NFG 2018 National Convening — Raise Up: Moving Money for Justice

“Thank you for an amazing conference making us better grantmakers and partners in the field. And above all, thanks for pushing us to break silos and change systems of oppression through action and example.”
           – 2018 CONVENING PARTICIPANT

CONNECTING, ORGANIZING, & MOBILIZING PHILANTHROPY IS AT THE CORE OF NFG’S WORK. 

Our 2018 National Convening provided an opportunity to connect with grantmakers committed to racial, social, economic, and gender justice in the U.S. We shared models, strengthened partnerships, and forged new alliances with the goal of moving resources to support innovative place-based work led by and benefiting communities of color and low-income communities.

 

CORE CONFERENCE TEAM

CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS

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MARJONA JONES | Program Officer, Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock

Marjona, a native of Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has been a Program Officer at the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock since 2014, focusing on racial justice and economic equity.

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AMORETTA MORRIS | Director of National Community Strategies, Annie E. Casey Foundation

Amoretta leads the foundation’s place-based investments which support a two-generation approach to improving academic and economic well-being for children and their families. She is a visionary leader with over a decade of experience shaping policies and programs to improve the lives of youth and families. 

NEIGHBORHOOD FUNDERS GROUP STAFF

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SARITA AHUJA | Vice President of Operations, Neighborhood Funders Group

Sarita has worked at the intersection of philanthropy and diverse communities engaged in social justice work for over 20 years. Her skills include fundraising, program design, grantmaking, research and evaluation, and organizational development.

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ADRIANA ROCHA | Vice President of Programs, Neighborhood Funders Group

Adriana has worked in social justice for more than 20 years, bringing deep expertise in grantmaking, organizational and network capacity building, and non-profit management.

 

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DENNIS QUIRIN | President of Neighborhood Funders Group

Dennis has led an extensive organizational change process that has resulted in doubling the programming and membership of NFG. Dennis comes to this position with two decades of experience as an activist, organizer, fundraiser, and grantmaker working for social change.

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ANGELICA RAMIREZ | Program Associate, Neighborhood Funders Group

Angelica joined NFG as Program Associate in March 2016. As a professional multi-hat wearer at NFG, Angelica provides administrative and programmatic assistance for NFG’s National Convenings, Funders for Justice, Funders for a Just Economy, membership, finance, and operations.   

COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT

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MOXY GROUP LLC

Moxy is a people of color-led agency that is comprised of activists, designers, fundraisers, and communication strategists. Moxy utilizes an integrated approach to communications, fundraising, and technology. With this approach, the agency collaborates with organizations that are fighting for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice and supports them to tell their stories, build technology, and raise resources.

LOGISTICS CONSULTANT

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GIRL FRIDAY EVENTS

Girl Friday Events orchestrates events with moxie for nonprofit people.  We do the heavy lifting for seamless soup-to-nuts production of event logistics, while ensuring that your values and voice are loud and clear.  And we do it while laughing more than a little.

 

LOCAL PROGRAM CONSULTANT

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MARANDA WITHERSPOON RICHARDSON | Principal & CEO, MWR Consulting

Maranda Richardson earned her master of public policy with a concentration on nonprofit management and leadership from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a bachelor of science in healthcare administration and planning from Tennessee State University. Mrs. Richardson brings over a decade of experience working in the social service, philanthropic, and community health field.

DISABILITY CAPACITY BUILDER

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SEBASTIAN MARGARET | Disability Capacity Builder

Sebastian Margaret is an anti-ableism/ disability community educator. A Disabled TGNC queer first gen-immigrant they are kept deliciously exhausted and hopeful parenting a pair of gorgeous kids - both of which are now taller than them! They are passionate about the validity and glory of imperfect body/minds and eroding the exclusion and segregation faced by disabled folks in all progressive spaces. Sebastian has been inserting and revealing disability justice issues into progressive movements, while supporting multi–issue capacity and vibrancy in disability communities for decades.

