Philanthropy leaders in the United States are closely following a legal challenge to race-based grantmaking that is working its way through the court system. At the heart of the lawsuit is the question of whether it is discriminatory to give grants to people or organizations based on their race.
In a separate case last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against colleges considering applicants’ race in deciding which students to admit as part of their efforts to make admissions more equitable for Blacks and other historically marginalized groups. Now the man behind that suit has launched a similar one targeting philanthropies. The outcome has the potential to not only affect U.S. domestic nonprofits but also global grantmakers based in the U.S. — such as the Ford Foundation — whose programs support marginalized groups abroad.
A ruling that race-based grantmaking is discriminatory could reverse much of the progress philanthropy has made in recent decades especially after the global racial reckoning of 2020, according to advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.
About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
