Values drive charitable giving, and that’s the whole point

It’s the time of year when many of us give our time and donations to support our favorite causes: Maybe it’s a national organization that provides relief in the wake of floods and fires. Or your church’s community kitchen, helping to put food on the table for families less fortunate than yours. Or cutting-edge research to cure a disease that took a loved one from you too soon.

In the United States, this spirit of generosity plays out in ways as diverse as we are, because we all have the freedom to give to the causes that matter most to us. This ecosystem of giving – from individual $25 donations to billion-dollar investments from foundations – allows philanthropy to continuously rise to meet society’s most pressing challenges.

Sadly, that freedom is now under attack, in the form of a lawsuit by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, an organization that has filed numerous antidiversity lawsuits. AAER has sued the Atlanta-based Fearless Foundation – led by Black women and committed to providing grants, tools, and mentorship to women of color – claiming that its program for Black female entrepreneurs is racially discriminatory.

Our organizations, the Council on Foundations and Independent Sector, filed an amicus brief earlier this month in support of Fearless Foundation. Our argument against this baseless suit is supported by both common sense and legal precedent. First, any claim that it’s discrimination to help Black women gain opportunity in a field where they are underrepresented ignores the history of our nation – and the present reality, which is that women entrepreneurs of color face a significant gap in venture capital funding.

And second, philanthropic organizations and individuals have the right to exercise their views through giving, as protected by the First Amendment and affirmed in past court rulings. That includes efforts to support historically marginalized groups. In this case, Fearless Foundation’s very mission is to bridge the significant gap in venture capital funding that persists for female entrepreneurs of color. Its founders are directing their giving to a cause they care deeply about, with equity and justice in mind.

On that note, it’s important to recognize a key distinction: Giving that supports hate is not philanthropy. Philanthropy has a duty to ensure that charitable dollars never support organizations that promote hate, extremism, and violence.

Our organizations, committed to the greater good, comprise hundreds of diverse members, including grantmakers of all sizes, focus areas, geographies, and ideologies. We can say with confidence that they support a range of causes.

Just this year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded nine communities its Culture of Health Prize, spotlighting and rewarding locally led solutions on issues from childcare to climate resilience, for example.

In North Dakota, a Bush Foundation grant helped kickstart a regional cooperative to bring more healthy and locally produced foods to rural residents. The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky is partnering with school districts to prevent and decrease smoking in a state where tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death.

And right in the Fearless Foundation’s backyard, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta is supporting the creation of 5,000 units of affordable housing in the Atlanta area by 2026.

These are just a few of our organizations’ members, to say nothing of the individuals whose giving makes up the majority of support to our diverse nonprofit ecosystem. In 2022 alone, Giving USA found that individuals gave $319 billion, or 64% of all charitable donations.

This lawsuit, against a small foundation, is not just a distraction in a season that celebrates generosity – it endangers this entire ecosystem of giving at a time when struggling nonprofits and communities need it most.

The court should dismiss this suit and rule, in line with the First Amendment, that philanthropies and individuals have a constitutional right to donate to charitable causes that align with their values.

Now more than ever, we should all be committed to making it easier for people to give, across all dimensions of society, not harder.

Akilah Watkins is president and CEO of Independent Sector. Kathleen Enright is president and CEO of the Council on Foundations.