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Editor’s note: This post was originally published on NCRP’s Medium page.

Society is battling threats on multiple fronts: The pandemic, ongoing police brutality and anti-Black violence, rapid climate change and the cascading effects are falling squarely on the shoulders of Black, brown and Indigenous youth and their communities.

Despite facing mounting challenges, young people and community organizing groups are articulating solutions and realizing substantial wins — and have been doing so for decades.

Youth-led organizers have championed the call for divesting from prisons, defunding the police and investing more in education, housing and social services. They have helped elevate these demands to the mainstream dialogue, contributing to momentum behind a new federal bill called the BREATHE Act and some public schools ending their contracts with police.

We in philanthropy who work closely with young leaders know that resourcing youth organizing groups is part of the formula for social change. Yet, foundations give roughly $200 million per year to youth organizing — a drop in the bucket compared to $1.8 billion in funding for youth development. And few funders give youth a direct say over where and how these funds should be deployed.

So why aren’t more funders giving youth organizers more grants over the long haul? Why are we afraid to follow the leadership of young people and cede decision-making power?

White supremacy is holding funders back

Philanthropic refusal to listen to grantees and, beyond soliciting advice, formally committing to position directly impacted people at the decision-making table, is our largest deficiency as a sector. For far too long, too many funders have talked about sharing power with grantee partners, only to end up stalled in the land of theory and no action.

Communities would rightfully pull our grant and refuse to fund us ever again were the power dynamic to be reversed. Yet, while we have seen a number of participatory grantmaking models in action, most foundations have delayed creating formal mechanisms that give communities a direct say over grants.

A large reason why is the continued influence and power of white supremacy.

Inherent to white supremacy is that Black, Latinx, Asian American and Indigenous youth and their communities are unequal to white communities and unworthy of equal power, access, and economic investment. White supremacy has excluded BIPOC communities and their intellectual powers from the mainstream narratives and closed doors to the rooms where decision-making happens, treating them as incapable of managing their own economic and political power.

Philanthropy, much like our national identity and economy, was originally constructed on a foundation of white supremacy. Like it or not, it has and continues to shape how foundations work. Most philanthropic institutions fund organizations that they believe have the best ideas, strategies and shots at success. Often, their confidence is rooted in the false narrative that wealth equals expertise and that, as a result, some community-based nonprofits, especially in Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities, can’t possibly have better solutions than their foundation colleagues.

However, what would happen if we widely practiced a philanthropic model that requires funders resource organizations that movement groups believe are best positioned to lead and deserve resources?

What would happen if we acknowledged the white supremacist elephant in the room, let alone do something about it?

The opportunity to build aligned, lasting power
The question of stewardship of resources and decision-making power is where philanthropy can contest white supremacy. In reflecting on philanthropy’s practices, funders have the opportunity to transform themselves from the inside out.

In doing so, they can transfer power to directly impacted youth and build long-term power for BIPOC communities. More importantly, we can ensure that resources are deployed precisely where they are needed most — from the perspective of communities who carry the burden and live the impact.

6 Steps toward visionary freedom

Here are 6 steps funders can take to challenge white supremacy, shift power to communities and support youth-designed transformative, visionary freedom:

1. Reckon with racism, white supremacy and power.

Funders must make time to do the personal work of learning about and undoing racism, white supremacy and power.

There is a wide gap between the lived experiences of those with more access to wealth and low-income, BIPOC communities, which is evident in the family philanthropy sector. To bridge this gap, trustees and staff must commit to education and set aside the time to become anti-racist.

Board and staff must take this learning journey together to understand, identify and actively change the policies, behaviors and beliefs that perpetuate racism. This will help heal the harm caused by institutional and generational racism often shouldered by communities and staff of color.

It will also open foundations to a culture of not just listening but acting accountably. It can widen the entry way for traditionally overlooked and excluded youth and communities to participate democratically and begin the accountability and healing process required to truly end the harm caused by racism.

2. Bring youth and communities to the table.

Sometimes funders believe it’s not possible to include youth voices in decision-making. But in reality, there are several funder collaboratives that closely engage BIPOC youth organizing groups so that those closest to the problem inform funding to their communities.

