Black Philanthropy Month to Host Pan-African Summit in August

Personalities like Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, Dame Graça Machel among others will grace the Black Giving & Beyond Virtual Summit billed from Tuesday August 4 to 5 this year.

The Black Giving & Beyond Virtual Summit aims to convene top Pan-African voices in Philanthropy, Venture Capital, Angel Investing, and Social Impact Funding in Africa, the U.S. and worldwide as part of the 9th Annual Black Philanthropy Month.

According to the organisers, this year’s focus will be on blended funding strategies across sectors like philanthropy, social investment, and venture funding for community recovery and social change in a post-COVID world.

The Founder, Black Giving & Beyond Virtual Summit, Dr. Jacqueline Copeland said, “Black people worldwide give billions in philanthropy, and there is a growing social impact investing and venture funding movement, too.

“Despite our longstanding and determined leadership to help ourselves, it is well documented that our Black-led nonprofits and businesses have been chronically underfunded by the private sector.”

Noting that equitable funding is a racial justice issue, the founder added that monumental funding investment would be required for Black communities to rebuild post-COVID.

“The summit calls on all Black funders and our allies to ask and answer the question: What are YOU willing to do to heal and fund Black communities for post-COVID recovery and rebuilding?”

The architects of Black Philanthropy Month – BPM Founder and CEO of The WISE Fund, Dr. Jacqueline Copeland; Creator of The Soul of Philanthropy, Valaida Fullwood; and the Founder of Black Benefactors, Tracey Webb are utilising state-of-the-art digital event technology to drive global participation across the African Diaspora and provide attendees with an immersive, Pan-African conference-going experience.

Founded in 2011 by Copeland, Black Philanthropy Month (BPM) is a global celebration and concerted campaign to elevate and mobilise African-descent giving and funding. Since then it has grown significantly, reaching approximately 17 million people across the United States and African Diaspora.

The Summit will officially kick-off in the U.S. on August 1st, launching a series of month-long events and conversations worldwide to mark Black Philanthropy Month 2020, which has been observed annually throughout August for the past nine years.

Immediately following the U.S. kick-off event will be the August 4 and 5 virtual African summit to engage audiences in and across the African continent.

The Pan-African Women’s Philanthropy Network Summit will follow swiftly on August 29 to commemorate the end of an impactful month, celebrate the African Union’s Decade of the African Woman and launch a global effort to encourage funding of innovative, social justice, health and economic development initiatives for post-COVID recovery in African-descent communities.

Amongst the A-list speaker line-up for the 2020 Virtual Summit are: the Minister for Education and Culture, Mozambique Honorable Dame Graça Machel; Founder LEAP Africa and Co-Founder AACE Foods Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli; Founder & CEO, Murtala Muhammed Foundation Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode; Managing Director, Health Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation Dr. Nana Twun-Danso.

Others are: Founder and President, The Dikembe Mutombo Foundation Dikembe Mutombo; Solome Lemma, CEO of A Thousand Currents; Natalia Kanem MD, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund.

People for the American Way President and former NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous; Thelma Ekiyor, Founder & Chairperson Afrigrants and BPM 2020 Africa Host; Dr. Una Osili, Associate Dean, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and BPM Africa Summit 2020 Chair; and Author/CNN Political Analyst Bakari Sellers.