and that their leadership had opened new pathways.

She said that conditions are difficult for Black and Brown philanthropy leaders, and that they won’t get easier.

“Our communities are navigating headwinds that demand what we’ve heard already this evening — clarity, courage, a steady hand — and philanthropy has a responsibility not to play it safe, but to push towards justice and equity with intention, imagination and heart,” West-Scantlebury said. “This is heart work, but it’s also hard work, but it’s necessary work.”

She said that in the years ahead, the philanthropic community and its supporters must stand taller, speak louder and protect the progress that marginalized communities have fought for.

“My call to action this evening is simple,” West-Scantlebury said. “Stay brave, stay rooted, stay committed. Keep believing in the brilliance of our Black people and keep giving in ways that change the conversation and expand what’s possible for Black Arkansans and for this region.”