What Corporate Philanthropy Got Wrong after George Floyd'S Murder

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In the wake of George Floyd's murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, many corporations made pledges intended to advance racial justice.

For example, Google committed to donating $50 million to historically Black colleges and universities, while JPMorgan Chase allocated $30 billion in housing and business loans, and other supports, to Black and Latino communities.

But were those pledges genuine? Or were they genuine, but poorly managed? According to a recent report by the Washington Post, America's 50 biggest public companies and their foundations committed at least $49.5 billion to address racial inequality.

But more than 90% of that amount was allocated to potentially profitable loans and investments, including mortgages.

Just $4.2 billion was pledged as grants, and only $70 million went to organizations devoted to criminal justice reform.

An MIT Sloan Inclusive Innovation Economy talk last month examined the reasons for this discrepancy.

Social entrepreneur Jessica Norwood, who founded Runway, which focuses on building Black community wealth through a lending process Norwood calls "friends-and-family" funding, cited a "huge level of chaos and an inability for structures and people who have learned and grown up in those structures to actually do the kind of systemic change work that was required" after Floyd was killed.

Makeeba McCreary, president of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice

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