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N.B. I use the term ‘Black women’ throughout this article as inclusive of Black women, transgender, non-binary, genderqueer folks, and others who do not hold a cis-male identity. My first interaction with philanthropy came in my late 20s, years after I was arrested and jailed for stealing. Back then, I was straight out of college, away from home, and would take random items from big-box stores. I would return them a few days later for store credit and then use the credit to buy groceries. It was a reliable way to feed myself when in a pinch – which was often – and then one day I was caught. I buried this experience beneath a mountain of shame. I held my breath during background checks and cringed when I was reminded of lost freedoms. Years later, when I began to learn about how the carceral state functions (the formal institutions of criminal justice including incarceration, policing…
