AbbVie launches expansive effort to address racial inequity

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30928
• Date: 01 February 2021
• Published date: 01 February 2021

FEBRUARY 2021 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

3

© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

pancake mixes that we sent out to them,” she said.

She added, “It was a really nice bonding moment

at the beginning of the call because several of our

board members had made their breakfasts before the

call, so it was a lighter moment for a somber time.”

For Jeannine Gant, chief executive ofcer of Big

Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit, the

nancial impact of the pandemic on her organization

meant keeping board members engaged in fundrais-

ing was most critical. In March, April and May, her

organization usually holds three major fundraisers,

all of which had to be canceled. Some 60% of the

group’s unrestricted funds usually come from these

events, Gant explained, so the organization’s nancial

position was precarious. Thankfully, she said, her

board dove right in.

“In these times of crisis, you really look internally,

and then you look at the next little circle just outside

your core and say, ‘We need you to step up and help

us.’ Our board chair was fantastic at crafting emails

to send out to the board and then sent them personal

thank-you notes,” she said.

“Any board members that represented companies

that provided sponsorships, we really reached out to

them as well,” she said, to see if there were ways to

modify any existing grants, leverage funds or other-

wise move things around to help the organization

meet the needs of the moment.

Her organization also changed the way its staff

and board interacted to make it more agile.

“We used to have quarterly meetings but during

the pandemic we went to weekly 30-minute check-

ins,” she said. “We were going remote, and there was

a lot of uncertainty about what was happening. I

was able to reach out to several board members and

have them—as a part of that check-in—to share their

expertise.”

For example, one board member was an IT special-

ist and led a discussion for the rest on how to leverage

technology for virtual operations.

Another board member who had long worked out

of a home ofce led discussions about the ins and

outs of working from home—which has proven a

little tricky for many people.

These are just a few examples of ways that non-

prots are striving to keep their boards engaged

during the current environment, Brenske said. But

charities that are struggling and looking for help on

this front have a wonderful resource for ideas at their

ngertips—their peers.

“When this rst happened, we asked our board

members to share with us examples from other or-

ganizations that they liked,” Brenske said.

So if they got an email from another organization

that they thought was particularly well done, they

shared it with leadership.

“I had a whole treasure trove of what other or-

ganizations were doing to sort of think, what makes

the most sense for us at the conservancy, and what

are some of the good ideas that are out there for how

people are handling this,” Brenske said.

Friedman also encouraged nonprots to nd in-

spiration from their peers.

“Asking for help is not a sign of weakness,” he said.

“As a leader, asking for help from your board or your

community is a good thing.”

For more information, the panel discussion can be

viewed online at https://vimeo.com/449298989. ■

AbbVie launches expansive effort to address racial inequity

Biopharmaceutical rm Abbvie has committed

$50 million to support health and education op-

portunity in underserved Black communities as

part of a far-reaching effort to address the racial

injustice that spurred protests across the nation

throughout 2020. The company’s new 5-year, $50

million Program to Address Racial Inequities will

focus on:

• Promoting health equity for Black Americans

and other historically underserved populations. On

this front, the foundation will make the following

investments:

• An $8 million grant to the University of Chi-

cago Medicine's Urban Health Initiative to em-

power Chicago's South Side community—three

quarters of which are Black residents— to ad-

vance health equity. The funding will enable local

teams of community health workers to promote

access to care and resources proven to measurably

reduce health disparities, AbbVie said.

• A $10 million grant to Direct Relief to sup-

port the improvement of health care services at

free and charitable clinics and federally qualied

health centers.

• Fostering workforce development opportunities

for Black Americans. The foundation plans to make

two primary investments in this area:

• A $10 million grant to the UNCF Health-

care Diversity Workforce Program, which will

(See INEQUALITY on page 6)