A MESSAGE FROM THE GRASSROOTS
A CALL TO ACTION TO ALL CALIFORNIA FUNDERS
As California experiences an unprecedented health and economic crisis, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has forced grassroots organizations to use their limited resources to ensure that the immediate needs of the most vulnerable communities are met. This has put a tremendous strain on the finances and sustainability of organizations and jeopardizes the health and safety of staff members because organizations must continue to be in the community to provide life-saving services, information, supplies, and other necessities. It is tragic that it took a global pandemic to expose these gross injustices, but it reveals that our demands for a more just, fair, and humane system have always been an issue of political will.
As established community leaders and movement-building organizations working on electoral and civic engagement, intersectional coalition-building, culture strategy, direct service provision and more, we know that this crisis provides us a rare opportunity to create the society that we know is possible. A society that invests in our collective wellness and healing. A society that centers the most vulnerable in our policies and institutions. And a society that provides the most fundamental rights of providing every person with equitable access to a quality education, a living wage, a place to call home, affordable health care, the decriminalization of our communities and the elimination of racism.
As the Justice Funders and the Resonance Collaborative recently stated, “At this point in history, incremental approaches have no reasonable chance of addressing the scale of crisis we face. Only transformational approaches rooted in strategies with the potential to advance exponential change can put us on a path towards justice and liberation.” Now is the time to be bold. Now is the time to build community power. Now is the time to ensure that our systems — and system leaders — do not revert back to the outdated policies and practices that exploit and marginalize people. It is now the time to be intersectional, intentional and inclusive of all communities, centering Black, Indigenous, Latinx, undocumented, LGBTQ, immigrant, Asians and Pacific Islander, disabled and Trans, Gender Non-Conforming and Intersex communities.
As philanthropic leaders, we ask you to join us in ensuring that long-fought gains that we have made during this crisis become permanent. You can do this by providing increased resources for the long-term sustainability of our social movements that are rooted in transformative justice, love, and liberation. Together, we can fundamentally transform the very conditions that have allowed injustice and inequality to exist so that we never find ourselves in this position again.
To meet the growing needs of the community, we strongly urge the philanthropic community to enact the following four actions immediately:
Immediate Action Steps:
- Increase Annual Funding to 20%
The federal government mandates foundations to provide at least 5% of their total funding to nonprofit organizations. Given the magnitude of the crisis, we urge you to not conform with the standards but meet the urgent times by allocating a minimum of 20% of your total funding permanently for frontline, grassroots, people of color-led organizations working with the most vulnerable communities.
2. Revise Funding Criteria
Given the increasing community need, we urge foundations to suspend their usual grant making cycle to give automatic renewals by ensuring that established community leaders and grassroots, people of color-led organizations are prioritized and funded through unrestricted, multi-year, general operating support grants with minimal, if any, reporting requirements.
2. Divest from Harmful Investments
We must all live our espoused values of standing up for health care for all, worker rights, environmental justice, and abolishing mass incarceration and deportation by divesting from the very systems that sustain these practices and reap profit from them. We strongly urge foundations to divest from fossil fuels, the prison industrial complex and other industries that hinder the equitable redistribution of resources to the most vulnerable communities. Now is the time to denounce capitalism in all its current forms and invest in the revitalization and ongoing healing of the earth and our most impacted communities.
3. Leverage Existing Relationships
Funders have existing relationships with the private and public sector that can help organizations build their fundraising capabilities and diversify their funding streams. This is absolutely paramount during a time when we must think outside of the box to fund long-term movement-building efforts, such as supporting dedicated fundraising staff, access to revenue-generating opportunities, and investment in capital campaigns so groups can purchase and own their property. What is imperative is that we utilize this crisis to help strengthen the infrastructure and long-term financial health of organizations on the frontlines.
This is a historic moment in time. An unprecedented moment that demands us to take action. This is not a time for charity, but rather a time for radical change. This is the time when philanthropic foundations can truly honor their values. A time when foundations can dramatically increase their annual giving and liquidate assets to deploy rapid response funds to the most vulnerable populations during this global pandemic.
In closing, thank you for your partnership. We now find ourselves at a critically important juncture, an inflection point of massive proportions. A point where the actions that we take together will be a matter of life and death for the most vulnerable in our communities. We ask that you meet the challenge and do everything you can to ensure that we not only survive this crisis, but emerge stronger and more united.
Sincerely,
Erika Pinheiro, Litigation and Policy Director, Al Otro Lado
Dr. Connie Wun, Co-Founder and Executive Director, AAPI Women Lead
Ben Wang, Co-Director, Asian Prisoners Support Committee
Kendrick Sampson, Co-Founder, BLD PWR
Alberto Retana, President and CEO, Community Coalition
George Galvis, Executive Director, Communities United For Restorative Youth Justice
Rev. Samuel J. Casey, Executive Director, Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement
Sammy Nunez, Executive Director, Fathers and Families of San Joaquin
Christina Fialho, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Freedom for Immigrants
Carmen Perez-Jordan, President, The Gathering for Justice
Guerline Jozef, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Haitian Bridge Alliance
Javier Hernandez, Director, Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice
John Pineda, Deputy Director, MILPA
Eddy Zheng, Founder and President, New Breath Foundation
Khalid Alexander, President, Pillars of the Community
Mike de la Rocha, Co-Founder and CEO, Revolve Impact
Sarah Eagle Heart, Co-Founder and CEO, Return to the Heart Foundation
Kevin Perez, Founder and Vice President, Somos Familia Valle
Bamby Salcedo, President and CEO, The TransLatin@ Coalition
