March 2024 Message From Our Founder

By Ivan Kilgore

In 2014, with the assistance of family and friends, we incorporated the United Black Family Scholarship Foundation (UBFSF). Prior to this, I had spent seven years attempting to persuade my older cousin to sign on as my power of attorney (POA). At the time, I had been incarcerated for 13 years. My cousin knew all too well my past life. I had been a “trap-star” subject to national ATF, FBI, and DEA investigations for murder, drug trafficking and the run of the gamut of other inner-workings associated with the trade. My cousin was corporate, a suit and tie guy who had done all the right things: college, career, retirement, marriage, church, etc. Understandably, he was reluctant to sign on. For seven years, he and I had this conversation about establishing the UBFSF. During this time, I undertook a study of psychology, sociology, economics, and political science. I desperately needed to gain a better understanding of what influenced the decisions I made in my youth that landed me in prison with a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The result of my studies would be the publication of my first book, Domestic Genocide: the Institutionalization of Society. Shortly after self-publishing the book, I sent him 30 copies. To my surprise, he read one and we would have a very candid conversation. “Kinfolk, I see you been using your time wisely in prison. The book is amazing! You broke some things down in it,” he said. “Like I said, I been looking at it!” I responded. “So, what’s this you’re trying to do with setting up a nonprofit organization?” he asked. I again explained the significance of organizing resources in our community. “I hear you. However, here’s the deal. If I sign-on with you, I’m not going to be sitting in prison with you!”

I pointed out to him the fact that he knew me to be a a man of my word. I was done with a life of crime! “What do you need me to do?” he asked. I vividly recall the day I received the Certificate of Registration and Incorporation from the Oklahoma Secretary of State. It was a step in the right direction. However, I would soon learn that establishing a nonprofit was a lot more than simply getting some papers stating you are open for business. Indeed, I quickly recognized the need to begin studying a vast range of subjects from nonprofit governance to marketing. However, there were some things I could not learn in a classroom or book. Sure, I had consultants who had raised millions in this sector. However, none of them had done so from a cage. It was an entirely different matter. In fact, I only knew one or two prisoners who had done so. And neither had the capacity to teach it. There were no books, courses, or mentors in the field because few had accomplished it and none had codified it into a curriculum. To say it takes working out some serious logistics to do so would be an understatement. Yet it is doable. I have done it. In doing so, I navigated everything from communication, supervision and training people both inside and outside of prison walls. I even obtained legitimate seed capital to conduct fundraisers. Sure determination and development of assets (e.g., my ability to inspire people) were the foundation of my ambitious efforts. Of course, I suffered more than my share of setbacks, disappointments, and lessons learned the hard way. Nevertheless, through it all I developed the perseverance to achieve a measure of success that is noteworthy to my peers.

Moreover, I came away with a very important observation: incarcerated people have a keen interest in learning how to establish and operate nonprofit organizations. We have a burning desire to make amends for the crimes we have committed and correct the sociopolitical landscape that influenced us. Every day, this became more and more apparent with each question I was asked. They wanted to know the ins-and-outs, the logistics, and how to… Unfortunately, there remains a need for a rehabilitative prison program that teaches nonprofit organizational management. Without one, countless incarcerated citizens will parole with little to no marketable job skills or means to fulfill promises to make amends. That said, the social value of what I have learned has been phenomenal. It is a game changer! Here, I employ the reader to give some thought to the sort of transformative experiences, access to information and resources an incarcerated person gains when developing a nonprofit from a cage. Think about how my work afforded me an opportunity to learn how to better manage volunteers who overcommit themselves and run into capacity problems and can no longer maintain their commitments to the organization. In managing the challenges that arise, I’ve learned effective communication skills, empathy (n.b., countering 24 years of incarceration and dehumanization), how to evaluate a potential volunteer’s capacity, volunteer recruitment strategy, how to delegate tasks, and more. Think of how I now can apply for grant funding and fellowships that provide millions of dollars for innovative programs and capacity building.

When designing an exit plan (I.e., parole), I need to point to the fact that it better prepares someone to succeed and transition back into society when they have access to quality life experiences, information and resources. Information is priceless! I cannot count the number of times that my work with student volunteers, professors and consultants has informed me of a new marketing tool or software program. Then too, as indicated above, there is the experience of learning how to develop HR policies, design web content, pages, and copy. That is to say nothing about the support network of university partners, organizations, and foundations I build relationships with. All this and more significantly reduces the odds of someone reoffending and returning to prison. Moreover, the most significant discovery I have made as a result of my work in the nonprofit sector is having gained an understanding of how politics work. Politics, as defined by political theorists Harold Lasswell, is defined as “Who gets what, when, where, and how.” Despite a nonprofit’s 501c3 statutory provision prohibiting lobbying, it nevertheless remains a political instrument. Everything from criminal justice reform to financial institutions fall under its umbrella. Here, it pays to mention that, after reviewing 25 of the nation’s largest community foundations, the National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy determined that from 2016-2018, only “1% of grantmaking was designated for black communities.” Whereas, corporations, individual donors, and private and family foundations donate some $357 billion annually to charitable organizations throughout the United States. Needless to say, these dollars shape everything from access to job training programs to community development projects.

Without question, the politics of nonprofits play an instrumental role in shaping our community dynamic. Arguably, they influence our decisions and access, or lack thereof, to resources in countless yet conceivable ways. Often, I ask the young men who enter prison: What were we seeking when we were out there selling drugs, gangbanging, and committing robberies and murder? Was it money and power? Why do we remain steadfast to hustling so just to feed our families? Why aren’t there any gainful employment opportunities in our communities? And why didn’t we possess the education to access them? More importantly, now that we have been labeled convicted felons, how will we as America’s incarcerated, disenfranchised, and marginalized, obtain some measure of political power? Part of the answer lies in why we founded the UBFSF: We are a 501c3 economic development organization. Notably, one of the many areas economic development organizations work in is alleviating the impact of discrimination and poverty. Henceforth, our VISION: We believe everyone has a right to an education that empowers them with solutions to social and economic problems caused by poverty and racism. MISSION: We provide all races a quality education to change political structures and systems that perpetuate poverty and racism. We advance education not in the strict sense of “credentialism,” rather education as it pertains to “Rebuilding the Community from within the Community ” by empowering people to take action to affect the political transformation in our communities. That said, let us all contribute to the process of developing organizations and programs that invest in people and communities. Learn more about how you can support our https://ubfsf.org/nonprofit-conference/ program for incarcerated men and women. Donate today!

In Solidarity,