The Kalamazoo Community Foundation (KZCF) is continuing its work to support Black, Indigenous and/or People of Color (BIPOC) nonprofit leaders in Kalamazoo County.

KZCF’s Sustaining BIPOC Leaders initiative launched in 2022 and provides rest, respite, professional development, executive coaching and wellness grants to local nonprofit leaders. Applications are now open for BIPOC nonprofit leaders in Kalamazoo.

Lily Salas, community investment officer at KZCF, shared that the purpose of the initiative is to support BIPOC leaders in the Kalamazoo community who feel under-resourced, overworked and may feel burnout.

“We recognize that the pandemic really highlighted the inequities that exist and the work that leaders of color carry often advancing racial equity and justice,” Salas said.

Salas shared in a video for KZCF that eligibility for funding is not tied to positional leadership, as long as the individual leads work in the community, people or an organization.

“These grants are very unique in that they can be awarded directly to the individual or go through the organization,” Salas said.

Funding is also for nonprofit leaders to individually engage in some kind of wellness or professional development.

Salas shared examples of how nonprofit leaders utilized funding last year, including going on a sabbatical, taking personal time away from work, engaging in intentional wellness practices or a retreat led by women of color and purchasing a gym membership or equipment.

The funding also supported individuals in attending leadership conferences and professional coaching or mentorship.

Salas shared that KZCF is leaning into trust-based philanthropy through this initiative's application and grantmaking process.

As CMF reported in its 2022 Annual Report, Our CMF Community: Advancing Equity for Transformative Change, KZCF received a $20,000 grant from the Consumers Energy Foundation to advance DEI efforts in Kalamazoo County.

The award from the Consumers Energy Foundation boosts funding for KZCF’s Sustaining BIPOC Leaders Grant initiative. In the pilot round of funding, KZCF made $60,000 in total grant awards to 28 local nonprofit leaders.

“We were able to put grant funding in the hands of the local experts who were truly making an impact and a difference in their communities, and each community foundation utilized the funds in a very different way in response to the needs of their community. We could not be more thrilled with the results and will be expanding this program in 2023,” Bloodworth said.

Want more?

Learn more about Kalamazoo Community Foundation’s Sustaining BIPOC Leaders initiative.

Watch the full video.

Explore how other CMF members are collaborating to support their nonprofit partners in CMF’s 2022 Annual Report.