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Roger and Claudette Parham
Claudette and Roger Parham in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at Patara Elephant Farm in November.
— Roger Parham
Roger and Claudette Parham Are Building
Foundations for the Future
By Angela Lindsay
While foundations made advancements in equity during the pandemic, those led by people of color still trail their white counterparts when it comes to support received, according to philanthropy.com. Great disparities exist between the level of giving and other types of support given to whiteled nonprofits versus those led by Black people, indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC). Local couple Roger and Claudette Parham aim to change that.
The discrepancies in donation distribution persists despite widespread commitments by foundations and other benefactors to allocate funding more equitably, according to a June 2022 national survey of over 1,100 charity leaders as reported by philanthropy.com. For example, 75 percent of Black-led organizations and 82 percent of all BIPOCled organizations received foundation funding in 2021, compared with 86 percent of white-led organizations, according to a survey released by the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Likewise, 58 percent of BIPOC-led organizations received corporate donations in 2021, compared with 71 percent of white-led groups, the survey found.
In 2019, Roger and Claudette Parhams co-founded the Parham Family Charitable Fund (PFCF) to help fund existing small nonprofits that are addressing some of the glaring needs people are facing in their local communities. Its mission is to focus on building and restoring affordable family homes. According to the Parhams, the fund works to enhance the needs of the community by developing housing that is environmentally friendly, affordable, luxurious and energy efficient homes, for individuals and families in need.
“The fund is an attempt to be one of the tools that can assist smaller local non-profit organizations with their funding needs,” said Roger.
The PFCF is a donor-advised fund within the BNY Mellon Charitable Gift Fund. The Parhams pledged and contributed $1,000,000 to the creation of the PFCF, and those funds are invested and administered by BNY Mellon, said the Parhams. Several of the fund’s recipients serve communities along the Beatties Ford Road corridor.
Photo courtesy of Claudette and Roger Parham
— WCNC.com
“As the city of Charlotte continues to evolve, it’s extremely important that those residing in underserved areas not be passed over,” Roger said.
While the Parhams say they typically do not apply too many restrictions to the types of projects they fund, history shows they tend to support education, housing and health care related efforts. A few of the nonprofit groups the PFCF has donated to include: Beatties Ford Road Vocational Trade Center, Greater Steps Scholars, Block Love Charlotte, Healing Vine Harbor, Inc., My Sister’s House and She Built This City.
“Selecting nonprofits to support is always a challenge,” said Claudette. “The fact that there are so many incredible big hearted, talented people in our community stepping up to provide much needed services to our less fortunate neighbors makes narrowing the list of organization we can support in a meaningful way truly difficult.”
“In 2022, we partnered with WCNC/ TEGNA and worked with them to identify and highlight small nonprofits in their viewing area that are fulfilling important services to the community. We both make a financial contribution to those non-profits, and WCNC runs a story on the organizations and solicits contributions from the community,” Roger added.
WCNC Charlotte, the TEGNA Foundation, Steel Skin Realty and the Parham Family Charitable Fund together have donated money to help more than 20 Charlotte area nonprofits this year, according to WCNC.com. The Parhams
Roger and Claudette Parham
said they would love to develop deeper relationships with the nonprofits they help fund to better understand their needs and perhaps share tools to support their growth and sustainability, other than just financially.
“Money is crucial,” Claudette said, “but perhaps with a better understanding of the inner workings of the organizations, we could better utilize our network to bolster areas like marketing, outcomes research and grant writing.” P
