Hey there, welcome back to Missions to Movements. August is Black Philanthropy Month, and this episode dropped just the week before. So consider this your kickoff. My guest today is Casey Patterson. She's the founder and chief architect of Social Goods Solutions and also the founder of the Black Equity Collective. She has done incredible work raising and leveraging over $86 million for Black-led organizations in California. Now, today we talk about funding ecosystems instead of just organizations. Why a lot of the times funders will preach collaboration, but how do we truly practice it? And an incredible study of the Black Equity Collective. This study showcases 217 Black-led nonprofits that employed over 4,000 people and generate $335 million in salaries across the state. These organizations, many led by Black women, are economic engines, truly driving critical work in health, safety, and racial justice, despite, as we've all heard before, chronic underfunding. So leaning into this conversation with Casey, she is a wealth of knowledge and happy Black Philanthropy Month.
SPEAKER_02We have 65 organizations that are working across 16 different issue areas. The way in which funders work in silo and CEOs work in silo, it means sometimes issues have to be funded in silo. But people don't live single issue lives. We want to engage with funders who are interested in thinking about how do they work more deeply with organizations in community? How do they actually become equity practitioners? How do we actually begin to build the practices and the muscle memory so that we have the infrastructure to really do community co-design and to really fund with community organizations as values-based partners?
SPEAKER_01Casey, I am thrilled to have you on the podcast today. And you have such a fascinating background. You left a long nonprofit career in 2014 to find social good solutions. What was it that you saw and like convinced you that we just need something different in this space? And then also, it's also a risk to do something new and different. What was like the genesis? Like, take us back to those moments. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on the show today, Dana. It's really nice to be here. And thank you for asking about my origin story because it's always good to be able to sort of go back and recall your why. And for me, in the early days, it wasn't so much about what I saw in terms of what a firm needed to be. I really needed for myself to have a different kind of presence in the workplace. I at the time was a high executive at a mid-sized level nonprofit organization doing a lot of sort of grassroots intermediary grant making, coalition building sort of work. And at the same time, I was raising two young children. And so for me, what I needed was to be able to have
space to think about how my interests, how my family, how my passions, how my skills were really going to align toward things that I cared about. And what that eventually led to was the risk of starting a sole practitioner consulting firm, if you will. And the real risk was my husband said to me, okay, we'll give it a go for a year. And if it doesn't work out, then you'll just go get a job. And I thought that that was an entirely fair, calculated risk to be able to take to see what sort of difference I could make in the world, sort of given my interest and what I thought was a unique work that I wanted to contribute. After about four or five years of being really a sole practitioner, that's really when the emergence of the firm really started to take shape. And where I really started to see that what was missing in the sector, in philanthropy in particular, what was missing was the perspective of Black women who had both professional and lived experience in community, who understood how to translate between community and philanthropy, and could bridge the kind of cultural divides that exist between the philanthropic sector and the nonprofit sector? And that is really the unique perspective that the firm brings to the work.
SPEAKER_01Within that four to five year time period you talked about, was there something that happened that made this realization just like bubble to the surface more? What created that dynamic shift at that time?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, it was really interesting because two things had happened, sort of two moments, if you will, happened. One, I was hired by a small, sort of independent family foundation, not even a full foundation. It was a fund within a family foundation. At the time, this is when we had a heightened awareness that's starting to come into our American consciousness around the killings of unarmed black men. And they, as a set of Jewish funders, really felt compelled to contribute their philanthropy toward a solution, but they didn't know what to do, they didn't know how to do it. They convened a couple of conversations, but ultimately were a little bit stuck. And so they knew and understood that they needed to bring somebody in who had community credibility, somebody who could help them understand what was the best place for them to enter without being performative and to enter without being exploited, and how to help have those sensitive conversations with them. So for me, that was a moment where I started to see that my personal brand was one of a bridge builder. The other moment really came when I started working for a donor
collaborative. I was hired by a donor collaborative here in Los Angeles that was focused on early childhood and the investments in early childhood. And what really attracted that donor collaborative to me again was my experience working directly in community and with community and how to bridge and translate the language, the culture, the dynamics of community into a philanthropic space, and vice versa. And that's when I started to see that, oh, this is a real missing skill set in the sector, and how to actually connect people and relationships that don't have the same cultural identity, you know, from an ethnic perspective, but also don't have the same professional identity, even though they may swim in the same pool, they're not actually in the same lane. And so, you know, how can I sort of see my skill sets as helping folks to connect and bridge across their own differences?
