Seven Not-So-Radical Reminders for Black Nonprofit Leaders in Celebration of Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a celebration. It is also a complicated truth, a reminder that freedom announced is not always freedom delivered, and that the work of liberation has never been finished in a single moment.

For Black nonprofit leaders, that tension is the daily reality of doing transformative work inside systems that were not designed to sustain it, for communities that deserve so much more than what those systems have offered.

So this Juneteenth, we are not offering strategy or frameworks. We are offering reminders. The kind that live in the body. The kind our people have always known.

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1. Your people gathered on the stoop.

Before there were organizations, there were porches. There were church basements, kitchen tables, and corners where people gathered because community was survival. That instinct did not disappear when you incorporated. It is still the most powerful thing you have.

So, how can you activate that instinct for your organization? The instinct to gather, to share stories, and to just be with people who get you and who understand what drives you. Let go of the idea that it needs to be extravagant (formal galas and expensive meetings); maybe it’s a digital third space like a Zoom rap session or an Instagram Live where you take questions and answer candidly. The point is to gather because community is still the way forward.

2. Joy is an act of resistance. Protect it like the strategy it is.

"This joy that I have, the world didn't give it to me."

Black people have always understood that joy is not a reward for finishing the work; it is fuel for keeping on. In a political moment designed to exhaust and demoralize, your ability to find delight, to laugh loudly, to celebrate small victories without waiting for permission, is a radical act.

So, where do you find joy when the work is heavy and the days are long? Joy is an inner working undergirded by the people we choose and the impact we make through the habits we commit to every day. As a leader, it’s imperative that you cultivate sustaining habits that fuel every area of your being. Maybe it’s books or plants, long walks or visiting your elders, whatever it is, commit to it and it will be manna in a world of drought.

3. Rest is the evidence of commitment.

What happens to the work if you martyr yourself on the altar of the mission? What happens to the community you champion? Rest. Heal. Come back whole. Sustainability is the condition that makes the work possible across generations, and good boundaries are an act of love for the work and for yourself.

So, what does rest look like for you? Rest does not carve itself out. It requires the same intention you bring to everything else. Our beloved elders and ancestors traveled abroad, went on sabbatical, and wrote down their dreams so others could take hold and help to carry the weight. There is no reward for overwork. Take stock, and take your time.

4. You come from people who built something out of nothing.

Every generation of Black leadership in this country has been asked to do transformative work with inadequate resources, in hostile conditions, without the institutional support that others take for granted. And every generation has found a way. You did not arrive at this work without that inheritance. It lives in you.

So, whose shoulders are you standing on? Remind yourself of how far you’ve come and what they gave so that you could bloom.

5. Solidarity is a practice. Tend to it.

Juneteenth reminds us that freedom does not trickle down; it spreads outward, person to person, community to community. The organizations that endure are those that stay in relationship with one another, share resources, and understand that another leader's win is not a threat to their own. Tend to those relationships like the assets they are.

Who are you in solidarity with right now, and what does that look like in practice? A while back, Issa Rae gave an interview where she talked about the value of networking across. Do not get stuck reaching up when you can extend your arms outward and connect with folks eager to walk with you. Peers and colleagues who don’t need to be convinced of the impact of your leadership, work, and vision because they already get it, and are ready to build alongside you.

6. Freedom is the way you lead.

Juneteenth is an invitation to ask whether the way we build our organizations reflects the freedom we are fighting for. Whether our teams feel free to bring their full selves. Whether our strategies are rooted in community truth. Whether the work itself is an expression of liberation, not just a means toward it.

What would it look like to lead more freely? Black nonprofit leaders carry the pressure to solve everything, immediately, for everyone. It is a pressure rooted in urgency, love, and the very real stakes of the work. But the arc of justice has always been bent by many hands across many generations. Your job is to create the circumstances and environments where your team members can bring their full selves and do their best work. It is acting with integrity and creating brave spaces. That is the way we bring liberation into our organizations.

7. You are allowed to be well-resourced.

Somewhere along the way, scarcity became a virtue, as if suffering for the work made it more legitimate. It does not. Your organization deserves full funding, fair salaries, and the infrastructure to sustain what you have built. Wanting that is self-determination.

This Juneteenth, may you find something worth celebrating in the work you are doing and in the people you are doing it with. The stoop is open. You don't need a chair.