Candid, ABFE report: Funding surge to Black nonprofits after 2020 racial reckoning didn’t last

A new report from Candid and ABFE finds that the 2020 surge in funding for Black-led nonprofits that followed the racial reckoning sparked by the murder of George Floyd was more flash than fix. Drawing on 2016–2023 data and surveys of 3,500+ nonprofits, the analysis shows only about half of Black-led organizations received foundation grants, compared to 70% of their white-led peers doing similar work. Smaller groups—those with under $1 million in expenses—were largely shut out, while larger nonprofits saw only temporary gains from 2020 to 2022. The report notes that funding relationships remained transactional and could not be broadly sustained, leaving most organizations under-resourced despite ongoing and rising demand.