Commitments from corporations, foundations drying up

Forward Through Ferguson has made its mark on its community and the St. Louis region by focusing on justice and education, racial equity and policing reform.

- GLENN GAMBOA AND THALIA BEATY

A demonstrator throws a tear gas container back at police during protests in West Florissant, Mo., following the police shooting death of Michael Brown Jr., in 2014.

The Missouri non-profit was founded in 2015 to enact the societal changes outlined in the Ferguson Commission report to address the issues that contributed to the police shooting death of Michael Brown Jr. and the riots that followed in Ferguson, Mo.

The new non-profit and similar organizations looking to support the community saw money pour in from corporations like St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch and major philanthropic organizations ranging from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the NBA Players Association Foundation.

But it didn’t last, Annissa McCaskill, Forward Through Ferguson’s executive director, told the Associated Press.

She doesn’t want to dwell on the negative because many have generously helped the organization. But she won’t forget the community group that pledged her non-profit multi-year support and then decided after the first year that they didn’t want to pay anymore.

“Our priorities have shifted,” the group said. Local companies that initially supported the group also stopped, “shifting priorities” again.

It’s not like her organization was ever getting the million-dollar donations that many businesses like to tout. In fact, experts say following where money from corporations and their foundations goes is very difficult.

“The largest donation we’ve ever gotten from a business is $210,000; the largest donation we’ve ever gotten from a foundation is $150,000,” said McCaskill, adding those gifts and other high-profile ones followed the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.