“Portraits of Us”: A Celebration of Black Women in Philanthropy
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TOYA NASH RANDALL (front row, third from left) and PARTICIPANTS GATHER FOR THE RELEASE OF “PORTRAITS OF US.”
When Toya Nash Randall started out in philanthropy over 20 years ago, she was often one of the few women of color in the room — and frequently the only one. Today, there are more Black women in the sector, but their numbers remain relatively small. While the world of philanthropy has changed significantly since Randall started out, “the day-to-day interactions in predominantly white institutions can still be pretty isolating,” she said.
Randall launched the website Voice. Vision. Value. in 2020 as a platform for Black women in philanthropy to generate and share research, ideas and community. She is also senior director of community initiatives in the office of the CEO at Casey Family Programs, and was an inaugural Connecting Leaders Fellow at ABFE and one of the founders of the ABFE Black Women in Philanthropy Leadership Retreat.
She wanted to ease some of the isolation Black women can feel in a predominantly white sector and highlight their contributions at philanthropic organizations, large and small, around the country. That is the story Randall set out to tell in 2019 when she first began envisioning the project which became “Portraits of Us: A Book of Essays Centering Black Women Leading Philanthropy.”
To create “Portraits of Us,” Randall said, she traveled around the country and interviewed women at all levels of philanthropy. At each stop, she organized gatherings of Black women, usually over dinner or lunch. The occasions, which Randall calls “story circles,” were both powerful and celebratory.
“Portraits of Us,” a book of essays edited by Randall, provides descriptions and photos of each of these convenings. The gatherings were all a little different, depending on the region. Still, common themes emerged as the women talked about their work, their influences, what they wished they could tell their younger selves, and their hopes for the future. At all of the gatherings, the women discussed the sustaining influence of “the Sisterhood” — the Black women mentors and peers they all rely on.
“We are so afraid of failing because there are not that many of us,” said Hayat Abdullah, director of community impact at the Health Forward Foundation in Kansas City, who attended a story circle there. “So being in a decision-making position is a huge responsibility, but it's also a responsibility for all of us to be supportive. We have to take care of each other.” Susan Bass Roberts of the Poulad Foundation in Minneapolis called coming together with other Black peers “medicine for the soul.” (The e-book is available to order here; all proceeds go to ABFE.)
IP interviewed Randall two years ago, after Voice. Vision. Value. published “Centering Ourselves,” a report that explores the role of Black women in philanthropy. A second Centering Ourselves report is due for release later this year. And last August, Voice. Vision. Value. teamed up with CEO and philanthropist Chanda Smith Baker, and her podcast, “Conversations With Chanda,” to create a new segment called Centering Conversations. The monthly segment features Black women in philanthropy.
We checked in with Randall again to find out more about “Portraits of Us,” what she hopes readers will take away from it, and what she learned along the way.
Can you talk about the book and how it came together?
It really was a glorious experience. I began developing the book in October of 2019. It was put on hold in March of 2020 because of COVID, and relaunched in March of 2022, with the first story circle in New Orleans. We held the final story circle in Los Angeles in December of 2022. Between March and December, we went to nine cities across the country and gathered over 200 women across those nine cities. And, you know, being able to convene women after COVID, when everyone was coming out of a lot of pain and sorrow and loss, was such a privilege, and then to develop something so beautiful that we can now hold in our hands.
So the smiles and the energy that you can feel as you turn the pages and look at the images, that's real. And in many instances, those convenings were the first time networks of Black women working in philanthropy had gathered together. In Seattle and Atlanta, in Kansas City and Los Angeles, it was the first time that all of these women were together in a space having a conversation about their common experience.
How have readers responded to the book?
The feedback has been really positive. The women in the book are proud to see themselves, and women who are not in the book are delighted to read the stories and realize that they're not alone and that a lot of what they're experiencing is not unique to them.
One of the recurring themes was to not just feature women in the sector, CEOs in particular, who are well-positioned and have a high profile. There are so many other women who are behind the scenes doing the work at the program level, and at the admin level and on the operations side. And those stories are never told. In one case, a woman working in administration at a foundation asked if she got our invitation by mistake. Because let's face it, there is a lot of hierarchy, and the folks on the administrative side don't often get included. But we wanted them to be part of the experience. So if you are an administrative assistant or a CEO, you got the same invitation to come and be part of the conversation and be part of telling the story.
What do you want readers to take away from “Portraits of Us?”
There are lessons and nuggets in the book to support folks as they are navigating the complexities of the work — nuances of what it means to be in this space and to show up from a place of vulnerability and authenticity to do work that is important to the communities we serve and represent. I think it lifted a lot of the secrecy and a lot of the isolation.
Black women are credentialed and we're the most educated populace in the world, although we are underpaid. And we have a strong desire to lead. We've had significant academic training, but also the lived experience to inform the work in ways that matter. Because the folks in community — that is our community. Those are our neighbors, those are our parents, our aunts, and uncles and cousins. There are disparities and inequities that we uniquely understand and have had to navigate ourselves, and help our families navigate. That is what we bring with us into the boardroom and to the strategy table: On the way there, we were on the phone with our cousin, Cash App-ing $50 to take care of something he needed to take care of. So that is the beauty and brilliance with which we move through the world, not just the work.
More than anything, what I hope folks take away from the book is that you are not alone. The experiences you're having are not unique to you. And you haven't done anything wrong. That is the discovery that so many of us have had over the course of time. And I hope that folks find inspiration to convene and gather more frequently.
What do you hope white readers will learn?
You know, that's really hard. That's a hard question, because I really do this work for us. There's tons of research and documentation and toolkits and trainings and films and stage productions — there are just so many ways for white people to learn what to do and not to do. I'm not solving for that.
This really is about, how do we support one another? How do we have access to stories that affirm and elevate what is true about our leadership? So many Black women have had influence in the sector — women who have done amazing things and are doing amazing things, and they go overlooked and undervalued, and their stories are never told. And so this is for them, and those who are coming behind them, so that we understand that we are here. Our leadership matters.
And again, that is part of what drives the work of Voice. Vision.Value. — helping Black women understand and reclaim and remind themselves of their power, their knowing, their preparation, their training, to do this work from a place of efficacy and impact.
