Nonprofit leaders devoted to DEI led a discussion on Tuesday about how to continue making race-based decisions while staying "under the radar" and avoiding anti-discrimination lawsuits, even after the 2023 Supreme Court ruling outlawed affirmative action.
Hosted by Fluxx, a grants management platform whose clients include the left-wing Ford and MacArthur foundations, the webinar was advertised as a discussion of "recent efforts to stymie diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States."
Representatives from the left-wing philanthropies Hello Alice and the Kresge Foundation instructed participants how to dodge discrimination lawsuits best—not by adhering to the law but rather, according to Hello Alice grants director LaToya Ratlieff, by making "little tweaks in the language" on websites and marketing materials. By way of example, she said that instead of describing a grant "as only open to black entrepreneurs," Hello Alice now indicates that "preference will be given to black entrepreneurs."
"Little tweaks in the language like that also helped us," Ratlieff said. "But most importantly, it kept us under the radar because you can't get a lawsuit for giving ‘preference.’"
"You can't, hopefully, get under attack for giving that preference," she added.
Hello Alice’s website states that its mission is an "obsession" to ensure that entrepreneurs in the "New Majority," which it describes as "female, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, military connected or founders who have disabilities," have resources to launch small businesses.
Clients of Fluxx, which did not return a request for comment, include major liberal groups such as the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU. Arabella Advisors, a left-wing dark money behemoth that draws money from George Soros, is also a consulting partner.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina could no longer use race as a basis for admissions. While the ruling only applied to academia, other sectors have begun to rein in or alter their DEI programs out of legal concern.
During Tuesday's webinar, an unnamed attendee asked whether their organization, also unnamed, needed to change its practice of declining grant applications from any institution with a majority-white board.
"I would say no. Don't change," Ratlieff responded.
Ratlieff also suggested partnering with another grantmaking organization that doesn’t restrict its funding to racial minorities. That way, she said, if an applicant is denied a grant based on race, the DEI group can avoid backlash by pointing that applicant to the partner.
"So, at any point in time, you can say, ‘here's another opportunity that aligns with your particular goals,’" Ratlieff said. "So it's not necessarily a denial. It's a, ‘hey, we have a partnership with this business, with this organization … that can potentially help you to do exactly what you need to do."
Artificial intelligence can also be used to evade anti-white discrimination cases, Ratlieff said. AI tools can review a group’s terms and conditions, identify language that could make the group a "potential target" of a lawsuit, and help adjust the language.
Ratlieff did not respond to a request for comment.
Kresge’s director of grants management, Genise Singleton, meanwhile, said the organization has incorporated equity efforts into the fabric of its business model. The group focuses on strategic philanthropy for low-income people, but Singleton said equity serves as Kresge’s "north star" and that the foundation tried to "operationalize racial equity."
"We looked at our vendors, we looked at different policies, we looked at how we train staff, even how we recruit. Every corner of the organization, we sort of cast the DEI lens on it," Singleton said. "And we began to develop new practices and new ways of trying to push equity."
"We take allegations of legal violations and discrimination very seriously, and I assure you that The Kresge Foundation is committed to upholding the highest ethical and legal standards in all of our operations," Kresge spokeswoman Jennifer Kulczycki told the Washington Free Beacon. "Ms. Singleton’s comments were almost exclusively focused on the foundation’s internal journey to operationalize DEI over the past 25 years."
"The Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services, and community development," she added. "In collaboration with our partners, we help create pathways for people with low incomes to improve their life circumstances and join the economic mainstream."
Kulczycki also said Kresge selects partners "based on their ideas" and not "in a manner that violates federal or state laws."