RESPONSIVE PHILANTHROPY

Responsive Philanthropy June 2019

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Dear Reader,

Author, historian and activist Howard Zinn famously wrote: “You can’t be neutral on a moving train. … Events are already moving in certain deadly directions, and to be neutral means to accept that.”

Our country is at a historic crossroads. Funders are called on to be brave and bold by investing in the social justice movements that are our best hope of moving that train onto a different track, toward a more equitable, just and inclusive future. NCRP’s new Movement Investment Project is a long-term initiative to drive more philanthropic resources to help these critical movements – beginning with immigrant and refugee justice – succeed.

We all have our blind spots. In philanthropy, this shows up in many ways, including the lack of support for grassroots social movement organizations led by people of color women and girls, LGBTQI people and other marginalized communities working the front lines.

Thankfully, we also have people and organizations who are unafraid to speak truth to power, whose wisdom and experiences help us challenge implicit biases. I’m excited to feature some of these brave voices in this special edition of NCRP’s Responsive Philanthropy journal.

In a Q&A with NCRP titled “Confronting the anti-Blackness in immigrant justice philanthropy,” Daranee Petsod, president of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrant and Refugees, urges funders to stop overlooking Black immigrant and refugee communities. She offers practical advice on how grantmakers can confront anti-Blackness in their strategies and practices.

Leading migrant justice activists Odilia Romero and Xiomara Corpeño connect the dots between the historical and systemic erasure and neglect of Native people and the dominant narrative in philanthropy that overlooks Indigenous migrants. They identify how philanthropy can help stop the invisibilization of Indigenous migrants in the U.S.

In “Divest/invest at the intersections: Immigrant justice and criminal justice reform,” Lorraine Ramirez of Neighborhood Funders Group’ provides an example of how immigrant justice is a necessary lens for many of the issues and communities that grantmaker care about. She invites funders to divest from policies and practices that criminalize and marginalize immigrants, refugees and all people of color, and invest in grassroots organizing for a criminal justice system that truly keeps our communities safe and secure.

Are you ready to help secure a thriving future for all our communities, including immigrants and refugees, but don’t know where to start? In “Funders and donors can build, share and wield power to bolster the pro-immigrant movement,” NCRP’s Lisa Ranghelli offers tailored tips and discussion questions from our popular Power Moves assessment guide.

Finally, NCRP members offer advice for grantmakers to support under-resourced grassroots immigrant and refugee justice movement organizations in, “What’s the one thing you want funders to do differently to support the pro-immigrant and -refugee movement?”

I hope these articles inspire you to amp up your movement philanthropy to help ensure that all our communities flourish. Contact investinmovements[at]ncrp.org for questions and to connect with the Movement Investment Project team.

In solidarity,

Timi Gerson
Vice President and Chief Content Officer
NCRP