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CNBC anchor Frank Holland discusses what it means to redefine philanthropy and Supreme Courts's decision about affirmative action.
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00:00So now you are in for a treat as we have a conversation about redefining philanthropy.
00:09We're going to ask ourselves how philanthropy can be reshaped and restructured to create
00:16a greater and more sustainable impact on marginalized communities.
00:21This panel will explore those strategies and strategies to support economic growth and
00:26improve the lives of vulnerable populations.
00:29So I would love to introduce our panelists.
00:31First we have Linda Armstrong, who is the head of U.S. corporate responsibility and president
00:37of U.S. and—give me a minute—Norvados Foundation.
00:51Next we have Otis Raleigh, who is the president of the Wells Fargo Foundation.
00:56We also have Claire Babineau-Fontineau, who is the CEO of Feeding America.
01:13And we have Ms. Ebony Thomas, who is the president of the Bank of America Foundation.
01:24And our moderator will be Frank Holland, who is an anchor at CNBC.
01:35Good morning, everybody.
01:36How's everybody doing today?
01:37Good.
01:38All right.
01:39We start off very strong, big pledges, a lot of excitement, global impact.
01:43Today, we're going to talk more focus on the United States, but in general, big impact.
01:48How do we change our communities?
01:49The focus of this panel is redefining philanthropy.
01:53Everybody knows what philanthropy is, charity, giving back.
01:56We have three—excuse me—four of the biggest leaders when it comes to foundations and non-profits
02:01right here with us.
02:02We're going to dig deep into that topic in just a moment.
02:04But first, I think it's hard not to touch on something that I think a lot of our phones
02:08have been buzzing about today, the Supreme Court decision about affirmative action.
02:12Everybody aware of what I'm talking about?
02:14Yes.
02:15Okay.
02:16I want to just go down the line with you guys.
02:17It directly impacts colleges and universities, but we know many of the colleges and universities
02:22that are going to see the biggest impact.
02:24They produce a lot of our leaders in business, in the sports world, and in non-profits and
02:29philanthropy.
02:30Ebony, I'm going to start with you.
02:31The decision today, what does it make you think about the future of philanthropy and also
02:35just the future of our country?
02:37You know, I think the point you made that it impacts college and universities, but it
02:43impacts people, individual people, individual students.
02:47You think about those that are coming up now.
02:50And I think that philanthropy will play an intentional role and intentional intervention to ensure that
02:58communities, individuals within communities have pathways, have resources.
03:04Madam President talked a little bit about it earlier around building capacity, putting
03:09WRAP services around communities and individuals so that they can, number one, create those pathways
03:16to higher education because it's like a surgical undoing in a lot of ways of a lot of the progress
03:26that we've made.
03:28And I think philanthropy plays a critical role in ensuring that we continue to advance in that progress.
03:34Claire, do you have any thoughts?
03:35I do.
03:36I'll tell you my actual very first thought was I remember being at the first Obama inauguration.
03:44And I remember swirling around was this concept of being post-racial.
03:49And in the work that I'm in today and then on a day like today, I ask myself, is this what
03:57post-racial looks like?
04:00Is it post-racial that right now if you told me the zip code that you're born in, I can
04:06tell you what your life is likely to be like.
04:09I can tell you how many investments and divestments are likely to happen inside of your community.
04:15And I can tell you with alarming precision when and how you will die.
04:22Is that post-racial?
04:24I think not.
04:25That's what I thought.
04:26Otis, you and I were talking backstage about this just a moment ago.
04:30Yeah.
04:31I think there's a saying about if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready.
04:39And I think we saw this coming.
04:43And there have been a number of people in the philanthropic sector that have been gathering
04:48together, having conversations, really planning and try to strategize in anticipation of this.
04:55We also know that this didn't just happen overnight.
04:58that this has been a plan that's been in the works and it was very strategically advanced.
05:10And so I think, you know, particularly as it relates to the philanthropic community, AFBI,
05:15the Association for Black Foundation Executives, has been helping to gather a number of different
05:23foundations together, private foundations, family foundations, corporate foundations, about
05:28how do we step up?
