By Ivan Kilgore, Founder, United Black Family Scholarship Foundation (UBFSF)

For years, I’ve sat inside these concrete walls watching how well-intentioned organizations come in and out of our lives—bringing programs, lectures, or “rehabilitative opportunities” that often look good on paper but rarely shift the actual conditions of our confinement. From the outside, these initiatives seem benevolent. They’re framed as charity. They’re described as services for the underserved. On grant reports, they present incarcerated people as “recipients,” “targets,” or “stakeholders.”

But the language obscures a deeper truth: in most spaces that involve prisons, power flows in one direction—never toward us.

As the incarcerated founder of the United Black Family Scholarship Foundation (UBFSF), I’ve spent more than two decades observing and living inside these dynamics. And if there is one lesson I wish every nonprofit, university, grassroots coalition, and philanthropic institution would understand, it is this: There is a world of difference between a partnership and charity. And for incarcerated communities, that difference determines whether we evolve into leaders, or remain perpetual dependents of systems that were never designed to empower us.

By Glenn E. Martin

Walk into almost any prison in America and, if you know where to look, you’ll find something philanthropy has been searching for: talent. We lock up some of America’s best and brightest. Not abstract talent, not hypothetical “leadership potential,” but real, disciplined, hard-earned brilliance that grows in the most unlikely places. You’ll find men and women leading circles on conflict resolution, developing reentry strategies, mediating disputes that would otherwise turn violent, and running classes that rival the structure and rigor of programs in the nonprofit world. Many of them have built models that later became the backbone of community violence-interruption programs, mentoring pipelines, and restorative justice initiatives on the outside.

And yet, these innovators are almost never funded while they are inside. Their ideas stay trapped behind the walls with them. That is philanthropy’s missed opportunity and its responsibility.

If philanthropy wants to be on the right side of history, not in memoirs, not in speeches, but in real outcomes, the next frontier is clear: invest in the leaders doing the work long before anyone is watching. Invest in the thinkers society has thrown away. Invest in the innovators who have transformed themselves and everyone around them. Invest in the place where real change actually starts: inside the prison walls.

The movement cannot afford philanthropic timidity. It needs philanthropic courage. Courage that matches the courage it asks of people like me, and the thousands still behind bars whose brilliance remains unfunded.

By Desiree Cain, CPA

Making charitable donations is a wonderful way to support causes you care about. What many people don’t realize is that the IRS offers tax benefits that can make your gift even more impactful. Understanding just a few basic rules can help ensure you get the most out of your generosity in the new year.

For a donation to be tax-deductible, it must go to a charity recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization. This means the nonprofit is officially approved and recognized as a charitable organization by the government and doesn’t pay federal income tax.

Your generosity makes a real difference, many charitable organizations count on the generous donations they receive year round. Thank you for supporting the causes close to your heart.

By Isabella Cain, UBFSF Media & Marketing Director

For decades restorative justice programs within the United States have focused on outside-in tactics. How can people or groups outside of the system help those individuals inside, where the focus is primarily on what a collective we can do for you. Over the past few years this narrative is beginning to change. Programs are beginning to reflect the narrative that incarcerated individuals can help themselves and instead ask the question of how you can help you. One such program that has sparked a deep conversation about connection, transformation, and equity is The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. 

→ France Expansion: Began cross-continental collaboration by engaging Madame Lucie Alidières (Saint-Paul’s University, France) and initiating parallel discussions with Santa Clara University’s French Studies Department.

→ R.E.B.U.I.L.D. Internship Launch: Officially launched the R.E.B.U.I.L.D. Internship Program in partnership with the University of Central Oklahoma’s Public Health Administration Graduate Program and welcomed our newest intern, Elias Jeradeh.

→ Community Development Partnership Secured: Formalized partnerships with the OKC Urban Renewal Authority and the OKC Alliance for Economic Development to launch our first R.E.B.U.I.L.D. community development project.

→ Prison Journalism Initiative: Initiated discussions with the University of Missouri, Columbia to co-develop a prison journalism program pairing students with incarcerated journalists.

→ Cooperative Infrastructure Development: Strengthened Zo Media’s internal structure through a partnership with cooperative and sociocracy consultant Shala Massey.

→ Edovo Program Launch: Released our first Edovo module, "How to Launch a Successful Nonprofit Organization," inaugurating the UBFSF Nonprofit Coaching & Leadership Training Program for incarcerated learners.

→ National Leadership & Advocacy: UBFSF founder Ivan Kilgore served as a panelist with Inquest (Harvard’s Institute to End Mass Incarceration) at the National Association of Public Defenders & Pro Bono Criminal Defense Attorneys conference in Washington, D.C.

→ New Media Production: Began development of the Voices on Death Row video-podcast series featuring death row prisoner Borgela Philistin, produced collaboratively with Executive Assistant Halima Kilgore.

→ Newsletter Development: Began development of The Phuckin’ Wire, Zo Media’s flagship newsletter dedicated to amplifying the voices of incarcerated writers and connecting them with industry professionals.“There is a certain peace that comes with knowing less — and choosing better.”

Until next time,

A Different Way of Doing Things