  

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

  • MARJONA JONES (CO-CHAIR) 
    Program Officer, Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock

  • AMORETTA MORRIS (CO-CHAIR)
    Director of National Community Strategies, Annie E. Casey Foundation  

  • MEGAN ARMENTROUT
    Program Associate, Incarnate Word Foundation

  • RYAN LI DAHLSTROM
    Program Officer, Borealis Philanthropy

  • DEB DUBIN
    President & CEO, Gateway Center for Giving

  • ALEJANDRA IBAÑEZ
    Lead Program Officer, Woods Fund Chicago

  • MICHELLE JOHNSON
    Program Officer, The Kresge Foundation

  • SERGIO MARÍN LUNA
    Program Fellow, Hyams Foundation

  • TAINA MCFIELD
    Program Officer, Nathan Cummings Foundation

  • TAMIEKA MOSLEY
    Assistant Director, Southern Partners Fund/Grantmakers for Southern Progress

  • DAVID MOY
    Program Officer, Civic Engagement, Hyams Foundation

  • MARIA MULKEEN
    Program Officer, Affordable Housing, Hyams Foundation

  • TYLER NICKERSON
    Director of Investments & State Strategy, The Solutions Project

  • MARANDA WITHERSPOON RICHARDSON
    Principal & CEO, MWR Consulting

  • TAKEMA ROBINSON
    Director, Greater New Orleans Funders Network

  • MARISSA TIRONA
    Program Officer, Ford Foundation

  • REV. STARSKY WILSON
    President & CEO, Deaconess Foundation

 

SPONSORS

Thank you to our 2018 sponsors! NFG's 2018 National Convening, Raise Up: Moving Money for Justice, was made possible by the generous support of the following sponsors:

CHANGEMAKER

  • Ford Foundation
  • Marguerite Casey Foundation
  • Surdna Foundation
  • The Hyams Foundation

CHAMPION

  • The Annie E. Casey Foundation
  • The Kresge Foundation

SUSTAINER

  • Deaconess Foundation
  • Missouri Foundation for Health
  • Solidago Foundation
  • The California Wellness Foundation
  • The California Endowment
  • The San Francisco Foundation
  • The Workers Lab
  • Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation

SUPPORTER

  • General Service Foundation
  • Hill-Snowdon Foundation
  • The Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation
  • The Solutions Project
  • Needmor Fund
  • Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock

FRIEND

  • Allegany Franciscan Ministries

  • Liberty Hill

  • Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation
  • McKnight Foundation
  • St. Louis Community Foundation
 

PROGRAM

 

HIGHLIGHTS

  

REFLECTIONS

What made the biggest impact on participants at the NFG 2018 National Convening? Check out these perspectives in our series of reflection pieces.

Carmen RojasREIMAGINING HOW WE FUND AND WHAT WE FUND
By Dr. Carmen Rojas, The Workers Lab

"...the siloing of programs treats people as fractions of themselves and not as whole human beings that think about paying rent, buying food, making it to work, and having the capacity to dream better days all at the same time."

Caitlin DuffyWHITE PEOPLE AND ACTIVISM IN THE TRUMP ERA
By Caitlin Duffy, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP)

"As white people, putting our bodies on the line in protest is one of our greatest resources. Compared to the state violence directed at Black and brown bodies, our whiteness privileges us to different treatment from police, the media and other white people who might counter us..."

Lorraine RamirezWHY WE MOVE MONEY FOR JUSTICE
By Lorraine Ramirez, Funders for Justice

"The conference workshop on how to support The Movement for Black Lives’ five-year strategic plan was a full room. I was struck by how many NFG members are committed to finding a way for their institution to support M4BL and its member organizations..."

Amoretta MorrisCHOOSING TO BE A LIBERATED GATEKEEPER
By Amoretta Morris, The Annie E. Casey Foundation

"When we deny the power we hold as grantmakers, we allow ourselves to be unaccountable to communities for that power. Rather than deny our positional privilege, let’s consciously use it to disrupt power and shift it to the people we’re aiming to serve..."

