Established in 2023, the Black Giving Collective Fund is an endowment fund created by the Black community to benefit the Black community in and around Greater Akron. In 2022, a committee of Akron Community Foundation board members and affiliate fund board members, including Tracy Carter, Theresa Carter, Carla Chapman, Bennett Gaines, Kendra Philon and Dr. Rachel Talton, began meeting to determine next steps for the initiative, which resulted in conducting listening sessions with nearly 150 Black community members to learn what philanthropy means to them.
Based on the key findings from these sessions, the fund was officially established on August 28, 2023 with an initial $50,000 gift from Akron Community Foundation. The foundation also offered a $50,000 matching gift if the fund can raise that amount by March 31, 2024. Once members have been identified for the fund's advisory board, more specific funding priorities and other next steps will be determined.
This fund will forever benefit the Black community in Greater Akron.
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Help Grow the Fund
Advisory Board
Advisory board members serve without pay to help the fund impact Greater Akron's Black community.
Tracy Carter, chair
Theresa Carter
Dr. Carla Chapman
Kendra Philon
Dr. Rachel Talton