Since the presidential transition, a flurry of Trump administration executive orders have pared down federal funding for nonprofits and restricted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. One organization attempting to navigate both lines of targeting is the Rhode Island Black Business Association — a group that aims to close the racial wealth gap by providing business development programming to small business owners.
Every January, RIBBA asks for funding packages from their larger company partners that range between $7,500 to $100,000, according to RIBBA’s President and CEO Lisa Ranglin.
But some of RIBBA’s funders say that “their funding pool is smaller” this year, Ranglin said. She added that many partners have delayed their funding decisions to April and reduced financial packages.
“This trend aligns with broader shifts in corporate giving and budget constraints that many nonprofits are experiencing nationwide,” Ranglin wrote in a separate email to The Herald.
Ranglin added that this “lack of commitment” from past funders and supporters pose significant challenges to the survival of the association, which aims to “uplift communities, individuals and business owners that have been left behind” by the racial wealth gap.
“It’s a lot of unknowns,” she added.
In December, RIBBA laid off two employees, leaving the organization with just 11 employees, Ranglin said. The association is strategizing to avoid having to make any more labor cuts.
The situation feels “ridiculous” and “disheartening,” said Oyeniran Oyewale, a graduate of the RIBBA’s Emerging Leaders Development Program and founder of For His Glory Project LLC, a business offering ground transportation services.
The loss of RIBBA development programs would be “devastating,” added Oyewale, who also serves as the RIBBA Alumni Association’s vice president.
Oyewale explained that while RIBBA is unsure “what next year looks like yet,” the organization hopes to “go back to the drawing board” to discuss advocacy and funding issues.
For Lamel Moore, another graduate of the Emerging Leaders program and the President of RIBBA’s Alumni Association, the funding cuts are “disheartening and disappointing.”
“The more leadership programs there are in the state, the better,” Moore said.
Beyond RIBBA, funding cuts are affecting a variety of other nonprofits and organizations across the state. Moore serves on the board of Sojourner House — an organization providing support services to abuse victims — and noted that the group has seen their funding slashed “dramatically.”
But “while it may look doom and gloom,” Moore remains confident in RIBBA’s staffers and the survival of the organization.
“We have not solved the problem that the organization set out to do,” Ranglin said. But “we are on the right side of history, and we’re going to continue to advocate for our clients.”