These models build relationships and skills for youth and funders and root decisions in the lived experiences and realities of those who will directly benefit from the change being funded.

The Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing, Grantmakers for Girls of Color and the Communities for Just Schools Fund are exemplars of how to consult, involve and value the voices of youth organizers.

The Native Voices Rising Fund has committees of youth and community members who actively direct grantmaking. The abundance of investment opportunities shows that we only need to unlock the willingness to share capital with communities in poverty.

3. Nurture and fund interdependence.

We must prioritize funding in intersectional, interconnected and collaborative ways, and support networks of organizations to steward resources together.

This approach promotes interdependence and collective problem-solving. The California Funders for Boys and Men of Color aligns resources and networks held by the CEOs from the state’s leading philanthropic institutions to support a constellation of groups serving BIPOC men and boys, helping lessen competition and support collaborative approaches.

Justice Funders have developed a Resonance Framework to support foundations in democratizing power and shifting economic control to communities while reducing extraction and promoting a just transition.

4. Be accountable to communities.

In practice, the threshold for movement leaders to be deemed expert enough to sit on philanthropic advisory boards is inequitable, by far surpassing the requirements to sit on family philanthropy boards.

If philanthropy wants to catalyze change beyond grant life cycles, it must be willing to cede decision-making power to those directly impacted by how those dollars will flow to youth-led work. The Decolonizing Wealth Project regularly educates donors on the imperative of shifting power and returning resources to communities as a path towards collective healing.

Electing directly impacted youth community board members, building funding advisory councils and moving resources to participatory grantmaking vehicles are just some of the necessary commitments that would proactively support youth leadership.

Hiring staff from the organizations and communities they fund and creating leadership pipelines for young people for these positions would not only provide additional support, but also help increase foundations’ accountability to communities and the movements that sustain them.

5. Engage in solidarity philanthropy

Funding visionary work requires a deep level of trust, and the burden is on funders and trustees to extend trust to their partners — especially young people.

Many of the antiquated rules funders follow slow grantees and funders down. Part with these practices! Trust-based philanthropy outlines a set of 6 principles that we can collectively use. We must create diverse learning and action spaces dedicated to building solidarity relationships with movements, like the Visionary Freedom Fund (VFF) or Funders for Justice.

To follow the lead of directly impacted communities and learn how they are networked and collaborate, funders must build authentic relationships with those communities and examine biases against youth leadership. Foundation staff should do the heavy lifting.

6. Join the Visionary Freedom Fund learning community.

The Andrus Family Fund’s recently-launched VFF is an example of participatory grantmaking that moves decision-making power to young people directly impacted by the youth justice system. VFF’s Power Table has convened 8 youth organizers with a broad vision of what their communities need to thrive, 4 adult movement leaders and 11 funders to collaboratively determine where the $2.6 million initiative should distribute its resources.

As we embark on this experiment to design new grantmaking structures rooted in collectivism, interdependence, transferring power, right relationship and creative visioning, we invite other funders to join the VFF Learning Community. Together, we can learn and act toward transformative change for youth and their communities.

Manuela Arciniegas is director of the Andrus Family Fund. Bryan Perlmutter and Jessica Pierce are principles and co-founders at Piece by Piece Strategies.

In a week that started with servant-leader John Lewis receiving a state viewing on Capitol Hill, it was fitting to see Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal hold Attorney General Bill Barr accountable about the administration’s arguably unconstitutional abuse of force against Black Lives Matters protesters in Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, and other cities. Her advocacy was spot on, as she and other pointed out the flat-out discrimination of federal officials’ aggressive tactics on these protestors, as compared to their neutral position when confronting gun toting, pro-Trump, anti-mask groups in places like Michigan and Kentucky.

Like Rep. Jayapal, Rep. John Lewis’s career as a public servant began not in the halls of government, but as a key figure organizing others on the frontlines of the civil rights movement. Today, hundreds of former community organizers continue that legacy, serving as elected officials in every state and at all levels of government.

The story of community organizers holding elected office is not new. However, it’s worth repeating in this pivotal election year, when battles for the future of our nation are being fought in the streets, in the halls of Congress and at the ballot box.