05:31Because we know that this is just the beginning, right?
05:35That is going to be interpreted in a number of different ways, right?
05:37And so this now more than ever, I think philanthropy has a role to play in terms of really helping
05:43to fund some of the lawsuits, to fund the challenges, to support in a mighty way some of the activists
05:52and advocates and the legal battles that are going to occur.
05:57And so when the first thing that popped in my head, when you said, well, what do we need
06:03to do in terms of philanthropy, we need to get our checkbooks out and be prepared to support
06:09the fight because it is a long-term battle and it's not, this is a marathon, it's not
06:14a sprint.
06:15Dr. Armstrong, I think a lot of people have strong feelings about this in the room.
06:19What are your thoughts?
06:20Yeah, thank you.
06:22So I was, like many of us, disappointed, but not surprised, disappointed by the cynicism of
06:30a Supreme Court that can say that, you know, we want to, we want equality when, you know,
06:37fully understanding, as Claire mentioned, that there is no way an equal playing field.
06:42But I think this is a call to action, it's easy to get complacent.
06:46Look at us here, we're in a beautiful room with some of the leaders of industry across
06:50the country at Essence Fest, but we can't be caught on the back foot.
06:56We have to regroup, move forward, look at what's worked.
07:01Nine states already have already struck down affirmative action.
07:04So we need to look at what's worked, look at what hasn't, and move forward.
07:10Excellent point.
07:11You know, speaking of what's working, you four.
07:13You guys are doing some very important work.
07:15So let's do one more round of applause for these guys.
07:17We're going to switch gears.
07:18We're going to talk about some of the progress that these four are helping to make for our
07:22communities in general.
07:23So one of the themes that I spoke to all four of you about is co-creation and collaboration.
07:28So Otis, I'm going to come back over to you.
07:31It's a real shift when it comes to philanthropy, this idea of co-creation and collaboration for
07:35the audience.
07:36Explain what that means.
07:37Sure.
07:38So, you know, I'm the president of the Wells Fargo Foundation, right?
07:41And as leading a corporate foundation historically, the way we thought of philanthropy was much
07:49more kind of charity donation work, right?
07:52How do you really serve the market leaders in a way to help them to build business, right?
08:00That has shifted, and not just at Wells Fargo, but, you know, I can say I think it's just shifted
08:05in terms of the space that we understand that, no, this is not charity or donation work.
08:10This is philanthropic investments, right?
08:13And as with any investment, you want to collaborate with others so that you can get the best return
08:19on investment.
08:20So at the foundation, when we talk about collaboration, it is really looking for others who are looking
08:28to make those philanthropic investments to advance housing access and affordability, financial
08:32health, small business growth, and sustainability, which about 85 percent of our funding goes in
08:40those four areas, and anybody, la-di-da-di, anybody, right, that is willing to make those investments
08:47with us, in the past, it was like, oh, it's the Wells Fargo logo up, and now it's like, hold on,
08:52if it's Wells Fargo, if it's Bank of America, if it's JP Morgan, it doesn't matter as long as we're seeing
08:58that return because the stronger the communities, the stronger those families, the stronger
09:01those communities, the more likely to be banked, right, and there's more profit to be made.
09:07I'm not a family foundation, I'm not a private foundation, so I'm not delusional about the role
09:12that a corporate foundation has, and so it's not a social justice organization, right, but it is
09:18focused explicitly, though, on advancing those communities that have been underserved because
09:25there's profit to be made by investing in them in the right way, right, and so, and we can't just do
09:31that alone.
09:32So, Ebony, I saw you were about to speak.
09:33You also worked for a foundation for a big bank, Bank of America.
09:37Based on what Otis is saying, kind of give us a sense on how collaboration and co-creation,
09:41how does it work for you?
09:42Yeah, no, I love that.
