Solidaire

Solidaire Action is joining hundreds of foundations and individual donors around the world who have signed onto the Philanthropy Open Letter for Humanity and Justice in Palestine and Israel demanding an immediate ceasefire. In the face of so much pain and suffering, we call forth our deepest sense of humanity and justice, because we know that none of us are free until all of us are free. Read the full letter: https://buff.ly/3QkATah

Our own Nigel Charles is featured on Organize the Rich this week! Nigel asks us, "What if we saw our contributions as a way of becoming a part of movements, adding our resources, skills and experience to the cache of tools we use to craft our collective future? What if we focused on the “real reward”: a just and equitable world for all of us?" This is the first collaboration between Solidaire and Organize the Rich, Michael Gast's multimedia project documenting the transformative work of organizing the wealthy to support multiracial, working-class-led movements. These honest and accessible conversations about class, money, fundraising, and left movements are essential for our shared work. We're looking forward to future collaborations. Read the full thing here -- https://lnkd.in/ger9JiJ3

Grateful to be included in this conversation. Trans leadership in philanthropy is valued, strategic and a blessing to all of our work!

An honor and treat to speak with the Freedom Dreams in Philanthropy team in this episode of ‘Becoming the Vision’ — a podcast about practicing the world we all deserve, and probing the idea that we must change ourselves to change the world. 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽 In this fifth episode, we welcome Daniel Lee, Director of Philanthropic Transformation at Solidaire. He explores the concept of "lineage," not as a static idea, but as an active process - a practice of choosing, carrying, and transforming. He shares insights on what it means to be an "ancestor in training," delving into its responsibilities, challenges, and the transformative power of embracing our shared humanity and history.

In "The Future of Equitable Philanthropy" on Stanford Social Innovation Review, Darren Isom, Cora Daniels and Lyell S. write "The assignment for this current moment of pushback is to push forward—reward the wins by continuing to do the work." There are so many nuggets of wisdom here about how to "push forward" offered by leaders of color in the philanthropic sector working at the forefront of equitable philanthropy. We are proud to be highlighted here alongside Black Feminist Fund, Proteus Fund, Omidyar Network, Democracy Fund, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Schott Foundation for Public Education, Children's Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Donors of Color Network, Pop Culture Collaborative, Abundant Futures Fund, Black Migrant Power Fund, Borealis Philanthropy, Next River and The Bridgespan Group and proud to see so many of our members and partners represented in this lineup. 👏

TODAY! We Got Us: Resourcing BIPOC Trans/Queer Communities featuring Solidaire's own Malachi Garza --

“Protecting the civic space in which the pro-democracy coalition can speak, operate and organize, and ensuring that the electoral process in future elections remains free and fair” should be the core objective of foundations in this moment, writes Deepak Bhargava, President of THE JPB FOUNDATION, Joe Goldman, and Laleh Ispahani, Managing Director of Open Society Foundations in a new op-ed. They offer a three-part strategy to achieve this: 1. Defending the safety, security and wellbeing of communities and organizations who will be most vulnerable to authoritarian attacks. 2. Defending against abuses of power that undermine democratic institutions and values. 3. Building the durable power of grassroots, pro-democracy organizations and broadening the coalition committed to an inclusive, multiracial democracy. Read their full call to action for funders of pro-democracy organizations at Inside Philanthropy https://lnkd.in/eByAy7qe 

I loved getting to talk recently with Linda Burnham, social justice movement leader, Black feminist writer, strategist and Research Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She was a founding member of the Third World Women’s Alliance in the 70’s and was the founding Executive Director of the Women of Color Resource Center in the 90’s. I got to ask her questions like… How were movements funded before the rise of philanthropy and nonprofits?  What were the economics of being an activist and organizer in the 60’s and 70’s?  What are the pros and cons of our current movement economics?  What’s working and what isn’t about the left’s relationship to the rich these days? Linda shares her personal experience living and leading through the transition from 60's and 70's radical movements and party formations through the rise of nonprofits and big philanthropy today. And she brings it with some real challenges to our current nonprofit-centered social movement culture. This is one of those interviews that raises more questions than answers. And I think that is just right for the time we are in. While we do all we can to block Trump's agenda now, there is also a lot of reflection I want to be doing. On where we've been, where we are and what's next. And conversations like this, with movement elders like Linda, feel like one key way to illuminate the way forward (or at least the questions that will get us there). I hope you take a read. https://lnkd.in/gap4HS3m Here’s one particularly interesting part to pique your interest… “In Black Sisters United, Third World Women's Alliance, the Alliance Against Women's Oppression, none of that was funded by outside folks. There was no staff...There were some folks working on the newspaper and journal. But everybody else had full-time jobs. It's not like you had a staff of dozens or hundreds - that just wasn't a thing. The assumption was everybody works and then does their political work on the side… That was a different period - my parents owned their house, my grandparents owned their houses. The neighborhood my daughter grew up in, there's no way we could be there now. The neighborhood I'm in now, I wouldn't be able to be in it had I not gotten lucky. The economics were really, really different. I think the disadvantage now in the nonprofit world is that it's so profoundly dependent on big money and philanthropy that people really can't imagine crossing the street without $150,000 in hand. That's a real problem. The ways we're structured now... I have a really hard time figuring out how you get from where we are now to a more mass formation when everybody's looking for a salary. I actually don't get it... Folks come into movement now and expect that the movement owes them an upper middle class life. There's no fucking social justice movement that owes you an upper middle class life!' #movementelder #nonprofits #learnourhistory #movementeconomics #lineage #whatthefdowedonow #timetoreflect