Below are several of the reports and readings that supported our learning in Project Phoenix, a year-long cohort collective learning program for funders exploring fronts ranging from local economies and climate justice to worker co-ops under the frame of a “just transition” or “solidarity economy” or “economic resiliency” or “new economy.” Learn more about it here.
Rapid Response Funds - foundations and donors can contribute support to these funding efforts
National public foundations and intermediaries:
By Lisa Ranghelli, January 2012.
This report distills findings from more than 400 pages of research amassed over three years as part of NCRP’s Grantmaking for Community Impact Project (GCIP). The project documented $26.6 billion in benefits for taxpayers and communities in 13 states, and found that every dollar grantmakers and other donors invested in policy and civic engagement provided a return of $115 in community benefit ...read more.
article and photo provided by the Movement Net Lab
In tandem with the many movement networks of the last decade, innovative funding channels and configurations have emerged to support them.
These changes are part of the shift from foundation-centered funding to a broader conceptualization of resources we call a living resource system . A living resource system provides a relationship-based approach to resources:...
by Manuel Pastor and Rhonda Ortiz, originally published in March 2009
Social movements are a hidden underpinning of the American story. Using the tools of relationship building, community mobilization, and symbolic protest, they have helped bring us civil rights, labor protections, and even a healthier environment, sparking people’s aspirations, imaginations, and actions for a better nation.
This document seeks to provide a guidepost to both funders and the field by detailing what makes for a successful...
February 5, 2017
By Edgar Villanueva , VP of Programs and Advocacy at the Schott Foundation for Public Education
These first two weeks in Trump's America have been chaotic and stressful, but already emblematic of the dire needs philanthropy must step up to. From those who could be left out of affordable health care to those bandied about in an educational...
Again and again the data show that people of color in the U.S. are disproportionately, and systematically, stopped, frisked, arrested, and exposed to the use of force by police. Police departments and communities across the U.S. are struggling with these realities and with what has become a glaring divide in how Americans experience and relate to policing.
This special collection includes research from nonprofits, foundations, and university based research centers, who have not only described and documented the issue but who also provide much-needed recommendations for addressing...
The Movement Strategy Center offers a plethora of resources that speak on transformative practices, collective impact, intersecting issues, and building progressive power. Below is a curated list.
Practices of Transformative Movement Building
We need transformative strategies to generate exponential change. But how do we accomplish this? How...
This is a pivotal time in Native America. Opportunities are opening up as the result of improving economic standards, higher levels of educational attainment, and better health outcomes in certain regions; however, many of the challenges that have long faced our population still persist. For every major challenge and issue there are also efforts to make positive changes.
Native Voices Rising is a joint research and re-granting project of Native Americans in Philanthropy and Common...
by Alicia Walters, Movement Building Coordinator, Forward Together Originally published on Beyond the Picket Fence: The Strong Families Blog .
On August 9th, 2014, unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. In the weeks after his death, protests ensued and a national dialogue began about police brutality, the over policing of communities of color, the militarization of our police forces, and...
As the South Grows is an initiative of Grantmakers for Southern Progress (GSP) and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) to give philanthropists the tools they need to partner effectively with visionary leaders across the South. The initiative will produce a four-part investigative research and resource report series around place-based strategies for supporting structural change in the South. Through timely...
Neighborhood Funders Group and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) co-hosted "How to Creatively Fund Social Movements," a webinar that explored how foundations can be more flexible in supporting grassroots groups and leaders. Experienced grantmakers and organizers shared strategies for responding to this movement moment's critical need for resources to frontline social change actors.
Project Phoenix convened a group of funders from a broad range of issue perspectives (climate, civic engagement, worker rights, local economies, etc.) and a broad range of institutional types and positions (size, mission, geography, approach, level of risk-taking, etc.). We realized we often meant very different things by the terms “just transition” or “new economy” or “solidarity economy” and found it difficult to understand each others’ work and the possibilities at the intersection in a shared framework. Learn more about...
In bayous, hollers, cities, and small towns across the American South, visionary leaders have long pioneered cutting edge, successful strategies to build lasting change in their communities and beyond. These leaders have the skills and expertise necessary to navigate an inclusive way forward for everyone in this era of unprecedented political, economic, and demographic shifts. Yet philanthropy—for reasons both mundane and profound—hasn't kept up. How can Southern and national philanthropists alike change this trend and help advance progress in the region and the nation overall?
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What will it take to win successful economic justice campaigns in the South? With many families facing chronically low wages and economic insecurity, an understanding and attention to the political economy of the South can help funders and field organizations develop successful intervention strategies.
This report was commissioned by the Society for Labour and Development (based in India), the Project of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ProDESC, based in Mexico), and the National Guestworkers Alliance, three labor rights organizations developing transnational strategies for organizing workers in low-wage industries. Economic globalization has created new strains on labor forces and communities, and the increasing mobility of capital (and with it the threat of exit, disinvestment, and job loss) poses unique challenges to traditional models of labor organizing.
The substantial...
As a first step in establishing a framework and priorities, the Integrated Rural Strategies Group commissioned a scan of rural organizing work, Voices from the Field: Rural Organizers on What They Need from Funders . From this scan, the group has gained literacy in the organizing work...
