The National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC) has launched a fundraising partnership with Atlanta-based venture capital firm Fearless Fund and its nonprofit foundation, as the organizations fight against a racial discrimination lawsuit.
The #WeAreAllFearless campaign seeks to get people to donate to the Fearless Foundation, join in a social media push with pre-made graphics and post messages of support over the next week and a half in a buildup to Giving Tuesday on Nov. 28.
The fundraising push comes as Fearless Fund and its foundation have been in a three-month legal fight over a small business grant program for Black women run by the nonprofit. In early August, the American Alliance for Equal Rights, a nonprofit started by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, sued Fearless over the grant, alleging it was racially discriminatory.
After a judge sided with Fearless in September in an early ruling in the case, the Alliance appealed, and the lawsuit is now winding its way through the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The circuit court put a temporary pause on the grant program, ordering Fearless to keep the application open through appeals process. A hearing won’t be held in the case until January at the earliest.
In a press release, the NMSDC said the lawsuit “is an assault on everything organizations like NMSDC and our partners have been fighting for over the last five decades.”
Fearless Fund CEO Arian Simone said the council first approached Fearless about helping them fundraise after she spoke at the NMSDC conference in October
“They want people to realize that it’s not just us in this lawsuit, that we are truly on the front line for everybody,” she said.
All of the proceeds from the campaign will go to the Fearless Foundation to cover operations, grant programs and educational efforts, according to Simone.
And as the legal battle against the Fearless grant program continues, Simone feels optimistic about the case.
“I feel confident,” Simone said. “It’s just unfortunate that doing this work would cause this type of adversity.”
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