Andrea DobsonFACING AND RECOVERING FROM SOUL TRAUMA
By Andrea Dobson, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation

"My foundation is undergoing strategic planning, and we are about to direct all of our time and energy to advance equity in Arkansas. Sounds great, until I dig into the reality of what we are about to embark upon. Are we actually putting our money where are mouths are?"

 

Ryan Li DahlstromBRINGING OUR WHOLE SELVES TO PHILANTHROPY AND OUR GRANTMAKING
By Ryan Li Dahlstrom, Borealis Philanthropy

"The recognition of people’s multiple identities and centering of communities that are traditionally marginalized in philanthropy continued from the planning process into the convening. One highlight was how disability justice and accessibility were uplifted..."

Julia BeattyANSWERING THE CALL FROM MOVEMENT LEADERS
By Julia Beatty, Borealis Philanthropy

"As I watched clips of family members remembering their loved ones whose lives had been taken by police and state violence, I asked myself: what is our responsibility to these family members and to the incredible organizations that do so much with so little to amplify their voices..."

Megan ArmentroutPHILANTHROPY'S ROLE IN HOLDING TENSION
By Megan Armentrout, Incarnate Word Foundation

"...philanthropy continues to shift priorities every 3–5 years. What would it actually look like for philanthropy to join the long-game with organizers who are in it for the long-haul? Are we well situated to use our power to hold the tension long enough for things to shift around us?" 

Manisha VazeSTANDING IN OUR POWER TOGETHER
By Manisha Vaze, Funders for a Just Economy

"The NFG conference reaffirmed for me what we can do together to push the boundaries in our powerful roles as funders, and foster long-term partnerships with community organizations that are building momentum and shifting power. It was a call to action: our communities cannot wait for us to get it right."

Rudi NavarraTIME TO INVEST FOR JUSTICE
By Rudi Navarra, The Solutions Project

"The Neighborhood Funders Group 'Raise Up' National Convening is arguably the premier social and racial justice funder gathering in the country. This past June, it was evident how important intersectional work and funding across silos would get us closer to our social justice goals..."

 

RESOURCES

Keynote Address Recording

The opening keynote for the NFG 2018 National Convening was given by Reverend Starsky D. Wilson, President and CEO of Deaconess Foundation, and a Program Committee Member for the convening. Listen to the recording of his keynote address.

Reverend Starsky Wilson onstage at NFG's 2018 National Convening.

Rev. Wilson grounded the conference in St. Louis, its recent history, and its current social and political context. In 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon appointed Rev. Wilson to lead the Ferguson Commission, a group of citizens empowered to study the underlying conditions and make public policy recommendations to help the region progress through issues exposed by the tragic death of Michael Brown, Jr. In 2015, they released the ground-breaking Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity Report, calling for sweeping changes in policing, the courts, child well-being and economic mobility.

Presentation Materials

 

ACCESS, ACCOMMODATIONS, AND DISABILITY STATEMENT OF INTENT

In organizing Raise Up we held strongly to the goal to create a space in St Louis where Disabled/chronically ill and Deaf folks shouldn’t need to pass as being able-bodied, healthy or from hearing culture, in order to be present or to participate fully. We arrived at this goal knowing that Disability surrounds us all, is in many ways what is most familiar to us; bodies and minds with differences, chronic illness and Deafness. Ableism lives and breathes at the hub of racism, poverty, displacement, violence, incarceration, state control and more; we chose to begin the work of re-centering Disability into our analysis and anti -ableism into our practice.

We were determined in our attempt to create a gathering informed by the truth that we all lose when Disabled/ill voices and politics are not present. We are clear that the embedding of Disability politics and anti-ableism as issues of racial, economic, Trans and gender justice requires time, exposure, political will and persistence - this is our beginning.

We have a long way to go, yet wanted to start here with Raise Up seeking to be a place where passing was not required for credibility, and participation or value is not dependent upon assimilation.

We are excited to extend this invitation to join us as we lean into Disability and build intentionally towards anti-ableism as a core value and implemented principle of action.

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