Sep
11
2025
A blog highlighting San Francisco Foundation’s CEO Fred Blackwell’s interview with BMP’s Executive Director Janis Rosheuvel on May 22, 2025
Published by Romana Lee-Akiyama, Senior Director, Institutional Advancement, BMP
“We’re not going to 501(c)3 our way out of this.” – Fred Blackwell
As part of a recent convening with our funder partners, Building Movement Project’s executive director Janis Rosheuvel engaged in conversation with Fred Blackwell, the CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, amongst an intimate audience of other foundation professionals whose primary focus is leadership development. The conversation focused on what philanthropic leadership must look like to meet this moment and help the sector navigate this time.
Blackwell’s family’s long-standing history in social activism set him up for a successful tenure leading a community foundation with a clearly defined agenda focused on racial equity and justice. The Civil Rights era of his grandparents’ and parents’ generations was something he was curious about experiencing firsthand, but he affirmed during this conversation that the current times make it so that he doesn’t have to imagine what it was like.
The leaders of the post-Civil Rights era have not been trained in the same ways, he asserted. Instead, we became nonprofit professionals concerned with social good, who practiced and became skilled at, “creating PowerPoint Presentations, spreadsheets, and drafting memos. We are not trained for the same level of the fight as leaders of earlier generations,” Blackwell reflected.
Our current conditions
The myriad of issues nonprofit CEOs must address, compounded by the decreased pot of funding and resources for them to do the work, underscores the following unpolished truth: non-profit leadership, at the moment, is not an attractive role. BMP’s own Race to Lead findings affirm the unique challenges for leaders in this moment. New pressures from the federal government force CEOs to divert their attention away from their regular challenging duties to urgent attacks on the sector, and sometimes personal and professional exposure for being at the helm. In addition, participating in coalitions to protect and advocate for state and local budgets that are being negotiated is just as important – especially for leaders who are a part of the community-driven nonprofit sector.
Blackwell sees the sector as being in crisis. He noted that, not only is there a diminishment of public dollars to address social issues, but private dollars are also being retrenched. Philanthropy is in the crosshairs in ways that it has not been before.
So what do we do now?
CEO Fred Blackwell’s advice to those in philanthropy was directive, which felt necessary given the moment of urgency that we are in:
Show up in ways that you have not before.
We cannot wait for someone else to provide the leadership we are looking for. This is our practice, our opportunity.
Build strong teams.
Strong teams are critical for leading sustainably. Build your own strong team, and simultaneously fund the organizations you support to build their own strong teams.
Be generous with your support.
Build out support for your grantee organizations that incorporates coaching, mentoring, and other necessary tools. Fund these supports as if they are required for the role, and not as a luxury.
Provide more general operating support and multi-year support. Being generous also extends to how you hold leaders of color – especially women of color – in the light, instead of looking for the one career-ending mistake. Illustrative of the experience of what so many other leaders of color have felt in their careers, Blackwell shared the following: “I’ve always felt like I was one mistake away from being sent to Siberia.” Developing safe spaces for people to grow and learn are critical. These are the structural changes that need to be made.
Be clear.
When there is so much uncertainty happening in the world, offer clarity. Clarity is kindness. When speaking with grantees on what you can and cannot offer, be clear.
Don’t hide – it’s too late.
In identifying what philanthropy could be doing to respond more cohesively to the moment, Blackwell urged the gathering not to spend time trying to change your messaging. Most likely, foundations have already spent so much time refining grantmaking priorities and strategizing best ways to make an impact. That information is and has already been public. Making superficial changes to the way that you talk about yourselves on your websites is not a good use of time. It’s too late – they already know who we are, and they are coming for us no matter what. The moment is calling us to be courageous.
Don’t worry about being perfect.
Within progressive circles, there has been some lamentation that we are not in full alignment on strategy, messaging, and resources on how to protect the sector and those who are on the frontlines of preserving the social fabric and civil rights. Some may ruminate on the question of how do we prepare for a fight when our movements and philanthropy are not aligned?
Blackwell reminded us that the other side is not in formation either. Do not let perfect be the enemy of the good. This is the time for us to pay attention to our own moral compasses. Be ready for the critique we may receive when we take action, but don’t let it wither our leadership.
