NEW YORK (AP) — Black nonprofit fundraisers are turning to their own communities for support this month, stressing everyday donors’ power at a time when philanthropy is growing more concentrated among the affluentand some major funders have de-prioritized diversity in their grantmaking.

The BackBlack initiative has directed more than $12 million toward Black-led nonprofits over the past three years, according to founder Floyd Jones. A GivingTuesday -style campaign that runs in August, the appeal invites online donation platforms to center typically underfunded, Black-led nonprofits. Last year’s efforts drew more than 130,000 unique donors, according to Jones, with the majority of their gifts falling under $100.

This year, for the first time, organizers are also leveraging content creators to reach a new audience: Black Gen Zers. The goal is to show that philanthropy belongs to them, too — not just the historically wealthier and predominantly white charitable institutions that tend to dominate narratives about philanthropy.

“Our people have always taken care of our people,” Jones said. “I want people to feel empowered.”

The campaign could bring a boost for smaller, Black-led organizations that, according to research released earlier this year, saw no significant changes to their funding after the racial reckoning of 2020. Only a subset of larger nonprofits got temporary increases in the years that followed, according to an analysis by Candid and ABFE.

BackBlack aims to flip that narrative from one of “deficit” to one of abundance. Jones is heartened by the example of Madam C.J. Walker, a Black beauty entrepreneur widely considered America’s first female self-made millionaire. She supported Black educational efforts such as Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute and African American branches of the YMCA. She also contributed to the NAACP ‘s anti-lynching fund shortly before her death in 1919.

Jones doesn’t care if today’s donors have millions in their bank accounts, though. “It’s about doing your best,” he said.

One of BackBlack’s partnering creators pointed to the Free African Society. The nondenominational Philadelphia group, founded in 1787 by Black leaders Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, was one of the country’s first mutual aid organizations.

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