(above photo) LJ Abraham and Tameka Greer attend the Powered by Us Symposium on August 14 at BRIDGES. Abraham is the founder of 901 Community Fridges, and Greer is the executive director of Memphis Artists for Change (photo credit: Community Foundation of Greater Memphis).
This blog was written by Veronica Jamison, Vice President of Philanthropic Services at the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis
This Friday, Memphis gives again.
Give 8/28 is a national day of giving held every year on August 28—celebrated during Black Philanthropy Month—dedicated to supporting Black-led, Black-benefiting organizations. Here in Memphis, that means rallying behind the nonprofits that strengthen neighborhoods, advance education, create economic opportunities, improve health outcomes, and invest in our youth.
Why it matters
Black-led nonprofits are often on the front lines of our community’s most pressing challenges, yet nationally they operate with 24 percent smaller revenues than white-led organizations. Fewer receive foundation support each year. Fewer still receive the flexible, general operating dollars that let an organization plan for the long term instead of just getting through the month.
That’s not an accident. Since 2021, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis has made Black Philanthropy Month part of an ongoing commitment—not a one-off—toward a bigger goal: making Memphis a thought and action leader in the Black philanthropy movement.
Memphis, a predominantly Black city, has thousands of nonprofits. Between federal funding cuts and the rollback of DEI initiatives nationwide, there has never been a more urgent time to move our dollars toward the efforts our community itself deems essential: work led, often, by people who’ve turned their passion into labor.
Every gift counts
Through Give 8/28, donors can explore a directory of more than 300 Memphis-area Black-led nonprofits working in education, health, economic development, the arts, youth development, housing, and community services. Somewhere on that list is a mentoring program building confidence in young girls on the north side of town. A workforce initiative helping someone land their first real job. A health clinic filling a gap no one else is filling.
Participation matters as much as the amount. A gift of any size adds to the collective—and when Memphians show up around one purpose, small acts of generosity become something powerful.
How to give
Visit CFGM.org/BlackLed and give directly by credit card or digital wallet to the nonprofit(s) of your choice, searchable by impact area. Fund holders at the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, Christian Community Foundation, or Jewish Foundation of Memphis can recommend a grant straight from their fund. However you give, every dollar reaches the organization you choose.
Memphis has a habit of standing behind the people doing the work. This Friday, let’s do it again.
Visit CFGM.org/give828 to learn more, discover participating nonprofits, and join the movement. Because when Memphis gives, Memphis grows.
About the Author
Veronica Jamison serves as Vice President of Philanthropic Services at the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, where she is a key member of the Foundation’s leadership team. In this role, she leads donor relations, cultivation, and stewardship for the largest charitable grantmaker in the Mid-South, with her team overseeing more than 1,200 individuals, families, and companies representing approximately $1 billion in charitable assets.