09:43I mean, the way that we talk about it at the bank is the genius of the and, right, this notion of
09:50you can make profit and deliver for your shareholders, and you can deliver for your communities, right,
09:57this notion that you're not choosing between either or, but they are both incredibly important,
10:03and we can do that.
10:05You know, this notion around collaboration, I'm excited to have Claire here because, you
10:09know, she is a key partner in the work that we do around food insecurity around the U.S.,
10:15right?
10:15We, you know, oftentimes we can look around this beautiful room and forget that, you know,
10:20there are so many families here in the city in which we are in right now, a really city
10:26that we're in right now, that many of our children, our women, our men are operating in
10:32food insecurity, meaning they are not quite sure when they're going to eat next, right?
10:37And so, you know, Claire, I'm not going to say her, she does such great work that she
10:41will get to, but that collaborating spirit of working with Feeding America, some of the
10:46work that we do around health equity, again, you would assume that an organization like
10:51Bank of America would say, well, why are you in health?
10:53The same reason that Oda's talked about, we understand the connection between our communities
10:59and our shareholders and what we do, and the work that we do in health equity around, you
11:05know, working with partners like American Heart, American Cancer, American Diabetes, Feeding
11:10America, and others to bring communities together to really solve problems.
11:15But the other part, which I know Lynn is going to do a really good job in describing, is also
11:20in collaboration or co-creation with communities.
11:23What we cannot do is dishonor communities and say, we know what's best for you, okay?
11:31You know what's best for you.
11:33We are not saviors here.
11:35We know the community here in New Orleans, they know what they need.
11:38It's our job as a foundation in philanthropic investments is to bring the checkbook to the
11:44table along with the community to support in what they know that they need.
11:48And so that collaborating spirit that we can do it together, but we do it in direct honor
11:54and listening of what the community tells us they need.
11:57All right.
11:57So great segue to Dr. Armstrong.
11:59So Dr. Armstrong, talk to me about, you know, collaboration and co-creation.
12:03You and I spoke.
12:03You said part of that is listening and part of that is also including partners that really
12:08understand the communities they're serving.
12:09You actually have a prop, so I'm going to get you to pull out that prop.
12:13It's a pulse oximeter.
12:16And explain how that's part of this co-creation and collaboration process.
12:20Thank you so much.
12:21And I'm going to add a second, a third piece.
12:24So co-creation, collaboration, and long-term commitment.
12:28And I'll give you a quick example of what that looks like, at least in our foundation.
12:33So I think for many of us, the social justice movement that arose after George Floyd's murder,
12:42as well as the early pandemic, were really a wake-up call.
12:45And I work for a company, Novartis.
12:47And Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
12:51Its mission is to extend and improve life.
12:53So when in the pandemic, when we saw the disproportionate number of hospitalizations
13:00and deaths that were in the black and brown community, we thought, what could we do?
13:04But instead of just deciding what that is and imposing it, we reached out to members of the
13:11community, specifically to the presidents of the historically black medical colleges,
13:16Morehouse School of Medicine, Howard University, Drew, and Meharry, and spoke to them and other
13:22community leaders about what would it look like to improve health equity.
13:27And we came up with a collaboration.
13:31So it started with Novartis and these, in 26 historically black medical colleges, has grown
13:37to other pharmaceutical companies, as well as other nonprofits and for-profit organizations.
13:44And we hope will continue to grow.
13:46But we're focused on three missions.
13:48One is to improve the next generation of the STEM workforce.
13:53And certainly this comes in with the Supreme Court decisions.
13:56And I think we'll be talking about this a little later when Marion Brooks is on a panel.
14:02The second is around clinical trial diversity.
14:04So we know we want drugs to work in all patients.
14:08And we know that the way that we test drugs, the way that we develop them, that we don't
14:13include black and brown patients often.
14:15And there are many reasons for this.
14:17But we've focused the second pillar of Beacon of Hope on this.
14:21And then the third is looking at the causes of healthcare disparities.
14:25So to do that, working with, again, with the historically black medical colleges to give research
14:30grants.