There are also clear lessons for philanthropy. Donors are increasingly aware of the tremendous return on investment funding advocacy and community organizing provides. A rigorous NCRP study shows that for every dollar funders invest in those strategies, families and communities see $115 in benefits.

But what funders might not realize is that the investments that foundations and other donors made in community organizing 5, 10 or even 30 years ago are still paying off. As these savvy leaders move into the political arena, they bring with them an organizer’s sensibilities in order to catalyze change from the inside. Funder support for community organizing helped these leaders hone their skills and laid the groundwork for their impact as elected officials.

Organizing in the Halls of Power 

The Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair and representative of Washington’s 7th district, Rep. Jayapal founded the immigrants’ rights organization OneAmerica after 9/11. She led the organization until 2012 and served briefly in the Washington State Senate before coming to Capitol Hill in 2017.

During the years Jayapal ran the organization, OneAmerica won the first state law to reduce penalties for misdemeanor convictions, ensuring these convictions do not lead to deportations and family separations. Additionally, the group convinced the City of Seattle to establish the Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, and they advocated for and won policies to ensure that city agencies do not inquire about immigration status.

“While my title has changed, my job as an organizer has not,” says Rep. Jayapal. “Congress is an incredible organizing platform and we need more people on the inside with an organizer’s mentality to drive the change that all our communities need to fully thrive.”

Top foundation funders of OneAmerica during the years Jayapal led the organization include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Open Society Foundations, NEO Philanthropy, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and the Marguerite Casey Foundation.

Another member of Congress who was grilling the attorney general this past week was Congresswoman Karen Bass. She’s been in the national news quite a bit lately as former Vice President Joe Biden considers her a possible running mate on the Democratic Party ticket this November. The current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus is serving her fifth term representing California’s 37th district. Prior to her election to Congress, she served in the state legislature in California and was the first Black woman elected as Speaker of the California Assembly.

Yet, before she entered electoral politics, Rep. Bass was a community organizer. She founded Community Coalition in 1990, serving as its executive director until 2003. During her tenure, the organization secured $153 million for repairs in overcrowded South LA schools, successfully campaigned to ensured that South Los Angeles was rebuilt with significantly fewer liquor stores after the 1992 uprising, and more.

Dozens of foundations supported the work of Community Coalition during the years Bass led the organization, including The California Endowment and the Liberty Hill, Marguerite Casey, James Irvine, California Wellness and Charles Stewart Mott foundations.

Bass told Time Magazine in 2018 that she grew up not wanting to be an elected official, but to just continue the legacy of community activists that she witnessed as a child. Her election to the California legislature gave her “an opportunity to apply community organizing strategies in a legislative context.” While the stage has shifted, she still sees herself as playing a role in building community power and the leadership pipeline that democracy needs to be inclusive and just.

“Now I’m in a position to assist the next generation of activists and I take great pride in promoting new leaders. If one is seriously committed to improving society, the focus should always be on expanding the ranks of leaders who are prepared to work for positive change and improved social and economic opportunities.

Of course, Congresswomen Bass and Jayapal aren’t the only elected officials with this story. When I posted queries on social media about former organizers who now hold elected office, I received more than 100 names in just a couple of days. What it suggests is that after fighting to open the political system, a growing cadre of grassroots leaders are deciding that an inclusive and equitable democracy depends on their perspective being directly represented at Committee meetings and government votes.

Adds Rep. Jayapal, “If politics is the art of the possible, then it’s our job as activists and organizers, regardless of where we sit, to push the boundaries of what is seen as possible. To seize the opportunity to bring in people that may not have been there before and to build the coalitions necessary to drive change.”

Supporting and Expanding the Leadership Pipeline 

Several nonprofits are actively helping organizers seek elected office. The New American Leaders Project trains first and second generation immigrants to run for office, and many of their alumni are former community organizers. The organization re:power (formerly Wellstone Action) has trained more than 100,000 candidates, campaign managers and organizers since its founding in 2003. Many of their alumni are also former community organizers now holding elected office.

Once in office, many former organizers are part of networks that help them successfully move a progressive policy agenda. Local Progress is a network for local elected officials interested in advancing a racial and economic justice agenda. Its chair is Brad Lander, a former community organizer who is now a New York City Council Member, and its vice-chair is Helen Gym, a Philadelphia City Council Member and also a former organizer.

