Five Year Lookback Study

The Black Equity Initiative Inland Empire (BEI-IE) is a coalition of Black-led and Black-empowering organizations working to end systemic racism and build political and economic power for Black communities across Riverside and San Bernardino counties. In 2020, the Inland Empire Funders Alliance (IEFA) launched the Black Equity Fund, now the Mobilizing and Edifying for Collective Community Advancement (M.E.C.C.A.) IE Fund, which has raised and granted more than $5.3 million over five years to Black-led organizations focused on systems change and power building. The Fund is fiscally sponsored by the Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF) and managed by Social Goods Solutions, which provides initiative design, grants management, network engagement, and capacity building. Through a participatory grantmaking model led by a community advisory committee, grantees receive funding along with structured learning, technical assistance, and peer connection.

BEI-IE partnered with Engage R+D to look back across the Fund's first five years and document what has been achieved, what has shifted, and what the broader ecosystem has learned. This report draws on a grantee survey, grantee focus groups, funder interviews, and reflections from Fund Managers. It explores grantee readiness and capacity, how grantees understand systems change and power building, the Fund's impact on organizations and the region, trust-based philanthropy in practice, and opportunities to strengthen Black-led nonprofit infrastructure in the Inland Empire.