Message from the
Board Chair

As inaugural Board Chair and an original founder of Black Opportunity Fund, I am filled with wonder and pride in seeing how the original audacious idea we envisioned has come to life, and the tremendous impact we have achieved in such a short time. At BOF our connection to community is paramount. We take very seriously, our role as stewards of the community trust. Since inception until today, we remain guided by intentional and meaningful engagement. BOF continues to be action oriented as we continue to create impact by supporting both social and economic outcomes for Black communities.

Despite the current and emerging challenges within the for-profit and non-profit sectors, and as we begin to see negative push-back to much of the forward momentum gained in terms of equity since the George Floyd Awakening, we persistently strive to foster trust among the communities we serve across Canada, as well as with our sponsors, donors, and stakeholders, as we diligently execute on our mandate and mission.

I think back to the genesis of Black Opportunity Fund, at an X Mas gathering of incredibly accomplished Black professionals in December 2019. The convening was curated by my now departed dear friend, and advisor to many, Michael Carter, who commented on “the brilliance in the room.” That gathering quickly turned to discussions regarding how these accomplished Black leaders could use their networks, resources and influence collectively, to catalyze socioeconomic empowerment of Canada’s Black communities. That led to a follow up gathering on March 3rd 2020, hosted at the newly launched hotel of Isaac Olowalafe of Dream Maker Ventures, of a community think-tank then dubbed ‘A Common North,’ named for a discussion paper I presented as a community call to action. Expert sub-committees were struck to explore strategies around health, education, wealth creation, entrepreneurship, employment, criminal justice, arts & culture.

Then just a few weeks later…the global pandemic hit, providing the opportunity for laser like focus and intense on-line collaboration. The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for Opportunity. And out of this crisis, literally sprung Black Opportunity. The police murder of George Floyd and the global awakening to the reality that Anti-Black racism literally kills, spurred even greater urgency, with the leadership of co-founder Dennis Mitchell of Starlight Capital. And the rest is history.

As we set up our disruptive and unique model to catalyze socio-economic empowerment of Black people, we prioritized as paramount, our commitment to the highest level of accountability, transparency, ethics, and good governance. We recognize that these principles are essential for building trust – with community, with funders, with government – and thus we hold ourselves to the highest standards and are establishing our own gold standards in this important regard.

Our commitment to meaningful community engagement is also a cornerstone principal, as we continue to demonstrate with the many important tables at which we sit, as it relates to advocacy and policy change related to housing, healthcare, education, entrepreneurship, Justice and wealth creation for Black communities, as well as our regular online town halls, on key issues relevant to improving outcomes for Black people in Canada in our priority focus areas.

At Black Opportunity Fund, we operate at the speed of trust, ensuring that our approach consistently delivers impact. Over the past year, we’ve achieved significant milestones in supporting and engaging with our community, and we take immense pride in these accomplishments.

On behalf of the Board of BOF, I am again deeply proud to say that we continue to create a disruptive new kind of philanthropic organization. The traditional philanthropic model has shown itself unable or unwilling to challenge and overcome the generational issues faced in our communities. We are happy to engage within the charitable context, but we also bring our intention to re-imagine and de-colonize traditional philanthropy along with impact-investing and corporate and individual giving. This is the only way we can successfully and sustainably reverse the impact of years of systemic and structural anti-Black racism.

Thank you for joining us on our journey.

Yours in trust.

Ray Williams,

• Board Chair
• Black Opportunity Fund