Art museum affinity group celebrates Black Philanthropy Month and Give 8/28

August 22, 2022

The Friends of African American Art & Culture (FAAAC), an affinity group of the Columbia Museum of Art (CMA), will kick off a four-day online event to raise money for its annual programming initiatives and raise awareness for a national giving campaign, Give 8/28.

Give 8/28 (#Give828) is an online fundraising event to be held August 28 – August 31, 2022. Hosted by the Young Black & Giving Back Institute in support of Black-led and Black-benefitting organizations across the country, Give 8/28 is the only national donor campaign focused explicitly on highlighting the importance of Black-led nonprofit organizations, which receive only 2% of institutional philanthropy dollars from foundations. This unique event will galvanize support for organizations working at the grassroots level to empower Black communities in areas such as education and mentoring, economic empowerment, policy advocacy, health and wellness, the arts, and much more. This year’s campaign theme is “The Fierce Urgency of Now.”

The FAAAC will focus its fundraising efforts toward support for year-round programming, including sponsored events in celebration of Martin Luther King Day, Black History Month, and the CMA’s upcoming exhibition The Art of Elizabeth Catlett. As a nonprofit affinity group, the FAAAC offers a variety of programming experiences attracting diverse audiences from the Midlands and beyond.

“Give 8/28 allows arts enthusiasts, arts patrons and those who support our mission of diversity, access and inclusion to invest in our work,” says Vanesha Perrin, FAAAC president. “This is our third year of participating in the Give 8/28 campaign — this year it’s a four-day event that provides us with the opportunity to offer meaningful and culturally relevant programming year-round.”

#Give828 takes place during Black Philanthropy Month and commemorates multiple important historical landmarks — all occurring on August 28:

  • August 28, 1955: 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered by three white men, which became a “flashpoint in the civil rights movement.”
  • August 28, 1963: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech during the landmark March on Washington in Washington, D.C.
  • August 28, 2005: Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana. The storm, which devastated New Orleans, inordinately impacted many of the city’s Black residents.
  • August 28, 2008: Then-Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the first Black man to ever win the nomination and bid for the presidency.

To donate and get more information about the FAAAC and the #Give828 campaign, go to https://www.give828.org/story/Faaacsupportsblackart.