Held every August, Black Philanthropy Month is a global celebration that seeks to “inform, involve, inspire and invest in black philanthropic leadership to strengthen African-American and African-descent giving in all its forms.”  In this episode of For Good, African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis (AALFI) founding members and steering committee members share their personal stories about why black philanthropy matters and how the fund seeks to address community needs going forward.
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Transcription of episode available below.

WHO YOU’RE LISTENING TO
AALFI steering committee members:

* Katasha Butler
* Nickolas Williams
* Nichole Wilson

DISCOVER MORE

* African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis
* Black Philanthropy Month

You’re listening to For Good, Central Indiana Community Foundation’s podcast highlighting stories about passion, purpose, and progress in Central Indiana. At CICF, we believe in creating a community where everyone can reach their full potential, no matter their place, race or identity. This is our community and these are your stories.
Hello and welcome to For Good. I’m Dr. Katasha Butler, a founding member of the African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis, a fund at Central Indiana Community Foundation. The African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis was established in 2019 to promote philanthropy and harness the collective power of African Americans to impact the local African American community. We are a collective philanthropic initiative working to improve life-affirming outcomes for African Americans in our community. And our vision is to inspire a spirit of giving that will uplift and move the social, mental and economic state of African-Americans forward.
Today on For Good, you’ll hear more from me and other founding members of the African American Legacy Fund, who we are, and why we think this is important for our community.
The thing that strikes me the most is that with all of the different things that are impacting our community as a whole, there’s such great disparities amongst the African American population and brown and black people. And so, being a brown and black person, obviously that is disheartening. I don’t know, it just dawned on me one day that there wasn’t a fund, and I knew and had learned that other cities had funds, and I thought, “Why don’t we have one?”.
NICHOLE: I am Nichole. I am vice president of retail health services for Community Health Network here in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I am a founding member and steering committee member of the African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis.
I just feel it’s really important that we as an African American community be a part of the solution in a meaningful way. If these issues are impacting us disproportionately, and our people, that means our family, our friends, our church members, our coworkers, then we have a responsibility to be at the table and have some skin in the game to make it better. I just think that it’s so important for us to be a part of this solution because it hasn’t been solved as of yet, and this is one way that we can collectively come together and do our part in a meaningful way.
My first memory of philanthropy was actually through the church, giving through the church, and I think that’s common in the black community.