SPEAKER_01Amazing. And you have done that. I just want to share for everyone there was an amazing stat that you shared that is more than just a statistic because of the power of the impact that it provides. That Social Good Solutions, do you call it SGS?
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay, has raised over 86 million for Black led organizations. And that is incredible. So, one, I want to applaud you for that and for going out on your own. Thank you, husband, for being supporting, but you're like, I got this. It's gonna be and then look at what's been built. Can you walk us through with this? How do you think about the difference between just raising money and actually funding an ecosystem and the distinction of what that looks like when you're in practice working with orgs?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing to think about is that there is no organization that does its work in silo, that there is a natural ecosystem to the work that already exists, right? You know this, right, Dana. So oftentimes in fundraising, it's about the individual organization and what the individual organization needs in order to fund its programs, fund its staff, do its work, its long-term sustainability. But when you think about the broader ecosystem, it's really about not only what do I need, but what do my partners need? You know, how can I be strong if my partners are weak? And I really learned this lesson directly from the Black-led organizations that were funded as part of that initiative that I just talked about. It was called the JIB Fund, who supported that work. And so I really learned that lesson from them where they said to me, as sort of the facilitator and the organizer of that initiative, that we cannot be strong
if our partners are not strong. And so that really turned a switch for me and starting to think about a broader ecosystem of not only fundraising, but a broader ecosystem of partners that are moving toward a collective vision. And how do we fund a collective vision and give people the agency to operate within their skill sets, within their expertise as part of a broader ecosystem of work?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love that. I think hopefully we've been breaking down the silos concept and that competition and leaning more into that collaboration to raise everyone together, especially with how tumultuous it's been in our country and really world in recent years, really ever since the pandemic. But there's always been ebbs and flows of that in the world. I love the concept of you talked about collective, something I talk a lot about is masterminds. So being part of groups of peers that want to share and support you and challenge you and together find solutions to problems. Again, not in silos, but collectively, just like opening up the floodgates and being able to be honest and to open and share where challenges might be or wins and be like, this works great. Let me introduce you to XYZ partnership.
SPEAKER_02I wanted to say, Dana, to that point, like there really has to be safety, right, in that space to be able to allow for that kind of collaboration and that sort of information sharing. Because the way our sector is set up, unfortunately, it actually drives competition more than it drives collaboration, because you have winners and losers and grants. And so, really, the way to kind of break through that, particularly for black-led organizations, because you know, we exist in a sector where oftentimes you will be either the one or the two sort of black-led organization that gets funded. But when you are smaller, grassroots, lesser-known organization, it's really hard to pierce that veil and sort of break through those barriers. And so there's not an incentive so much for collaboration as the incentives are driven toward competition. And so, what I find, what I have found, is that it's really incumbent upon us to actually break the mental modes in philanthropy because I think folks in community are more natural collaborators, but are sort of forced into competition because of the way grantmaking works. And so, if we can help funders sort of break their own mental modes around collaboration, then I think we're gonna all get to a better place together.
SPEAKER_01Do you think you've seen progress in that work in the most recent years? I think so.
SPEAKER_02And you know where I've seen the most progress is actually with funders who are partnering with each other, particularly in this last year. I think, you know, pool funds have always been a thing. People will come together around shared interests or shared geographies and things of that nature. But in the last year, when the very sector itself has been under threat, we have seen a level of collaboration amongst funders and amongst donors that I've never seen before. And it's always been very interesting to me that funders will say, well, we'll, and to community-based organizations, well, you should collaborate, you should collaborate. But they don't collaborate with each other oftentimes. And so they're not actually modeling what they want to see in the sector. But that's really shifted in the past year, and I think it's shifted both out of necessity, but it's also shifted because we're at a point where we actually have to innovate, and none of us will survive if we don't work together and figure out how to collaborate through the chaos.
