For this second Impact Grant cycle, grants of up to $5,000 were offered instead of the $1,000 grant maximum in the first cycle due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on our community.
Video proposals were requested from organizations/groups doing work focused on the four key areas in its
Rethinking Philanthropy report (
education, jobs and wages, poverty, and civic engagement) as well as
criminal justice reform or
racial justice efforts. Grants were awarded to:
- Hope to Thrive: $5,000 to provide food and services to families of color that promote health and well-being
- Journee Bees Village: $5,000 to provide virtual financial education, social and emotional support, and career planning to young men
- Love Community Development Corporation: $5,000 to support senior volunteers offering virtual tutoring in reading for students in grades K-3
- The Wells Center: $1,800 to support a post-release program for formerly incarcerated women
- Winston-Salem African American Archive: $5,000 for educational presentations and tours featuring the history of the local African American community
- Masjid Al-Muminun: $5,000 for food basket distribution for families living in poverty and scholarships for students pursuing higher education
During Black Philanthropy Month, BPI is grateful for this opportunity to invest in black-led organizations doing impactful work to support the local black community.
Leroy Davis, chair of BPI’s Grants Committee, notes, “This is an exciting way to celebrate August’s Black Philanthropy Month. BPI is grateful for the opportunity to invest in local black-led organizations that are creating significant impact in our black community.”
BPI will have its traditional grant round focused on
equity in education in fall 2020 and will offer additional Impact Grant cycles in 2021.
Launched in 2007, the Black Philanthropy Initiative (BPI) serves as a model for rethinking philanthropy in Forsyth County’s black community. BPI encourages people to utilize their philanthropic strengths of time, talent, and treasure to impact meaningful change and address identified needs in the black community. Over the course of the past ten years, the Black Philanthropy Initiative has provided over $210,000 in program grants to local nonprofits.
For more information on The Winston-Salem Foundation and the Black Philanthropy Initiative, visit wsfoundation.org/BPI.