Black History Month: 8 Nonprofits That Are Advocating For Racial Justice

KindfulFebruary 19, 2021

Protestors holding up Black Lives Matter signs

This Black History Month, we’re proud to highlight the innovative and impactful work of these Kindful customers. Their missions are varied—from helping kids geek out with technology to telling an overlooked history of what we know of basketball to helping those struggling with mental illness—but their causes are all worthy of your time and support.

On this page, you’ll find their missions, the areas of impact they serve, and ways to support their important work. You’ll also find diversity, equity, and inclusion resources for nonprofits below.

Cave Canem: A Home For Black Poetry

Collage of people of color with text overlay Cave Canem: A Home For Black Poetry

Mission: Founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape, Cave Canem Foundation is a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.

Impacting: The Arts

Headquarters in: Brooklyn, NY

How to support Cave Canem

Learn more about Cave Canem

African American Policy Forum

Protestors holding sign that says Black Women and Girls Lives Matter

Mission: The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) is an innovative think tank that connects academics, activists and policy-makers to promote efforts to dismantle structural inequality. They utilize new ideas and innovative perspectives to transform public discourse and policy. They promote frameworks and strategies that address a vision of racial justice that embraces the intersections of race, gender, class, and the array of barriers that disempower those who are marginalized in society. AAPF is dedicated to advancing and expanding racial justice, gender equality, and the indivisibility of all human rights, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Impacting: Policy

Headquarters in: New York, NY

How to support African American Policy Forum

Learn more about African American Policy Forum

Association of Black Cardiologists


Mission: Founded in 1974, the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc., (ABC) is a nonprofit organization with an international membership of over 1,900 health professionals, lay members of the community (Community Health Advocates), corporate members, and institutional members. The ABC is dedicated to eliminating the disparities related to cardiovascular disease in all people of color. Today, the ABC’s public and private partnerships continue to increase their impact in communities across the nation.

Impacting: Healthcare

Headquarters in: Washington, D.C.

How to support Association of Black Cardiologists

Learn more about Association of Black Cardiologists

Black Fives


Mission: The Black Fives Foundation works to research, preserve, showcase, teach, and honor the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball. Their efforts aim to conserve narratives and artifacts of the pre-NBA Black basketball experience, celebrate early African American basketball artifacts, encourage understanding of early African American basketball history as an essential cultural genre, and advocate for the recognition of early African American basketball pioneers.

Impacting: Sports

Headquarters in: Greenwich, CT

How to support Black Fives

Learn more about Black Fives Foundation

Depressed While Black

Logo for Depressed While Black

Mission: Imadé (ee-MAH-day), the founder of Depressed While Black®, is a writer and mental health advocate. She is a suicide attempt survivor who lives with clinical depression and borderline personality disorder. Imadé first developed Depressed While Black as her 2015 Columbia University Non-Fiction Creative Writing MFA thesis. Depressed While Black has grown into an online community, an in-progress book, and a 501(c)3 nonprofit that donates Black-affirming personal care items to psychiatric patients. Depressed While Black envisions a world where people of African descent heal from severe depression through Black-affirming mental health support and advocacy.

Impacting: Mental Health

How to support Depressed While Black

Learn more about Depressed While Black

Geeking Out Kids of Color

Teacher guiding child in writing computer code on a laptop

Mission: Geeking Out Kids of Color’s mission is the liberation of youth of color through technology and mentorship, by developing decolonized tech education programs to nurture community leaders of change.

Impacting: Youth

Headquarters in: Seattle, WA

How to support Geeking Out Kids of Color

Learn more about Geeking Out Kids of Color

NAACP Spokane

Grayscale image showing protestors with banner that says Spokane Branch 1137 NAACP

Mission: The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate raced-based discrimination. They envision a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.

Impacting: Systemic Inequality

Headquarters in: Spokane, WA

How to support NAACP Spokane

Learn more about NAACP Spokane

BEAM


Mission: BEAM is a collective of advocates, yoga teachers, artists, therapists, lawyers, religious leaders, teachers, psychologists and activists committed to the emotional/mental health and healing of Black communities. Their mission is to remove the barriers that Black people experience getting access to or staying connected with emotional health care and healing. They do this through education, training, advocacy and the creative arts.

Impacting: Mental health

Headquarters in: Los Angeles, CA

How to support BEAM

Learn more about BEAM

Diversity, equity, and inclusion resources for nonprofit organizations

DEI nonprofit blog posts

DEI nonprofit webinars

DEI nonprofit templates

DEI nonprofit podcasts

For more blog posts, webinars, templates, and podcasts, we recommend checking out Bloomerang’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion resources.

Schedule a live demo with our partner Bloomerang, and we’ll show you how easy it is to create and automate reports, utilize online and offline fundraising tools, quickly integrate and access all your data, and ultimately create more time to engage your donors.

Filed Under:   Insights