SPEAKER_01That's right. We are at a tipping point of things needing to change at the infrastructure level of the sector.
SPEAKER_02100%.
SPEAKER_01Can you tell us a little bit about speaking of collectives, the Black Equity Initiative, how it became the collective and really pioneered it and how that's evolved the work as well?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So the initiative was that initial work that I talked about where I was hired by this set of Jewish siblings who wanted to do philanthropy different and really wanted to contribute. I wouldn't say intervene, but contribute in terms of how to make a difference around the issue of the killing of unarmed black men. So they funded that work for four years. And I was really the strategic leader who organized and operationalized that work from start to finish. And what ended up happening was there was a natural tendency on both their end and on the end of the grantees to want to bring others into the space. And so what they were looking for was a way to actually create space for others to participate in the work. And so it sort of started to create this natural energy toward collaboration. And it meant that we had to figure out well, if they didn't want to be the only funder, not because they didn't want to fund it, but because they wanted to create space for other funders to come in and be part of the work. And if we had these 15
organizations that were saying to me as the lead consultant, it is not enough that this funder understands the importance of funding Black-led and Black specific work. We actually need others in philanthropy to get it too. So, how can we encourage them to encourage their peers to get more involved in this work? And so that was really the beginning seeds of the formation of the Black Equity Collective and how it became as part of its mission to actually join funders and communities together. What I have observed, and what I'm sure you know to be true, is that oftentimes funders will talk to each other in silos from talking with communities. And oftentimes communities will talk with each other in silos of talking with funders. And oftentimes that's done logically for good reasons. So, for example, communities will say, Well, we don't want to be under the funder gaze, or conversations we need to have outside of the funder gaze. Then you'll have funders who say, Well, we don't want to raise unfair expectations by talking with organizations and talking with grantees. And so what ends up happening is these silos, while well-intentioned, sometimes they create separation. They create relational separation. And so what we needed to do was to figure out how to break the relational separation between Black-led organizations and philanthropy because it's often the relationship that leads to funding.
SPEAKER_01100%. What were some of the things that you put in place to help do that? Because I'm sure there are others in their communities that are like, oh my gosh, like she is speaking my truth. How have you figured out ways to kind of work through that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, the first thing is that you spoke to infrastructure, right? Like you actually have to create an infrastructure for collaboration to happen between funders and CBOs. And what that infrastructure looks like is that there has to be one of value around mutuality. You have to understand fundamentally that philanthropy and community must coexist. Funders have to fund CBOs, and CBOs have to give money from funders. You know, so there is a natural symbiotic relationship that exists between philanthropy and communities, that you need infrastructure, you need a value set around mutuality to be able to deconstruct so that you can see points of shared interest and opportunities for relationship building and connection. So that was number one. The other thing we needed to do was to really think about, and I often talk about the role of being a translator in these worlds. And the analogy that I often like to use is it's as if you were saying hi, hola, and chow. You're basically saying the same thing, but the cultural context in which you say it matters. You need somebody
who understands, particularly, you need someone who understands that chow might be hello, but it also might be goodbye. And so, what's the context in which it's hi versus goodbye? It's important. You know, it's important, right? And so being willing to be that kind of cultural translator between philanthropy and community has really been essential. And creating the space for both sort of sides of this symbiotic relationship to share space, to share opportunities, to engage in thought partnership together and to really see the value of partnership as co-equals.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. How does, and I don't want to like leave it for the end to ask you this, but if someone's interested in being a part of this collective on either side of the work that you do, how can they do that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's such a great question. So funders can certainly reach out and talk to me about how to join the collective. Our Black-led organizations, our work right now is really centered in Los Angeles and three counties in Los Angeles. And so we have a network of 65 Black-led organizations. One of the things that's really important to name about that, and hope we get back to this issue of how do we de-silo, you know, in just a moment. But we have 65 organizations that are working across 16 different issue areas. And that's important because, again, the way in which funders work in silo and CDOs work in silo, it means sometimes issues have to be funded in silo, but people don't live single issue lives. And so we want, you know, we want to engage with funders who are interested in thinking about how do they work more deeply with organizations in community? How do they actually become equity practitioners? I like to think of us as a teaching hospital around equity and justice. So, how do we actually begin to build the practices and the muscle memory so that we have the infrastructure to really do community co-design and to really fund with community organizations as values-based partners. So that's on the philanthropic side of things. And on the CBO side of things, again, right now we're focused in the Los Angeles area, but we do technical assistance outside of LA. And so if organizations are interested in thinking about how they might do a model like this in their region, please reach out. We would love to talk to you about how to take some of the lessons that we've learned and apply them into your local context.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. LA is my old stomping grounds. That's actually where I first started my business back in 2017. So we were both on the precipice of doing some work in 2017 in LA. And I worked with so many amazing nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles. So after we record this conversation, we'll have to chat about that. That's right.
