Meet an Anthem Judge: Aisha Alexander-Young, Giving Gap
Aisha Alexander-Young is the CEO of Giving Gap, which exists to advance racial equity in giving and mobilizing positive action for Black lives by connecting people to causes they care about. They work to build the movement for the equitable funding of Black-founded nonprofits.
She’s also a new judge for The Anthem Awards, and will be reviewing this year’s purpose & mission-driven entries. Learn more about Aisha’s work below.
1. For those who are unfamiliar, can you tell us a bit about yourself and the work that you do?
I consider myself a context creator, systems disruptor, and resource organizer. For the past 15 years, my career has been focused on the intersection of race, place, and opportunity. I’ve held leadership positions in philanthropy, local government, grassroots organizations, and small and large nonprofits. Currently, I’m the CEO of Giving Gap, an organization and digital platform that is solving the racial equity gap in giving by funneling resources to Black-founded nonprofits. My passion is ensuring Black leaders and communities get the resources they need and deserve to achieve social change.
2. What expertise are you bringing as a judge for The Anthem Awards?
I bring expertise is social impact projects and campaigns through a racial justice and equity lens. I also have successfully ideated and managed campaigns that move people from online engagement to offline action.
3. What are you looking for in Anthem Awards entries?
In line with my expertise, I’m looking for vibrant, engaging entries that are reflective of beautiful diversity of humanity. I’m also looking for entries that inspire positive offline action.
4. What does it take for a project or campaign to cause real-world change?
A project must be grounded in the people and communities in which it seeks to create change. If a project hasn’t done deep work in those communities to be truly representative of them, understand the changes they desire, and center them in the creation of the campaign or project, it can never be successful.
5. What social impact campaign, grassroot effort, fundraiser or project has recently inspired you?
There’s a few! Most recently, I’m inspired by District Motherhued, an organization focused on moms of color in the greater DC metro area, whose online presence and led to deep and necessary community building offline. Black Men Build has created incredible digital and print media campaigns to organize Black men across the country in the name of community justice. I’m forever inspired by Dream Defenders and their ability to use their campaigns to engage young people in political action.