Foundations and high net worth donors should know that their investments in community organizing today not only will pay off with policy wins in the next few years, but also create a pipeline of effective elected officials in the years to come.

Aaron Dorfman is President and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. He was a community organizer from 1992 to 2007.

Disclosures: Dorfman serves on the board of re:power, and the Center for Popular Democracy, which provides staffing for Local Progress. He also participated in a yearlong leadership program with Congresswoman Jayapal in 2010-2011, and she served on the board of NCRP before she became an elected official. 

The beginning of the year is a chance for many funders to examine what they can do better – and differently – to move justice and equity forward in communities and issues they care about.

“There are many in philanthropy who are absolutely committed to ensuring that foundations and wealthy donors do everything in their power to defend democracy and build a more just society,” wrote Aaron Dorfman, chief executive of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).

The newly released February edition of “Responsive Philanthropy” offers grantmakers and philanthropists examples of ways they can be more effective and strategic in their giving.

Philanthropy: Perilous times call for bold measures

Tory Gavito, president and CEO of Way to Win, invites fellow philanthropists to take more risks by giving more, breaking silos and funding local efforts. According to Gavito, doing all these will “create the groundswell of organized people, ideas and resources required to change the trajectory of history.”

How to think about power (especially if you have some)

Farhad Ebrahimi, president of Chorus Foundation, shares how understanding the “ecosystem” of power transformed his foundation’s approach to climate philanthropy. “What are the unspoken assumptions in our sector,” Ebrahimi asks. “What could it look like to challenge those assumptions?”

Lessons for foundations on rapid-response support at the front lines of democracy

Many funders have responded to these challenging times through rapid-response support. But what does it take to provide resources quickly and effectively? Shireen Zaman and Melissa Spatz, program directors at Proteus Fund, share 5 tips for funders.

What does Amazon’s HQ2 tax-grab mean for U.S. Cities?

Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, and Ryan Schlegel, research director at NCRP, highlights 4 ways that funders can help community-led efforts to ensure that HQ2 benefits “the 99% as much as it benefits Bezos.”

Recently, I had a family emergency that took me away from work for a couple of weeks. During that time, my colleagues encouraged me to take the time I needed to be with my family, and most importantly, to take care of myself.

And I did. With the help and support of my colleagues, I was able to focus on my family and myself, and did not need to think about my work duties.

But community organizers dedicated to making our communities better and addressing the inequities they see and experience don’t have the staff, resources and time to take days off.

This is especially true for organizers in the immigrant and refugee rights movement who are facing an endless barrage of attacks against their communities at the federal, state and local levels.

In our work building relationships within the movement, NCRP has heard from organizers experiencing burnout, working long hours day after day to reach and support their communities with limited staff.

Funders that want to see movements grow and succeed can help by funding in ways that prevent and alleviate organizer burnout.

Organizations don’t just benefit from having a full, healthy staff with sustainable salaries and paid time off, the whole movement benefits.

With less organizer burnout, organizations would have more capacity for:

  • Mobilizing people.
  • Building power within communities.
  • Healing from the trauma they experience.
  • Resilience against the threats and attacks they face.

By prioritizing mental, emotional and physical health, organizers could fight the dehumanization they face every day. They would have more power to:

  • Prevent deportations.
  • Prevent harmful laws from being passed.
  • Secure rights for immigrants and refugees.

And funders can help make the healing, resistance and power-building happen. It starts with flexible general operating support and multi-year funding, which can go a long way for an organization, as well as what the movement achieves. This support will help organizations:

  • Pay their staff livable salaries.
  • Hire more staff.
  • Ensure that staff have health benefits and paid time off.

And when organizers are mentally and physically healthy, they increase their capacity to build relationships, and connect communities so that, collectively, communities can heal and fight back.

Organizers’ emotional, mental and physical health are at stake

“Organizers and community leaders are burning out. Particularly if you are someone who is directly affected and this isn’t work, but your life. People are suffering from anxiety, depression, burning out and quitting,” said Nayely Pérez-Huerta, co-director of the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network of working in the movement.

For many leaders and organizers, community organizing is not just work. It’s their lives, families and communities that come under attack.

