Year five: Spitfire's Pro Bono Fund stands firm in supporting diversity, equity and inclusion

The Supreme Court’s decision to end race conscious admissions in 2023 quickly threw the racial justice field into a state of turbulence. The move was a calculated attack to pick apart and unravel decades of work to advance diversity, equity and inclusion for all identities and backgrounds, drive wedges in the racial justice movement and defund social and racial justice programs. Since then, a barrage of legislation, litigation and threatening letters have complicated organizations’ efforts as they maneuver the changing landscape. 

Spitfire remains dedicated to supporting movements that advance racial, economic and social justice across the country. Since expanding the Pro Bono Fund last year to $150,000 and implementing a new cohort experience, we continue to find new ways to adhere to our roots of bolstering organizations with a long-standing, demonstrated commitment to supporting Black communities and advancing social justice who most need strategic communications counsel and support. As the Pro Bono Fund enters its fifth year, we’re standing firm in our values. 

We created the Pro Bono Fund in 2020, during a major racial reckoning in this country, to center the voices of people who are most impacted by systemic racial injustice. At that time, many organizations and corporations made new pledges to implement diversity-conscious programs, create racial equity departments and task forces; and reassess their hiring, funding and business practices in support of diversity, equity and inclusion. Now, a swell of opposition against that equitable and inclusive future is trying, with great force, to push us in the opposite direction.

There are dozens of bills across the nation targeting diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education alone. Attacks and threats target everyone from schools to corporations to law firms. This includes efforts to ban books about race and racism; government and corporate sectors shutting down diversity, equity and inclusion offices and departments; and state legislators across the country proposing bills that would strip funding.

This year’s Pro Bono Fund seeks to support organizations whose capacity has been hindered by the recent rise in attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion in their states. Our hope is that in doing so, we can continue supporting organizations working to create more equity within and outside of systems that were designed to limit communities of color from equal opportunity in this country.

Since the Pro Bono Fund’s creation, we’ve had the opportunity to work hand in hand with more than a dozen organizations from across the country with a demonstrated commitment to supporting Black communities. For the past four years, we focused the fund on supporting organizations that are using arts and music, strategic advocacy campaigns and direct community engagement to: 

• Drive social change, racial equity and LGBTQIA+ justice.

• Create strategic communication approaches for organizations working to support LGBTQIA+ communities.

• Meet the needs of Black communities in our nation’s South.

• Develop tools to address environmental racism and food insecurity.

• Support sustainable housing options for Black communities.

• Ensure young children have deeply fulfilling school experiences.

• Create solutions to optimize maternal and infant health and caregivers’ well-being in the wake of SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade.

We’ll begin this year’s fund with a series of orientation and training sessions in January, after which each selected organization will work directly with a team of dedicated Spitfires on a tailored scope of work during February and March 2025. Our hope is that by the end of the 2025 Pro Bono experience, participants will have stronger communications capacity, relationships with peers across the country, and customized communications tools to support their work throughout the year and beyond.

If you are part of a social justice organization in need of communications support, have a demonstrated commitment to advancing racial equity and have encountered challenges related to these mounting attacks, we encourage you to apply by Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, by 8 p.m. PT at this link: bit.ly/Spitfire2025ProBono.

If you have any questions, please email probono@spitfirestrategies.com.