 Our Mission:
The Bay Area Black United Fund (BABUF) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization located in Oakland, California. Our mission is to promote and build partnerships with organizations so that we can work together to maximize our capacity to serve African-American people and other communities of color.
BABUF brings together resources that support human growth and development and advance community economic development and renewal. To fulfill its mission, BABUF is committed to:
- Generating and managing philanthropic resources
- Creating innovative sponsorships, coalitions and partnerships to assist both donors and member agencies
- Developing opportunities for donors to collaborate with others to foster strategic giving
- Identifying and supporting projects with the potential for social change
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Our History:
The National Black United Fund Movement |
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 After the Watts riots in 1965, a group of black community activists created the Brotherhood Crusade to raise funds to support their community’s institutions and to empower other blacks to improve their socio-economic status. Their efforts inspired a national movement, the National Black United Fund (NBUF) which raised over $7 million in 1990 and opened up America’s workplaces for fundraising by black organizations and other groups.
Historically, NBUF’s "mission and its decision to pursue access to the work-site charitable payroll deduction plans of the federal government and private employers influenced its subsequent organizational development from a movement of social change to a social change organization." * And both this mission and decision have influenced the emergence and organizational development of NBUF’s 18 affiliate organizations, including the Bay Area Black United Fund, Inc., (BABUF) established in 1979.
Members of the Bay Area’s black community leadership were concerned about the need for African Americans to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on others to address black community issues. The Founding Chairperson, Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr. and other distinguished members of the community, including a former community activist & now a U.S. Congresswoman -- Barbara Lee -- founded BABUF to provide support to the many service providers who feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide health services, youth education and development, social services, and support the arts. |
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