FEATURED EVENT: Lounging with the Library— Finances, Funding and Philanthropy in the Black Community Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. Join us via Zoom and Facebook for a live conversation on money matters in the African American community.
Getting to Know the Black Philanthropy Initiative LIBRARY DIRECTOR BRIAN HART INTERVIEWS ANDREA HULIGHAN, DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
BPI has funded approximately 65 grants totaling over $298,000 since they made their first grants in 2007.
H
ow did the Black Philanthropy Initiative get started here in Winston-Salem?
As an initiative of The Winston-Salem Foundation, BPI serves as a model for rethinking philanthropy. BPI’s intentional work to build effective philanthropic relationships with the Black community began in 2000 with a grant from The ECHO Fund and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. A grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in 2004 enabled The Winston-Salem Foundation and the BPI Advisory Committee to offer public speakers and informational seminars to the Black community to maintain the momentum in building new relationships. BPI launched its annual grants program in 2007. BPI credits its first chair, Mr. Marshall Bass, for recruiting others to join the effort and for creating a solid foundation that has enabled BPI to thrive over the years.
What projects have you funded in your 20-year history? BPI has funded approximately 65 grants totaling over $298,000 since we made our first grants in 2007. We have given grants focused on education, financial literacy and other issues we have found relevant to our local Black community. BPI has focused the majority of its grantmaking on equity in education for the last two years, based on 8 INTERSECTIONS MAGAZINE
