Founded in July 2020, Robin Hood’s Power Fund invests in outstanding nonprofit leaders of color who bring unique perspectives and expertise to the fight against poverty. The Power Fund aims to address longstanding funding disparities, both in Robin Hood’s grant portfolio and in the philanthropic sector at large, by supporting a diverse cohort of social entrepreneurs and innovators who are at the helm of impactful nonprofit community-based organizations.
Hear from Power Fund Leaders
Three years after the launch of the Power Fund, Robin Hood is eager to embed equity into our grantmaking process by incorporating learnings from the inaugural Power Fund cohort, hoping to encourage the philanthropic community and public sector to expand their investments in leaders of color and deepen their important work to advance social change at scale.
Read the Summer 2023 Report
What did we learn from the Power Fund? Importantly, it is more than an investment in outstanding leaders of color – it has strengthened how we fight poverty as an organization.
The
Challenge
Race is one of the strongest predictors of life outcomes in the United States. Across our city, Black, Latinx, and Asian New Yorkers are roughly twice as likely to live in poverty compared to white New Yorkers.
This disparity is echoed in the nonprofit sector, where leaders of color have been historically overlooked and underfunded. Poverty fighting solutions that do not account for economic and racial injustice will always fall short.
Driven by research on the barriers leaders of color are consistently faced with in accessing, securing, and sustaining philanthropic funding, Robin Hood launched the Power Fund to:
- Increase funding to organizations led by people of color who share our poverty fighting mission while championing racial and economic equity
- Expand our grantmaking into communities we have not reached historically
- Integrate a racial justice lens across our work
- Elevate nonprofit leaders of color to help their organizations and programs grow, thrive, and succeed
Each Power Fund leader and their organization receives a catalytic investment; strategic management assistance services, from board member recruitment to fundraising and planning support; and access to our philanthropic, government, and community partner networks. Power Fund leaders also receive self-directed funding for the continuation of their professional leadership development.
Our
Strategy
Our
Impact
Prior to the Power Fund, only ~ 30% of Robin Hood’s total grants and 20% of total dollars went to leaders of color. Today, organizations led by people of color constitute 48% percent of both our total grants and total grant dollars awarded.
- After the Power Fund’s launch, Robin Hood made nearly $11 million in new investments to 23 leaders of color at 22 organizations and granted more than $750,000 in capacity-strengthening services over an 18-month period.
The ultimate goal of the Power Fund is to fully incorporate its partnerships and lessons into Robin Hood’s grantmaking process.
We will also continue to fund more diverse leaders in need of our support, from early-stage organizations and first-time leaders of color at nonprofits that have historically had white leaders, to people with lived experience reflecting that of the New Yorkers they serve.
Read the ReportWhat's
Next
Meet the Power Fund leaders
Eligibility
To be eligible for Power Fund support, organizations must be 501(c)(3) organizations operating in New York City: (1) with leadership of color, prioritizing EDs/CEOs of color; (2) whose missions are aligned with Robin Hood’s mission to increase sustainable mobility from poverty; and (3) that are addressing the interplay of racial injustice and economic injustice in their work.
We are expanding our network to get to know the organizations that are addressing economic and racial injustice in New York City. If there is an organization you think we should begin getting to know, including your own, please share that information here.
The Power Fund Advisory
Leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to racial justice joined our Advisory to provide expertise to Robin Hood on the Power Fund initiative. Members include:
How the Power Fund is resourced
The Power Fund was seeded with an initial investment of $10 million by Robin Hood, with additional investments from partners, including BlackRock, Capital One, Macquarie Group, NBCUniversal, Salesforce, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Warburg Pincus, and Wells Fargo, in addition to employee match program support from Bridgewater Associates, Goldman Sachs Gives, and Tudor Investment Corporation.