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Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland and Black Philanthropy Month

Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland and Black Philanthropy Month

In the latest episode of Arabella Advisors’ podcast, Senior Director of Advisory Services at Arabella, Leslie Bernard spoke with Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland, Founder and Chief Architect of Black Philanthropy Month and The WISE Fund. Here’s some of what Jackie shared during their conversation:

  • “If you get good grades, strangers will give you money to go to [college].”
  • “What can you do in a neighborhood and in a community to keep it safe?”
  • “If you can help other people, you can also help yourself.”
  • “My vision was I wanted to be able to have clear technical toolkit to develop communities and economically empower them, housing access, and quality for low income people.”
  • “African American communities gave the highest percentage of their income to philanthropy compared to all other ethnicities. It occurred to me that it is more than just philanthropy, it is a defining characteristic of the identity of African Americans.”
  • “What we call today ‘Impact Investing’ is what inspired me to create Black Philanthropy.”
  • “I wanted to have the black community understand how powerful it really was.”
  • “How can women, black women in particular, be well while doing good?”
  • “We see in the current controversies around Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka that the black superwoman complex creates a lot of success for black women in the world but also comes with a lot of sacrifices which is why we claim our right to be well while doing good.”
  • “Different institutions having ownership of it and a willingness to implement it worldwide is critical to the success of our funding equity vision. I would hope that in 10-15 years we are a force for funding equity first and foremost.”
  • “African Americans give $12 billion to philanthropy as do African immigrants. That’s a $24 billion giving economy. How can we use those resources to also support our businesses and financial education so that our communities know how to access venture capital and impact investing?”

To hear more insights, drawn from Jackie’s life, her upbringing, and what she is learning from our current moment, listen to the full conversation between Leslie and Jackie here.

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