It could not be clearer in those moments how firmly engrained white supremacy is in all the structures of our nation. The response from law enforcement at the Capitol was unrecognizable from the over-policing that occurs in many of the communities we serve and represent. The upswell of white supremacists came from across our country and from nearly every community. We at Maryland Philanthropy Network stand with our colleagues and leaders across the country in calling for change. Our communities and our future depend on it.

The global reach of Covid and its staying power both as a killer disease and an economic menace attracted a philanthropic response of $20.2 billion last year, more than double the amount given to the previous top 10 disasters combined, according to preliminary estimates released Wednesday. For many nonprofit leaders, however, the true measure of philanthropy’s response to both the pandemic and the racial-justice uprisings that followed the killing of George Floyd in May will be in whether foundations and other donors continue the less restrictive approaches to grant making they adopted during the pandemic’s early weeks.