Posts by hallienfg

Countless generations of my family were raised in Rivers State Nigeria until weapons of war removed them from their ancestral lands. Understood by many immigrants, Palestinians, Black, Indigenous, and communities of color across the world, the impact of violence lives in the memories and bodies for generations to follow. Those experiences sparked my curiosity to…

Dear friend, When NFG held its first-ever National Convening in Cleveland in 1995, we were known as one of the few spaces in philanthropy specifically focused on people of color-led, grassroots organizing, and power building as the key to effective social change strategies. Nearly thirty years later, funders continue to look forward to our biennial…

Dear friend, In March 2022, I organized my first site visit to Puerto Rico as a staff member of NFG’s Amplify Fund. I had been to Puerto Rico many times in my prior job at Open Society Foundations, but, this time, I committed to spending two weeks on the island. Two weeks gave the grantees more…

Dear friend, Neighborhood Funders Group is a community of grantmakers who are moving money to racial, gender, economic, disability, and climate justice. We organize philanthropy so that Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities and low-income communities thrive. For the past two years, NFG has been in a significant period of leadership transition and organizational change that…

Dear friend, A political home derives some of its greatest strength from the intentional care and participation of its members. When we say that Neighborhood Funders Group offers ​​grantmakers a political home — a place to connect, strategize, and take action — it is with recognition that joyful, inspiring organizing spaces are created in community. For NFG…

Dear friend, For years Neighborhood Funders Group has been a place for meaning-making in philanthropy, a political home for funders to learn how to shift power and resources to BIPOC and low-income communities. As a connector of people, place, and power, our work at NFG is deeply relational. Nearly a year ago, NFG hosted its 2023…

Dear friend, I recently had the opportunity to travel to Kerala, a state within India, located on the Malabar Coast. While there, I visited a bird sanctuary in the backwaters of Alleppey, and had long conversations with local friends and their families about the most recent worker strike over filter coffee. Kerala has a rich…

Dear friend, As a Lakota person who has lived most of my life in a rural landscape, I am deeply familiar with both the innovation and struggle that comprise rural life. Across the US, insufficient investment and policy enacted without community input continues to erode basic access to housing, food, and healthcare in rural communities;…

Dear friend, Winter often represents a time of challenging transition as we navigate the darkness and dormancy, but now is not the time for hibernation. Our sector must continue moving money to racial, gender, economic, disability, and climate justice and organizing to liberate philanthropic assets. At NFG, we are energized by the bold and strategic…

Dear friend, I am writing this message to you having just returned from NFG’s final all-staff gathering of 2023. We met in New Orleans to celebrate the organization’s accomplishments over the past year; engage staff in our organizational development and transition process; and spend some in-person time planning for 2024 and deepening our relationships as…

Dear friend, What a joy to write to you from my new position as the Senior Director of the Amplify Fund at NFG! For nearly 18 years (through my roles with the Arcus Foundation, Ms. Foundation for Women, and Grantmakers for Southern Progress) I’ve been on the receiving end of these NFG newsletters. I’m thrilled that as…

Hello friend, This past July, Neighborhood Funders Group wrapped up the second cohort in our Racial Capitalism Community of Practice. Seeing this work grow continues to be heartening. We now have over 50 funder members who have completed the cohort — spending hours on reflective political education, building community with one another, and designing actionable projects…

Hello friend, Last month marked my four year anniversary as part of team NFG! Part of my role as Director of Membership and Communications is to onboard new members who have recently joined NFG to co-conspire with our network of grantmakers to accelerate racial, gender, economic, disability, and climate justice. I also meet with our…

Hello friend, I’m Manisha Vaze, and after five years of working with the Funders for a Just Economy program, I feel very privileged to move into more leadership at Neighborhood Funders Group as the new Vice President of Programs. For those of you who I haven’t gotten to know or build with yet, I’m writing…

Dear friend, I became NFG’s Communications Manager a few months ago. It was the middle of January — the start of a new year and a new chapter of my career. From the interview process, to check-ins with my manager and teammates, to the staff and board gathering we held in March, I have learned so much…

Dear friend, I am writing to you fresh off the heels of our 2023 National Convening in Wilmington, NC — the first in-person convening NFG has hosted since 2018! Throughout the convening, as we exercised our regathering muscle as a community, we dove into a range of topics, including thinking big about the potential impacts…

Dear friend, NFG’s 2023 National Convening is one month away! We’ve been planning this convening since 2021 and are deeply appreciative of the support and guidance of our members and partners who have helped us shape our incredible convening program, including our convening Co-chairs — Chi-Ante Jones of Kolibri Foundation & Cypress Fund and Tania Durán of Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. In…

“It’s all about connection!”  That’s what I thought to myself as I left my 80 degree home to get on a 6:30am flight to unseasonably chilly Los Angeles, just in time for Southern California’s latest atmospheric river (eeep!), to gather with my NFG colleagues and Board. The NFG team last gathered in person in September 2022,…