14:31And we set up two centers of excellence, one on validating health technologies and the other
14:36on climate.
14:38And I'll just end on the validating health technologies.
14:42So, again, in the pandemic, you may remember that the emergency rooms were packed at the very
14:49beginning and that people had to make very quick triage decisions.
14:53And most of them, and I apologize for this corny throw up, but many ERs were using this thing,
14:59which is called a pulse oximeter.
15:00And what it does is it very quickly and painlessly looks at the amount of oxygen in your blood
15:05using infrared light.
15:09And you can make quick decisions on this.
15:12What we didn't know at the time was that many of these had not been validated in patients
15:17with darker skin.
15:18So you're getting readings that were off.
15:21So you could have a patient come in.
15:23You know, it looks high.
15:24Go home.
15:26When, and actually, they were in dire need of intervention.
15:31So our center of excellence is looking at these, looking at clinical algorithms that include
15:36race to make sure that, that we are all being thought of when we, um, when we engage in our
15:43healthcare systems.
15:44All right.
15:45Dr. Armstrong, nothing corny about that.
15:46I think that might make a difference for a lot of people, even in this room.
15:49If you ever go to an ER or have a doctor treat you just to have that information that maybe
15:54this technology isn't quite for you.
15:56Um, Claire, you're not, I'm not, it's certainly not, uh, last or least here.
16:00I wanted to come to you because you told me so many things.
16:03You talked to me about some things.
16:04I had to Google some of them.
16:05Um, one of them's the surmise.
16:08You talked about having a black box, um, coming in as a foundation and as a nonprofit.
16:12So I know you're very passionate about this.
16:14How important is it to come as a collaborator and a listener?
16:18Absolutely.
16:19So because I do have the microphone, of course, I'm going to first say the thing I wanted
16:23to say, and then I'm going to answer your question.
16:24Is that all right?
16:25So I wanted to go back to where you started, which is the place to start.
16:29Um, and, and talk about something that Otis has actually heard me say before.
16:35Um, why don't we choose this?
16:39Yeah.
16:40Uh, a society gets the government it earns.
16:45Why don't we choose this?
16:47The reason that I felt so compelled, um, to traverse whatever was going to happen in terms
16:54of planes, trains, and automobiles to be on this stage right now, was because my sense
17:00was that this was a group of people who have decided that enough is enough and that we're
17:09about to do something.
17:10Um, so, um, I hope we don't hear things, experience things as bystanders when you hear what happens
17:23with the Supreme Court, when you go, but of course that happened with the Supreme Court.
17:28Um, what are we going to do, um, as a result?
17:32So thank you for indulging, indulging that second.
17:36I want to make certain that this group has a sense of who we are.
17:41Uh, so Feeding America is a network that includes 200 partner food banks, over 60,000 agency
17:48partners, nearly 2 million volunteers, um, all across the country.
17:53Most people learned of us when they saw those long, long, long lines, um, during the pandemic.
18:00Um, and that's the whole of what they think of who we are, except as is true with the black
18:09community, we are not one thing.
18:11Um, Feeding America is that, and that's an important thing, but we are more than that
18:16as well.
18:17We're very focused on the fact that things like I'm going to do something that's probably
18:23breaching something that's sacrosynct, which is to restate something that was said perfectly
18:29by Maya Angelou, who said, I come as one, um, I stand as 10,000.
18:36I come as one, I stand as 60 million.
18:4160 million people in the richest country in the history of civilization can't find enough
18:49food.
18:5060 million people.
18:53Um, I need to be a part of changing that, and we will not change that by providing food
19:02for today.
19:03We will change that by, number one, acknowledging that the systems that are in place are designed
19:10to work as they work.
19:12They're not broken.
19:12They work the way they're intended, and to decide we're going to break these wheels,
19:17right?
19:18So, now let me talk about collaboration.
19:21That took a long way to get to your question.
19:23I think it took a lot of us a long way to get here, so.
19:27Um, it, we've tried so much stuff, and it's failed.
