As nonprofits adjust and readjust (and then readjust, again) their budgets and best practices to provide services to the communities they serve during our current cataclysm, it’s worthwhile to examine one of the ways we learned to do philanthropy better during our most recent cataclysm, the 2020 global pandemic, though decidedly different in nature.
It was against 2020’s backdrop of living in constant fear and shared vulnerability due to the pandemic that we all witnessed the recorded murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Thanks to the pandemic providing additional time to reflect on the injustices and inequities faced by minority populations, many funders began supporting DEI efforts and BIPOC-led and BIPOC-focused organizations in ways that hadn’t happened in the past.
Oklahoma City was no different, as several visionaries (including my wife, Gabrielle) sought to develop programs that would have lasting benefits for Oklahoma City’s black community. After being asked to advise Arnall Family Foundation on the creation of its Black Justice Fund, Gabrielle focused on how to develop the capacity of leaders and organizations who were suddenly experiencing an influx of attention and, to a lesser extent, funding. Given our respective decades working with nonprofits in Oklahoma, Texas and California, and our Oklahoma upbringings, we knew that while funding can address many problems, sustainable change and lasting impact requires training and continued access to resources and supports. And because nonprofits play a larger role in communities without strong social safety nets (and even more so in communities that have been intentionally and unintentionally neglected), capacity building investments in nonprofits can provide an outsized return.
It was with this understanding that we launched the Northeast Oklahoma City Nonprofit Incubator through our nonprofit consulting firm The Butlers Did It in spring 2023 with seven local nonprofits, thanks to the support of Inasmuch Foundation. Our criteria was simple:
- At least two years of operations (with a preference of five or more),
- Revenues of $500,000 or less, and
- Being black-led and/or Northeast OKC focused, as we wanted to include organizations that sought to improve Northeast Oklahoma City, regardless of the color of their leadership.
Now having trained nearly 50 organizations over four cohorts through the funding of Inasmuch, Arnall, Oklahoma City Community Foundation, Flourish OKC and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, the Incubator is a case study in the benefits of thoughtful, trust-based philanthropy and collaboration between private, corporate and community funders. It bears noting that each our partners regarded a program developed of, by and for black OKC nonprofit leaders as worthy of investment without restrictions, even before we were able to provide data – just as the pandemic required us to be flexible and trust our partners to develop new solutions. Armed with their trust and investment, the Incubator has proven that when black organizations receive training, services and comparable support as their white counterparts, they have the ability to thrive. The results and the data are clear:
- A spring 2025 survey of the first 19 organizations found that after receiving $500,000 in training, memberships and services, these nonprofits secured a combined $1.3 million in new funding from local and national funders.
- A STEM education organization that was close to shutting its doors went from serving one school to serving seven schools and secured an MOU with our local district, even as it lost corporate funding as part of the anti-DEI backlash.
- A nonprofit received its first ever six-figure grant, coming from a national funding organization.
- An organization received a multi-year grant for the first time in its nearly 50-year history.
Just as importantly, during a time in which nonprofits are uneasy about policy changes, funding cuts and claw backs, the Northeast OKC Nonprofit Incubator has built a “brave space” and a nonprofit ecosystem in which organizations call each other “cousins,” develop programs together, support one another’s wins and refer resources to each other.
“The Incubator brought awareness to a lot of people who’ve been doing work for a long time,” said LaTasha Timberlake, Executive Director of Lillian Timber Farms. “For some of us, after being in the Incubator, we received some of our first major grants.” She received a $90,000 ARPA grant from Oklahoma County after her experience in Cohort 2.
As funders seek ways to encourage collaboration, it’s important to note that Incubator participants have adopted the culture of community, which was never more evident than when four Cousins from our second cohort decided to write a joint grant application – which was immediately accepted and funded.
“Being a part of the Incubator, you learn about organizations that you didn’t even know existed. Being able to reach out and collaborate and do events together, with no ego, has been the greatest experience,” said Dr. Darron Lamkin, founder of Class Matters. “We’re being sought out, not only by potential collaborators, but also by potential funders.”
Similar to the unpredictability of the early days of the pandemic, none of us should be foolish enough to claim to know what lies ahead for our country or our communities during this time. But what I do know is that if we are committed to seeing substantive, sustainable and equitable change for communities of color, efforts like the Northeast Oklahoma City Nonprofit Incubator have a critical role to play in making it happen.
