In four days, Pan-African voices in Philanthropy, Venture Capital, Angel Investing, Social Impact Funding in Africa, the U.S. and worldwide will meet at the 9th Annual Black Philanthropy Month to deliberate on a theme ‘Towards a just future in a Covid World’.
The virtual summit scheduled for August 4th, 5th & 29th 2020 will have as speakers, Ndidi Nwuneli, founder, LEAP Africa and Co-Founder AACE Foods; Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, chief executive officer, Murtala Muhammed Foundation among other speakers who will discuss on blended funding strategies across sectors like philanthropy, social investment, and venture funding for community recovery and social change in a post-COVID world.
Black Philanthropy Month (BPM) is a global celebration and concerted campaign to elevate and mobilise African-descent giving and funding. From its inception in 2011, it has grown significantly, reaching approximately 17 million people across the United States and African Diaspora.
Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland, BPM Founder and Chief executive officer, The WISE Fund observes that black people worldwide give billions in philanthropy and there is a growing social impact investing and venture funding movement, too.
According to Copeland, “Despite our longstanding and determined leadership to help ourselves, it is well documented that our black-led non-profits and businesses have been chronically underfunded by the private sector as equitable funding is a racial justice issue,”.
Copeland who is the founder of the Black Giving & Beyond Virtual Summit opines that a monumental funding investment will be required for black communities to rebuild post-COVID.
Commenting on the line up of programmes for the event, Copeland stated that The Black Giving & Beyond Virtual Summit will officially kick-off in the United States of America on August 1st, launching a series of month-long events and conversations worldwide to mark Black Philanthropy Month 2020, which has been observed annually throughout August for the past nine years.
According to Copeland, August 4th and 5th virtual African summit will engage audiences in and across the African continent and finally which will be followed by Reunity, The Pan-African Women’s Philanthropy Network Summit on August 29th to commemorate the end of an impactful month”
The activity will also celebrate the African Union’s Decade of the African Woman and launch a global effort to encourage funding of innovative, social justice, health and economic development initiatives for post-COVID recovery in African-descent communities.
“The Summit calls on all Black funders and our allies to ask and answer the question: What are YOU willing to do to heal and fund Black communities for post-COVID recovery and rebuilding?” Copeland said.
Programming will include keynotes and panels with high-profile social investors and philanthropists to discuss topics including, but not limited to, 1) New Trends in Social Impact Funding; 2) Blending Philanthropy and Social Investment, and 3) Towards 21st Century Black Funding Principles.
Among the A-list speaker line-up for the 2020 Virtual Summit Black Giving and Beyond: Towards a Just Future in a Covid World. include; Graça Machel, Minister for Education and Culture, Mozambique; Nana Twun-Danso, managing director, Health Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation; Dikembe Mutombo, founder & President, The Dikembe Mutombo Foundation.
Others are Solome Lemma, CEO of A Thousand Currents; Natalia Kanem, managing director, executive director, United Nations Population Fund; Benjamin Jealous, President & CEO People for the American Way President and former NAACP; Thelma Ekiyor, founder and chairperson, Afrigrants and BPM 2020 Africa Host; Una Osili, Associate Dean, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and BPM Africa Summit 2020 chair; and Author/CNN Political Analyst Bakari Sellers are amongst the
The architects of Black Philanthropy Month – BPM Founder and CEO of The WISE Fund, Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland; Valaida Fullwood, creator of The Soul of Philanthropy; and Tracey Webb, founder of Black Benefactors are utilising state-of-the-art digital event technology to drive global participation across the African Diaspora and provide attendees with an immersive, Pan-African conference-going experience.