19:33Our, our history in this country around philanthropy, our issue isn't that we haven't thrown enough
19:39money at people, um, it's that we've thrown money at people.
19:45Uh, it, it's that we come into communities, and I'm so glad to be in this company, because
19:53it's not true of this company, but we come into communities assuming that we know, and
20:02the black box would be our solutions that we've determined that community needs, um,
20:09without knowing who they are.
20:11Uh, and how's that working out for us?
20:14Sixty million people can't find enough to eat in the richest country in the history of
20:20civilization, so to turn this on its ear, to change, to be a part of the change that's
20:26necessary, we have to change that approach, and it's in the way that's already been identified,
20:30and it's the way that we are desperately leaning into with both hands and feet at Feeding America.
20:36We are engaging very directly inside of communities.
20:40We are changing the way our dollars are spent at Feeding America.
20:45We are engaging with the people who are on the ground, people with lived experience we now
20:51refer to as lived expertise, and we treat it as such.
20:54It is their table, not ours, so my last thing I'll say is I use a microphone as a metaphor
21:01for this, that coming in, I believe philanthropy thought of itself as my voice, my microphone.
21:10I think we have moved a little, and we say, your voice, my microphone.
21:20I believe where we must get to is your voice, your microphone.
21:27So, you did mention something important when it comes to all this money.
21:33Money is a key part of it, and you mentioned throwing money at the problem.
21:37Ebony and Otis, you guys both mentioned something I also had to look up.
21:41Looking at capital in a risk framework.
21:44Can you explain that to the audience, what that means?
21:46It's interesting, because we're both at banks, and the foundation is different from the bank
22:02in that our foundation dollars can absorb a lot more risk than the regulatory cornucopia
22:12that the bank has to deal with.
22:17Now, so, I'm the president of the Wells Fargo Foundation, but then also head of philanthropy
22:21and community impact at the bank, right?
22:23So, on the foundation side, we have to follow all foundation rules, IRS rules,
22:29and in terms of self-dealing, those dollars cannot go to direct benefit of the bank,
22:36all those types of things.
22:37But, again, they are not regulated in the way that banks are regulated.
22:43So, how we underwrite can't be changed overnight, right?
22:47No one, no matter how much they make or their level of position at any bank,
22:52can just make an arbitrary decision, we're changing the underwriting standards
22:56for how mortgages are done or small business loans.
22:59They can't do that, because more than many other sectors, banks are highly regulated,
23:06and there are so many different agencies that make the determination of what we can and can't do.
23:11And that's the sexy thing, and I think it's sexy because I'm a nerd,
23:14about the foundation space, right?
23:17Because I don't have to deal, we don't have to deal with some of the low degrees of regulation.
23:25And so, we can partner with CDFIs, we can partner with nonprofits,
23:30we can partner with intermediaries who are looking for new and exciting ways of doing things, right?
23:37They can say, hold on, the way that we're looking at credit here doesn't make any sense,
23:41and so how about we look at it this way?
23:43The bank can't necessarily do that.
23:44But then if we are able to prove the case with foundation dollars,
23:47then we can go back to the regulators and go to the banks and have those kinds of conversations.
23:52And that's why we say the foundation dollars allow us so much more flexibility to absorb risk,
23:57to accept risk, and actually to incentivize a lot of the nonprofits and others
24:03to think a little differently and partner with us on how we can be better at advancing small business,
24:09at getting more people into homeownership in ways that the bank sometimes can be narrow in terms of what it can and can't do.
24:16Yeah, so that's a great example.
24:19And I would just say, then, how that works in execution, for example, at Bank of America is,
24:24you know, one of the words that I use, which is not my word, it is Bryan Stevenson's word,
24:28but I love it in how I use it, the bank is proximity.
24:32And so we talk about proximity and the fact that, you know, national is not a place for us.
24:37Everything that we do is delivered through local markets, places, cities, New Orleans, Birmingham, you know, Memphis.
24:45And so what we can then do is find these nonprofits, local organizations, Big Mama, right?
