Posts by briteweb
Reflections after my first year as NFG President: NFG’s June 2021 Newsletter
I didn’t choose my first leadership role — it chose me. As a child who emigrated from Mexico to Detroit with my family, I became my family’s language broker. I learned English the fastest, un-learned my accent the quickest as a survival mechanism, and learned how to navigate the systems for my family. I took…
Read MoreRedefining the social & employment contract: NFG’s May 2021 Newsletter
The imagination, ingenuity, and power of workers, neighbors, and organizers in regions across the country are bigger than the crises they face. NFG’s Building Power in Place (BPP) project bridges organizers and funders with place-specific research highlighting groundbreaking community and worker organizer strategies. BPP showcases the realities of what building power in place looks like and…
Read MoreIntroducing Philanthropy Foward: Cohort 3
We are excited to announce the launch of Philanthropy Forward’s Cohort 3 in partnership with The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions! Philanthropy Forward is a CEO fellowship community for visionary leaders who center racial and gender justice and community power building to disrupt and transform the future of philanthropy. This fellowship brings together…
Read MoreBuilding rural power for racial, economic, gender, & climate justice: NFG’s April 2021 Newsletter
At Neighborhood Funders Group, we know that local grassroots organizing is key to Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities building power to influence decision-making about the places where they live, work, learn, and play. It’s how we can make sure our communities have access to clean water, stable housing, and economies that sustain people…
Read MoreResourcing Rural Organizing Infrastructure: A New York Case Study
New York State’s progressive movement has accomplished much in recent years, including passage of the Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act (Green Light NY), the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act (FLFLPA), and the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). These three examples demonstrate the capability of people- powered movements to effect social change.…
Read MoreBuilding Power in Place – Nashville: Reshaping the City Towards an Economy for All
Massive May 30th, 2020 protest for George Floyd & Black Lives at Nashville’s Legislative Plaza, led in part by The Equity Alliance & Stand Up Nashville. Photo: Odessa Kelly. With public eyes on 2020 voter mobilizations to give voice to hundreds of thousands of Black, Latinx, and API voters in Georgia and Arizona; burgeoning union movements…
Read MorePhilanthropy must be accountable: NFG’s March 2021 Newsletter
We need each other and all of us in the fight for racial, gender, economic, and climate justice. The latest incidents of hate against AAPI women, elders, and our communities have left us grieving, angry, tired, and steadfast in our commitment to make philanthropy more accountable to AAPI, Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities…
Read More#StopAsianHate and Connect with NFG
At Neighborhood Funders Group, our hearts are heavy and our rage is mighty after learning about the murder of eight people — including six Asian American women — in separate incidents in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday night. These hate crimes follow a rise of violence targeting Asian American Pacific Islander communities — especially elders, women,…
Read MoreHow Philanthropy Can Move from Crisis to Transformation
Dimple Abichandani, Executive Director of the General Service Foundation, urges grantmakers and the philanthropic sector to take concrete actions to defend democracy and speak out against racist attacks on people of color. This post was originally published here by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project. Dimple was part of the first Philanthropy Forward: Leadership for Change Fellowship cohort, a joint initiative of…
Read MoreHonoring Black histories & futures: NFG’s February 2021 Newsletter
To honor Black histories and futures, Neighborhood Funders Group is excited to share with you a new report from Funders for a Just Economy and the Amplify Fund on the critical Black women-led organizing redefining Nashville, Tennessee. The first report for our multi-city Building Power in Place project, Nashville: Reshaping the City Towards an Economy for All, tells a small…
Read MorePhilanthropy Moving Forward a Bolder Approach to America’s Housing Crisis
This blog was written by Nile Malloy, Director of NFG’s Democratizing Development Program to urge philanthropy to propel a bold approach to the housing crisis. Housing advocates and grassroots groups from across the country continue to organize elected officials at the local, state, and federal level for another eviction moratorium, rental assistance, and foreclosure delay relief…
Read MoreBe vigilant and move the money: NFG’s January 2021 Newsletter
In NFG’s final Strike Watch blog of 2020, Manisha Vaze — Director of our Funders for a Just Economy Program — issued this call to action: “The organizer in me is asking you to stay vigilant and move resources to where movements are directing us: to organizing, power building, and movements calling to defund the police as…
Read MoreI cried like a baby, I swore like a sailor: NFG’s December 2020 Newsletter
At Neighborhood Funders Group’s final board meeting of 2020, the toll of the year hit me — suddenly. While saying farewell to Mary Sobecki (Executive Director of the Needmor Fund) as she ended her term on NFG’s Board of Directors, I found myself crying like a baby. I have known Mary since NFG’s National Convening…
Read MoreStrike Watch 2020 Review: Defund the Police to Build Worker Power
By Manisha Vaze, Director, NFG Funders for a Just Economy As we close this year, it’s probably safe to assume that you, like me, are emotionally and physically exhausted. The never-ending tragedy of this year’s global pandemic, the job loss, the deep inequality of the economic and health systems, and the new exposure for many…
Read MoreA Warm Farewell & A Warm Welcome
Neighborhood Funders Group is a place for meaning-making in philanthropy. We offer funders a political home: a place to connect, strategize, and take action. A big part of how we make meaning and take action is incubating spaces for funders to organize and grow new initiatives — all toward the ultimate goal of shifting money…
Read MoreTechnologies for Liberation: Toward Abolitionist Futures
Technologies for Liberation: Toward Abolitionist Futures is a new report by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice in collaboration with Research Action Design (RAD). The report explores the ways the state and corporations in the U.S. are using technology to control, police, surveil, and limit the flow of money and power to QT2SBIPOC communities. It also…
Read MoreRaising expectations & creating community in philanthropy: NFG’s November 2020 Newsletter
On October 1, I enthusiastically moved into the role of Vice President of Programs for Neighborhood Funders Group after being on our staff team since January 2019 and a former NFG member leader. I am proud to continue NFG’s 40-year legacy of mobilizing philanthropy to redefine what is possible for this sector and our communities. Being part…
Read MoreStrike Watch – Election 2020: Workers Redefine the Map, as Corporate Tech Pours Millions to Undermine Rights
While the public eye (rightfully) centered on the US presidency this election, worker-led organizing made tremendous waves across the country in ballot initiative, issue-based wins and get out the vote mobilization, including in closely-watched swing states. Corporations and the ultra-wealthy also pushed their agendas of racialized and gendered inequality ahead, most notably California’s anti-labor rights…
Read MoreThe Road Ahead
Neighborhood Funders Group is a place for meaning-making in philanthropy. We offer funders a political home: a place to connect, strategize, and take action. We are about to usher in a new Presidential administration. With it comes hopes and possibilities for a country in which Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, queer and transgender…
Read MoreStrategize with NFG in the lead up to the election & beyond: NFG’s October 2020 Newsletter
We hope that — at one of the most critical junctions in the United States in decades — you are tapping into your reservoirs of joy, strength, and nourishment: whether that’s friends and family, rest, food, music, art, plants, pets, or philanthropic community. As we all continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, its economic…
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