Less than 1% of Greater Boston nonprofit revenue helps women of color
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Less than 1% of the revenue that Greater Boston nonprofits serving women, girls and gender-expansive people reported in 2024 went to groups prioritizing girls and women of color.
Why it matters: Those groups' leaders reported being understaffed, overworked and less supported than other nonprofits, according to a new report from the Boston Women's Fund and UMass Boston.
- The findings come six years after U.S. business, philanthropic and political leaders pledged to address racial inequities.
State of play: Grassroots leaders, who often experience racial and gender inequities themselves, are tackling large systemic problems affecting women and girls of color with fewer resources than their white and male colleagues.
- The report attributes that gap largely to a lack of visibility and exclusion from traditional philanthropic models.
- These leaders, addressing problems ranging from housing affordability to domestic violence prevention to health disparities, reported experiencing chronic overwork and burnout.
Stunning stat: Of the $112 billion these nonprofits reported in revenue, $25 million, or 0.02%, went to groups focused on women and girls of color, per the report.
- While women and girls of color make up nearly 20% of Greater Boston's population, just 0.2% of local nonprofits explicitly serve them.
What they're saying: Natanja Craig Oquendo, executive director of the Boston Women's Fund, said grassroots organizations of color were "trending" after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were killed by police, but that attention was short-lived.
- "What we unearthed was really how hard the last few years have been," she tells Axios.
The report also estimates 60% of that total revenue flowed to five large institutions: Wellesley College, reproductive rights nonprofit Upstream USA, boarding school Dana Hall, The Winsor School and Planned Parenthood.
- They absorb nearly half of donations, per the report.
- Dominique Lee, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said the organization's focus is on expanding access to sexual and reproductive health care, particularly for women and girls of color who face barriers.
- "Meeting the full scope of need requires a functioning ecosystem, not a single provider. That includes high-volume clinical providers, as well as community-based organizations delivering culturally specific, locally rooted services," said Lee, whose organization serves more than 30,000 patients statewide.
- A representative of Upstream declined to comment, saying the organization hadn't yet reviewed the report.
- The other organizations did not respond to requests for comment.
Zoom in: UMass Boston interviewed 25 grassroots organization leaders as part of the study. They reported several challenges getting funding, such as:
- Being excluded from grants if they don't know the funders.
- Pressure to pursue short-term funding with immediate results rather than long-term funding that supports incremental progress in addressing complex problems.
- The hardest-hit populations they serve — transgender women, undocumented immigrants and some Asian populations — being overlooked because they aren't counted in mainstream demographic data.
Context: These issues preceded President Trump's return to office in 2024, Oquendo said.
- The shift, however, has continued under the Trump administration amid federal funding cuts and a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
What's next: Oquendo said she hopes philanthropists and their teams will review their funding processes — and who's getting left out.