24:53Because sometimes she knows what's best for what's in her community.
24:56All the time.
24:57All the time.
24:57And so, you know, where we might not be able to do that through traditional ways,
25:02we can do that through our philanthropy, through our investments.
25:06And then we take it a step further because then we do it locally.
25:09So we got Big Mama in Memphis.
25:10We got her right here in New Orleans and we got Big Papa, no pun intended, you know, who's in New York, right?
25:17And so thinking about ways in which we can be creative and we can, again, use the word honor people and their experiences,
25:25their lived expertise, where then they know what's best for their community.
25:30And so that risk framework gives us a lot more freedom and a lot more innovation
25:36to be able to get the investments to the right people in the right communities.
25:41Yeah.
25:42I think innovation is a really important word because we're talking about redefining philanthropy.
25:45So, Dr. Armstrong, I'm going to come over to you.
25:47When we're talking about health equity, and I'm accounting food insecurity as part of health equity as well.
25:53Talk to me about innovation.
25:54How do we go forward and address some of these disparities, fix them, and prevent other disparities from happening?
26:00Yeah, it's a wonderful question.
26:03And, yes, health equity is, you know, the objective that everyone can live at their best health quality.
26:13And we know that only 20% of our health is due to the medicines that we get or even the health care that we get.
26:21And the other 80% is due to things like food security or where you live or your environment.
26:29So we have to think very creatively as we think about how to improve health equity.
26:35I want to mention two things.
26:38One is truly, the first is truly understanding disparities.
26:43And so, you know, we know COVID was one example.
26:47But we know that health disparities have been with us for many, many generations.
26:50We know that black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer.
26:56We know that black men are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease.
27:00Today, we're experiencing, we're in New Orleans experiencing a heat wave.
27:04We know that African Americans are 30% more likely to die of cardiac disease during heat waves
27:10and three times more likely to die of asthma attacks during heat waves.
27:15So we really have a huge incentive to get these things right.
27:19And part of innovating in this space is understanding that no one company has all the answers, no one foundation, no one organization.
27:30And so we have to come together as private-public partnerships, as for-profit-nonprofit partnerships, as community partnerships,
27:37to make sure that we have the resources and the expertise we know to tackle these very complex problems.
27:45The other thing I wanted to mention was something that Otis had brought up, which was that, you know, yes, foundations are very sexy.
27:51And they can do wonderful things in the pre-competitive space.
27:55But we also, for these very deep problems, we have to move beyond charitable foundation work
28:01and really embed these solutions into everything that we do, into the business parts of our organizations.
28:09And that's the only way in the end that we'll be able to succeed.
28:13Can I say something?
28:14Just some of the stats that were mentioned and how we talked about philanthropy changing,
28:20you know, what was really important to me when I entered into the philanthropic sector was I had run nonprofits before.
28:29I had worked in the public sector, blah, blah, blah.
28:32And one of the things that I said when I was originally approached about the opportunity was that I don't want to do what foundations typically do, right?
28:42And by that, I mean there's this analysis paralysis, right?
28:46We need to study it.
28:47We need to learn more, right?
28:48And I just feel like we have enough data.
28:51We talk about the foundations in the past throwing money at people.
28:55No, it was, they were supporting the nonprofit industrial complex, right?
28:59And supporting the consultant industrial complex, right?
29:02And so millions of dollars were going to my friends to study.
29:06And then millions more were going to others to analyze the study that was done for the 10 million, right?
29:12And so one of the first things I did in this role, I did an analysis of my portfolio.
29:18And I saw, I was like, and a lot of money had been spent on studying housing, right?
29:25And I said, this stops, right?
29:28I don't need another study on homelessness.
29:30Here's the idea.
29:31We need to home, we need to create houses, right?
29:33Housing units, right?
29:35And this is not, this is not an attack on data, right?
29:39Or analysis.
29:40We, there's always more that you can learn.
29:42I, I'm, I'm, I'm, some of my best friends learn a lot.
