Sankofa Fund History

On September 6, 2006 POISE Foundation and Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise (PACE) introduced the concept of an African American giving circle in Pittsburgh.  Partnering with Darryl Lester, Hindsight Consulting, the collaboration shared a goal of bringing together various individuals who could find a common interest(s) in of community concern and pool their resources together to begin to affect change.  to start the day, Darryl, Lucille Dabney, Executive Director of PACE and Mark Lewis, President of POISE were interviewed on the Lynn Hayse Freeland Show to discuss Philanthropy and the Black community.

                                            http://kdka.com/video/?id=20125@kdka.dayport.com  - Part 1

                                            http://kdka.com/video/?id=20126@kdka.dayport.com  - Part 2

After the taping, approximately, 65 people were invited to attend an event held by POISE and PACE at a Black owned Pittsburgh Jazz club to hear from Darryl more about the history of Black philanthropy as well as infomation about the strength and power of giving circles that he has belonged to as well as those he  has helped to form in the South.  Darryl shared a video about philanthropy in the Black community and how our history as a people have been involved in philanthropy in many traditional and nontraditional ways.   Several people expressed an interest to learn more about giving circles. 

Accordingly, on November 6, 2006, an educational meeting on Community Philanthropy, Race & Equity was held at the Rivers Club hosted by POISE.  Approximately twenty-five people attended this follow up meeting that included Darryl Lester as well as the main speaker Linetta Gilbert, Program officer of the Ford Foundation. MS. Gilbert provided additional information on Giving Circles and the Ford Foundation's efforts of developing African American philanthropist in the South and in rural communities. 

On December 12, 2006, the first Pittsburgh Giving Circle (the Circle) Organizational meeting was held at the PACE and POISE Foundation office.  The members viewed a short video from the 2006 Community Investment Network (CIN) Conference about personal and collective giving produced by NCGives, a Raleigh, North Carolina Giving Circle.  Each member talked briefly about their interest in the giving circle and why they wanted to be involved.  Members also began to establish and set goals for the Circle.

On January 16, 2007, Darryl Lester walked the Circle through the "Tree of Life" exercise which helped the group get to know each other on a more personal level and to take steps toward building a "community of givers".  From February through April, the Circle members begain to address critical path issues such as purpose and vision and the structure of the circle began to form.  The founding members also decided to close the membership of the Circle for a period of time to complete the structure.  However, in January three individuals who had heard about the Circle expressed an interest in joining.  After these three members were approved, the Circle membership was officially closed as described above. 

During the time period of February through May, several key items were decided upon.  These included the vision, mission, theory of change, selecting POISE Foundation as the host for the circle's funds, and determining a name for the circle (Sankofa Fund of Southwest PA). 

In June 2007, a delegation of nine Sankofa Fund members attended the National Black Philanthropy Conference held in Washington DC.  Sankofa Fund members were financially supported by CIN.  This conference allowed the members to network with other African Americans involved in philanthropy from across the country as well as internation guests.  In July 2007, two members, Tina Crisp and Mark Lewis, attended a two-day leadership summit in Raleigh, NC hosted by CIN.  This summit brough two members from the various giving circles that belong to the Community Investment Network.  The summit provided both a networking opportunity as well as a chance for the various circles to learn from one another and share best practices.