Since the outbreak of the pandemic and this year's anti-racist protests, LISC has raised some $2 billion in grants, loans and equity to fund programs that aim to upend structural racism and close yawning health, wealth and opportunity gaps. An article in CNN looks at how corporate donors have stepped up to support LISC in this work and points to what will be an ongoing need. As LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones says in the piece, “This requires faithfulness over a long time to have real transformative impact. It can't just be 2020. This has to be a new chapter.”
The excerpt below was originally published:
Corporate America gave this non-profit almost $2 billion to fight institutional racism and it's already making an impact
By Chauncey Alcorn, CNN Business
New York (CNN Business)Leaders of the Local Initiatives Support Coalition (LISC) say their organization has received a record total of about $2 billion dollars in donations and investments this year from companies and organizations looking to aid people of color.
"This is by far our biggest fundraising year on record," LISC President and CEO Maurice Jones told CNN Business.
Netflix, Lowe's and Square are just three of the major corporations that made multimillion dollar contributions to LISC in the aftermath of the George Floyd tragedy.
LISC is a non-profit financial institution that funds community development initiatives in 44 states. It allocates money to local groups that provide emergency aid, wealth-building and career development resources to underprivileged communities whose residents are primarily Black and Latino.
The organization's leaders say their efforts have never been in higher demand. Corporations looking to help people facing institutional obstacles — including millions who have lost jobs due to coronavirus concerns — have turned to LISC for guidance and stewardship in greater numbers. Additional multimillion dollar contributions were provided by Dick's Sporting Goods and Verizon, among others.
Jones says the bulk of the estimated $2 billion donations and investments total came from more than 25 Fortune 500 companies, but additional philanthropic groups and government sources made contributions as well. Their contributions total far exceeded the $1 billion fundraising goal he Jones set for himself back in the spring.
LISC says 75% of the funds it received this year went to organizations that support low-income housing residents, many of whom were furloughed or laid off due to Covid-19 issues. Roughly 15% of the charitable funds went to grant and loan programs supporting minority-owned small businesses.