SPEAKER_02That's right. We've cutting our teeth at the same time in this consulting world.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Always, always. Now, okay, so I do want to talk about your experience and the brand that you have built as a thought leader in that space. I mean, you have awards and board seats. You've been featured at the Aspen Institute, which is incredible. How has that evolved for you? I mean, also speaking from a business owner over the years, has there been strategy to it in the way that you show up publicly, or has that also shifted as the organization has evolved?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm gonna get really personal here, Dana. Today is the nine-year anniversary of my mother's passing.
SPEAKER_01Wow. I'm honored that you're even on a podcast today for that. Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_02She would want me to be here. She would want me to be here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And when I think about this question, I really think about her because when she died, she died suddenly. I actually wrote a post about this on LinkedIn today. She died suddenly. And I didn't have a chance to say goodbye. I didn't have a chance to say I love you or thank you or any of the things that you want in sort of those final moments. And I was really not only in deep grief, but I was also in deep stress. And the deep stress was because I knew I was gonna have to write her obituary. And the one thing that my mother always really cared about was what people said at the end of someone's life. And the stress that I had was in what would she want me to say about her life? And I happened to dig in her pocket, in her purse that I had with me at the time. And unbeknownst to me, I pulled out this piece of paper that was folded and ripped, and on it were these words, my legacy. And there were three things that were written.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02And that always stuck with me because I never knew anybody except for her, who walked around with a piece of paper articulating what they wanted their legacy to be. And that always stuck with me. So when you asked this question about my own personal brand, what it really forced me to think about was the question that my mom asked herself: What do you want to do with the time that you get on earth? And how do you want your life to outlive you? And when I think about that question, it really drove me to really three things. And so the opportunities that I pursue, the fellowships, you know, being invited to be part of the Aspen Institute, the boards that I sit on, they are all connected to a broader purpose that I have and that I foresee in terms of how my legacy and how I want to spend my life and how I want my life to outload me. And so I really think about how do these opportunities either reinforce or distract from what I want my purpose to be. And that's how I really anchor myself, you know, in the decision to say yes and to say no to something.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I think that is something that everyone should follow. A, I think oftentimes right in this work, I was just talking about this. We're constantly on the go, on the go, on the go. And to actually sit and pause and think about that question for ourselves and to use that as yes no when we're so busy and figure out is it leading us towards the yes path or is it on the no side? And I had a question that was posed to me back in 2021 that was around like, what do you want to be essentially kind of the same thing, known for to leave behind? It was a profound switch. It completely changed everything about what my business was focused in, how I support nonprofits and organizations that I love and believe in. So that was so beautiful. And thank you for sharing that and to feel like you're in a safe space to be able to share that with others.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it's really how I got to the 86 million, to be honest. You know, it's because I was saying yes to things that were leading me in the path that were facilitating the direction of my purpose, and that's how we got there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so I really am sort of a proof point, and I thank my mom today and every day for being an example of what it meant to live on and in purpose.
