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A grassroots fundraising effort is channeling support directly to Black-led nonprofit organizations through an August campaign that emphasizes the collective power of small-dollar donors. The BackBlack initiative has distributed more than $12 million to such organizations over the past three years, according to founder Floyd Jones, who structured the program along the lines of GivingTuesday to connect donors with typically underfunded groups.
Last year’s campaign attracted over 130,000 individual donors, the vast majority of whom contributed less than $100 each. This year marks the first time organizers are recruiting content creators and Black Gen Z influencers to expand reach and challenge the notion that philanthropy belongs exclusively to wealthy, predominantly white institutions.
Research published earlier this year found that most Black-led nonprofits experienced no sustained funding increases following the 2020 racial reckoning, with only larger organizations receiving temporary boosts. BackBlack aims to reshape narratives around nonprofit funding by emphasizing abundance rather than scarcity within Black communities.
The campaign draws historical inspiration from figures like Madam C.J. Walker, an early Black entrepreneur who funded educational institutions and civil rights organizations before her 1919 death. Ernest Crim III, who produces Black history content for 118,000 Instagram followers, pointed to the Free African Society, founded in Philadelphia in 1787 by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, as an example of mutual aid rooted in community traditions.
For Good, a charitable giving platform managing up to $6,000 in matching donations, partners with GivingTuesday to coordinate data for the campaign. Other collaborating platforms include GiveButter, Every.org, Bonterra, and Fundraise Up, which collectively facilitate donations to over a million nonprofits nationwide.
Tamara Mahal, interim president of For Good, acknowledged that wealth concentration has shifted donor demographics toward high net worth individuals. However, she emphasized that grassroots fundraising offers nonprofits protection from over-reliance on single major donors while building sustainable community support from the ground up.
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