29:45But I just want to be very clear that I think the difference, what we're talking about in terms of how foundations can and should show up differently is, is actually putting the money towards those things that are going to actually invest in systems change, right?
29:59We, we, right now our model is like bank of doing, and I was, initially I was like, and then I was like, you know what, actually that, that, I like that a lot better than bank of studying, right?
30:10Or foundation of, we're going to do one more seven, eight figure, nine figure analysis as opposed to creating those housing units, creating more small businesses, putting capital into the hands of folks who need it to do, do differently.
30:24So speaking of one more, Claire, I want to give you a chance to talk about innovation, but I want to make sure we save time at the end, because we are running out of time, for a key takeaway from each one of you.
30:31So Claire, when we talk about hunger, food insecurity, let's talk about the innovation that you're doing with Feeding America.
30:37Absolutely.
30:37So first, we talked about some statistics, regrettable, changeable statistics.
30:45When you think, surely when you see buildings in the United States, you think, we built that?
30:50I hope that's what you think, because that's what I think.
30:54And yet, African Americans are the most inordinately food insecure demographic in this nation.
31:02We are three times more likely to be food insecure.
31:07Food insecure is a symptom of poverty.
31:10There are panoply of things that come along with divestment.
31:15Food insecurity happens to be one of them.
31:17So where we're innovating is in investing in people who are breaking the wheel.
31:24And one of the examples that I love so much, that I hope this group of actors will love to, is there's work we're doing in the form of the Food Security Equity Impact Fund.
31:38And every dollar of the money that we raise goes into communities, invest in BIPOC leaders, where tables are created, tools are brought to bear.
31:55We have something called a community accelerator, proven tools that help people to get to the nut of what they believe the problem is, and equip this group of people around the table to move forward with actions.
32:10And it starts with deep relationship building and healing in places where there's a lot of healing to be done.
32:17But the Food Security Equity Impact Fund, as an example, invests in the creation of these new beautiful ecosystems that reclaim farmlands.
32:26And it's powerful and beautiful.
32:30And one gift, for instance, is that any of you could do easily, $100,000, and you invest in the creation of a new ecosystem that's investing in the black community in a powerful way.
32:42So I'm excited about it.
32:44All right.
32:44So let's do one key takeaway.
32:46Dr. Armstrong, I'll start with you, and we'll just go down the line.
32:49My key takeaway is that we need to take this point in time as a call to action.
32:57Social justice movement from George Floyd in the early pandemic, that was a watershed moment.
33:03Honestly, I believe that today, with gutting of affirmative action, this is another watershed moment.
33:09And it's a call to action that we keep moving forward, that we're smart in the way that we move forward, that we innovate in the way that we move forward.
33:18One key takeaway for me is that we have to be as intentional with the solutions in terms of the philanthropic investments
33:24as the problems that currently exist.
33:29The policies that exist, the broken systems that aren't necessarily broken, as you said.
33:34They are doing what they were supposed to do.
33:35It was very intentional.
33:37And so we have to be as intentional and unapologetic.
33:39We know these systems hurt disproportionately.
33:44People of color, we have to be intentional about focusing in on our philanthropic investments on people of color and not apologize for it.
33:53And so I think that's one takeaway.
33:54I think mine would be, it still feels like, I hope today is different.
34:00I hope this group is different.
34:03But it still feels like we're waiting for the Calvary.
34:06And we are the Calvary.
34:08We are.
34:08You stole it.
34:13That was like, no one's coming to save us type of moment.
34:16But I will also just say the last thing, because I loved earlier that Rich and Team made the pledge.
34:21What's your pledge?
34:23What's your pledge?
34:24What are you doing?
34:25You know, we sit back and we watch and we get mad and we get angry and then we keep moving.
34:31Make your pledge today.
34:32And your pledge could be monetarily.
34:34Look, you're all philanthropists.
34:36Every single one of you.
34:37What's important to you, invest in what's important to you and make your pledge.
34:42A big thank you to our panelists.
34:44Thank you all for your time and for your insight.
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