I love that. Go, mom. Go, mom. Go, mom. I have one last question for you. I could ask you like a million more questions. There's a stat that was shared that nearly 600,000, tell me if I'm getting this right, 600,000 black women have left or been pushed out of the workforce since February of 2025. And I know that there's also big numbers around childcare for women in the workforce as well. What do you want? And I know there's also a massive, this is very public, massive discrepancy towards funding for Black-led organizations as well. Floyd Jones is a really good friend of mine that founded Back Black, that also provides Grant if you're familiar with Floyd. He's incredible. What message would you want, whether it's a funder listening right now, somebody on a nonprofit board listening right now, or a leader listening right now, that they could do differently in support of this moment that we're in?
SPEAKER_02The one thing I would say is that I want to channel my really good friend, Revin Ben McBride, who reminds me that black organizations are leaders and not leaders. And so I think that is the one reframe I would want philanthropy, boards, nonprofit organizations who are looking to partner to really think differently about when we consider the work of Black-led organizations. We are often talked about from a very deficit perspective about the capacities we don't have, the capacities we need to build. Instead of focusing on the strengths that we bring, a really quick story. Two years ago, the Black Equity Collective launched a survey to study the economic impact of Black-led organizations on California's economy. We had about 220 Black-led organizations across the state complete that survey that represents about a third of all Black-led organizations in the state of California. Wow. Two-thirds, Dana, two-thirds of Black-led orgs are run by Black women. And what we found was that Black women, these leaders, have created over 4,000 jobs, have paid over 335 million dollars.
SPEAKER_01Not shocked that it's women in control.
SPEAKER_02$335 million in salaries. And when you look at who they're hiring, over 71% of the respondents said that they have hired someone who has been system impacted. And so when you are investing in an organization that is led by a black woman, you are not only investing in her leadership, you are investing in the ability to provide jobs for people who are traditionally left out of the workforce. You are investing in providing a community, an economic base for the community. You are investing in what is so much bigger than just that leader. And we as Black women, we hold the responsibility of legacy, not only understanding that it's the people who came before us who opened doors for us, but it's also our job to open doors for people who are coming behind us. And we bring that responsibility into every workplace that we're in, whether it's public or private. And so understanding that we are committed to a broader purpose other than our own personal wealth, other than our own personal economic sustainability. We are committed to a community. That is the value that we bring, and that's what makes us leaders and not leaders.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. I mean, I'm not shocked at the stats. There's definitely a discrepancy around women leaders in the nonprofit sector as a whole. And I can only imagine that that's even more impacted when you're looking at Black-led organizations from things that I've heard from Floyd and from other friends
in the space. This has been incredible. Casey, where can people learn more about your work? Where can they connect with you directly?
SPEAKER_02So LinkedIn is my platform of choice. Please find both me personally and Social Good Solutions as well as the Black Equity Collective, all on LinkedIn. You can find our websites as well, socialgoodsolutions.com and black equitycollective.org. And again, just thank you so much. I really appreciate the conversation and the ability just to talk about this and to honor my mom. Thank you for giving me the space to honor my mom today.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you're so welcome. It was my honor. Thank you so much. And I think everyone should just like rewind, go back to that, listen to you say that all again, and really allow us to journal to sit with it. We move through conversations so fast sometimes. We're in the car and we're busy, we're busy, busy. But let's just like sit with it for a second and actually think about in your work and to hopefully bring this message to your team. I think this is a really good team-wide conversation to have people listen and to be able to actually talk about it and circle up together. So, Casey, thank you for making those further community conversations happen. Thank you, Dana. Have a beautiful day. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of Missions to Movement. If you enjoyed our conversation and found it helpful, I would love for you to take a moment to leave a review for everyone listening. Your feedback helps us reach more change makers like you to continue bringing impactful stories and strategies to the show. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button too so you'll never miss an episode. And until next time, keep turning your mission into a movie.