CASE STUDY
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Since 2007, CFGB has increased its focus on racial equity, both in terms of its externally-facing work and its internal operations. In partnership with local organizations spanning business, nonprofits, government, and philanthropy, CFGB co-founded the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable (GBRER) in 2015. The GBRER takes a collaborative, multi-sector approach to advancing racial equity in the region.
Mission & vision, Programs & activities, Evaluation & learning, Operations, Governance
Background
Founded in 1919, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo (CFGB) is a leading civic organization in the Buffalo region with a mission of connecting people, ideas and resources to improve lives in Western New York. In total, CFGB manages $650 million in charitable assets.
The equity journey
Since 2007, CFGB has increased its focus on racial equity, both in terms of its externally-facing work and its internal operations. In partnership with local organizations spanning business, nonprofits, government, and philanthropy, CFGB co-founded the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable (GBRER) in 2015. The GBRER takes a collaborative, multi-sector approach to advancing racial equity in the region. CFGB has also sought to live out principles of equity in its governance and internal operations.
Mission & Vision
CFGB has made achieving racial equity one of its four primary community goals (alongside education/workforce readiness, environment, and arts & culture). In addition to the moral imperative of achieving racial equity in the region, CFGB also frames it as an economic issue in its report, The Racial Equity Dividend: Buffalo’s Great Opportunity: “When we close racial gaps in workforce participation we will see a broader tax base, more income for families and households — making the region an estimated $12 billion wealthier and more competitive for investment and development.” Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, CEO of CFGB, describes the foundation’s approach as pragmatic: “Yes, [focusing on equity] is the right thing to do, but also what we need to do given the demographics of our community.”
Program & activities
In 2015, CFGB co-founded the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable (GBRER), which brings together business, government, and non-profit organizations to advance racial equity in the region. The GBRER approach is rooted in data and focused on systems change, while creating the conditions for change through capacity building for organizations and their leaders. The work is about closing equity gaps in systems such as education and job readiness, criminal justice and safety, and income and wealth. For example, the GBRER supports the Juvenile Justice Coalition, which works to reduce contact with juvenile justice systems, and improve outcomes when youth are in contact. As of 2020, the GBRER consisted of 35 members and 350 partners.
In 2016, CFGB launched its Racial Equity Impact Analysis training, which teaches leaders how to insert a racial equity lens into their decision-making process. Since its inception, 142 organizations (including major employers, government, law enforcement, media, and nonprofits) have sent 3,500 regional leaders through this racial equity training and continue to use this approach, with the support of coaches who receive ongoing training and support.
CFGB has also contributed to improving access to education in the region.
CFBG led the Say Yes Buffalo initiative, to remove social, emotional, health, and financial barriers to academic achievement and offer a universal postsecondary tuition scholarship–setting the expectation of educational achievement for all. CFGB helped raise over $70M from the private sector to support scholarships and educational programs. Over the past eight years, Say Yes Buffalo has distributed over $15M in college scholarships, and the high school graduation rate in Buffalo has increased from 49% to 76% (the highest rate in decades).
Evaluation & learning
Through its Racial Equity Dividend Report, the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable has documented the state of racial inequity in the region, including disparate rates of neighborhood segregation, poverty, educational attainment, and incarceration. This report is used to diagnose problems, inform programming decisions, and measure progress against goals. The indicators contained within the dividend report will be used to capture population-level impacts over the long-term, with the goal of eliminating racial equity gaps between people of color and the white population in the region.
Operations
CFGB has instituted new policies geared towards advancing a more equitable and inclusive local economy. An example of such a policy change is a procurement policy which monitors use of external vendors of color. Guided by this policy, the CFGB is working to increase the number of BIPOC vendors it uses. CFGB has also expanded this practice to large corporations in the region through the “business leaders task force.” The task force, composed of the CEOs of 12 major corporations in the Buffalo region, came together to develop the Buffalo Purchasing Initiative (BPI), which sets annual goals for increased purchasing from local businesses owned by people of color.
Governance
CFGB’s equity journey has been led by its board. It was the board that named advancing race equity as a priority community goal, and they understood that this meant committing to a journey. All CFGB board members undergo 6 months of onboarding before joining the board; starting in 2016, this onboarding process included a Racial Equity Impact Analysis training, which teaches leaders how to insert a racial equity lens into their decision-making process. Every board member has also committed to using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as a tool for planning their personal journeys towards deeper cultural competency. CEO Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker credits the board for engaging deeply with the organization’s equity journey: “Our board members tell us they’ve never served on a better board, because of the opportunity to both learn and contribute.”
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