New York City’s largest poverty-fighting philanthropy realizes significant gains in equitable grantmaking 

NEW YORK, NY — Today Robin Hood announced that 58% of its active grants and 59% of its active grant dollars now fuel New York-based organizations led by people of color. Over the last year alone, Robin Hood increased its grantmaking to nonprofit organizations led by New Yorkers of color by 10% over its 2023 grantmaking level. Using 2020 as the baseline, Robin Hood doubled the percentage of grants to leaders of color and tripled the percentage of dollars to leaders of color within the past four years.

“Three out of every four people living in poverty in New York City are Black, Asian, or Latinx. We know that investing in racially diverse leaders drives better outcomes in the fight against poverty,” said Richard R. Buery, Jr., CEO of Robin Hood. “Research shows us that organizations with diverse leadership have better outcomes, and leaders who are close to the communities they serve are often well-positioned to find solutions to the challenges those communities face. So, we have re-committed ourselves to equitable grantmaking. Not only is it the most effective thing to do, it is the right thing to do.”

Equitable grantmaking at Robin Hood is yielding results:

• The percentage of Robin Hood’s active grant dollars supporting Black-led organizations (24%) is now at parity with the proportional representation of Black New Yorkers experiencing poverty (24%).
• An increase in funding to nonprofit organizations led by Asian Americans. Between 2023 to 2024, Robin Hood’s funding to Asian American leaders increased by 2 percentage points from 6 to 8%.
• Nonetheless, half of Robin Hood’s grant dollars (55%) go to organizations with white or multi-ethnic leadership, with white-led organizations making up roughly a third of Robin Hood’s portfolio dollars (32%).
• Using the 2020 numbers as a baseline, Robin Hood doubled the percentage of grants and tripled the percentage of dollars to leaders of color within the past four years. In 2020 about 30% of Robin Hood’s total grants and 20% of its grant dollars funded organizations led by people of color.
• Black leaders are more highly represented among Robin Hood’s grantmaking portfolios (24%) than within the NYC area nonprofit sector at large, in which 16% of local nonprofit CEOs are Black.
• BIPOC leaders overall are represented almost 25% more within Robin Hood’s grantmaking portfolios (58%) than they are within the NYC area nonprofit sector at large, in which 36% of local nonprofit leaders are BIPOC.
• Within the last year, Robin Hood doubled the amount of capacity-building funding to organizations with diverse leadership, from $59,500 in 2023 to $124,000 in 2024.

“We’re proud of our progress, but we still have work to do. We look forward to learning with our peers in the philanthropic sector. Every community and every New Yorker deserves a fair shot at opportunity and the capacity to thrive,” said Richard R. Buery, Jr.

Robin Hood’s recent commitment to equitable funding began with its 2020 launch of  The Power Fund, a transformative initiative pioneered by Robin Hood that invests in nonprofit leaders of color working to increase the economic mobility of people living in poverty while addressing the connection between racial injustice and economic injustice.

Over the first 18 months, the initiative funded 23 leaders of color at 22 organizations across New York’s five boroughs and increased the number of Robin Hood-funded organizations led by New Yorkers of color by 60%. In 2023, Robin Hood released its lessons-learned report from  The Power Fund and has since absorbed the initiative into its core grantmaking practices. To date, The Power Fund has funded 31 leaders of color at 29 New York nonprofit organizations.

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About Robin Hood
We are NYC’s largest local poverty-fighting philanthropy and since 1988, we have invested nearly $3 billion to elevate and fuel New Yorkers’ permanent escapes from poverty. In 2023, through grantmaking with 250+ community partners, we created pathways to opportunities out of poverty through our strategic partnerships on child care, child poverty, jobs, living wages and more. We are scaling impact at a population level for the nearly 2 million New Yorkers living in poverty. At Robin Hood, we believe your starting point in life should not define where you end up. To learn more about our work and impact, follow us on X @RobinHoodNYC or go to robinhood.org.

MEDIA CONTACT

Kevin Thompson, Managing Director of Communications, Robin Hood
press@robinhood.org