Like Pérez-Huerta, Mariana Deseda, organizer and law fellow at the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice also feels the effects of the work.

“I’ll drive 3 hours a day, then come back and give a conference talk. I’m tired. I often work more than 40 hours a week. My mental health and physical health is at stake, especially my emotional health. A lot of the people that come to me don’t have happy stories. It’s a lot for us to digest.”

If organizers aren’t physically and emotionally healthy themselves, how can we expect them to lead and mobilize their communities?

Relationships are the foundation of community organizing

And building relationships can be mentally, emotionally and physically taxing.

“Building relationships takes a lot of time. It’s not just ‘Come and join our network,’” said Pérez-Huerta. “It’s about ‘Who are your people, how can we collaborate, how can we support you,’ and that takes a lot of time.”

In order to build relationships and a network, grassroots organizations need to have the staff to reach and connect with communities.

“With limited funds and limited staff, there’s only so much we do. If we had more projects, more funding and more people we’d have more connections, and at the end of the day, maybe more power,” said Deseda about the importance of having enough resources for their work.

Beyond funding benefits and salaries for organizations, funders can also support whole communities to be healthy. Communities need to be resilient in order to withstand the constant threats and attacks and to continue fighting for their rights and safety.

Practicing cultural traditions heals and strengthens communities

“We are being dehumanized from a federal level to a local level,” Pérez-Huerta said. “We see culture as key in making sure that our communities are resilient and can fight back. We are centering ourselves in the fact that our ancestors have been resisting for so long and we’re here because of them.”

As Pérez-Huerta explained, incorporating cultural traditions enables communities to build solidarity and reaffirm the humanity of the people behind the movement in a dehumanizing environment.

It is also a way for communities to recognize that the battles of today are connected to a much longer history of resistance. Healing from the trauma of past and present are part of the process of strengthening and building resilient communities to continue resisting.

In a time when immigrants face daily threats in their communities, funders have a unique opportunity to make sure that the leaders at the forefront of the movement are healthy and whole enough to be able to fight back against those threats.

With flexible long-term funding, organizations can provide livable staff salaries and health benefits, and organizations can incorporate creative strategies to heal and strengthen communities. In addition to preventing and alleviating burnout, it translates to more people and, ultimately, more power for the movement.

Stephanie Peng is a research and policy associate at NCRP. Follow @NCRP on Twitter. Image by Dennis Skley, used under Creative Commons license.

Dear Mr. Schultz,

Don’t do it!

The Washington Post reported last week that you might spend $300-$500 million of your own money on a campaign to run for President. Please reconsider.

Others have made the political argument for why you shouldn’t run, and they’re not wrong. But I want you to think about how you could help the country with philanthropy instead of spending that money on your campaign.

Investing in community organizing and grassroots social change is extremely effective and has a high return on investment. In fact, research suggests that you could probably unleash $34-$58 billion worth of benefits for families, communities and taxpayers by philanthropically funding those high-leverage strategies with the same $300-$500 million you intend to spend on your campaign.

A handful of billionaires have figured this out and are helping the country without putting themselves in the spotlight:

  • Chuck Feeney, through Atlantic Philanthropies, funded the grassroots organizing that helped push the Affordable Care Act over the finish line. Millions of Americans have been helped as a result.
  • Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, through their Open Philanthropy Project and their Open Philanthropy Action Fund, are making an incredible contribution to reforming our nation’s unfair criminal justice system. I was especially impressed with their funding of the successful ballot measure in Florida this last election cycle that has restored voting rights for more than a million Floridians.
  • George Soros, through Open Society Foundations, is one of the most important funders of grassroots organizing in the nation. NCRP gave his foundation an award in 2015 because we were so impressed with the tangible difference the foundation was making in people’s lives on issues such as education, health, justice and government accountability.

Mr. Schultz, I know you want to help our country, and I admire that. Please be smart and spend your money investing in the most marginalized in our society and strengthening their voices. It will do so much more good than a self-funded campaign for President.

Sincerely,

Aaron Dorfman

Aaron Dorfman is NCRP’s president and CEO. Follow @NCRP on Twitter. Image by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Used under Creative Commons license.