NFG Newsletter
NFG’s October Newsletter: NFG’s Amplify Fund is growing and moving money
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…
Read MoreNFG’s September Newsletter: Reflections on FJE’s second Racial Capitalism Community of Practice cohort
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…
Read MoreNFG’s August Newsletter: NFG members take action this summer
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…
Read MoreDDP June 2023 Event Update
Hi friend, If events in Atlanta, GA and countless instances of mass criminalization reveal anything, now is the moment for philanthropy to lean deeper into invest-divest frameworks. Decades of research and generations of grassroots leaders have affirmed that housing is critically important to make communities safer and healthier. However, instead of substantial investments in community land stewardship, tenant protections, or food justice,…
Read MoreNFG’s July Newsletter: (re)introducing Manisha Vaze, NFG’s Vice President of Programs!
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…
Read MoreNFG’s June Newsletter: a post-convening invitation to build with NFG!
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…
Read MoreNFG’s May Newsletter: post-convening reflections from Interim President Amy Morris
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…
Read MoreDDP May 2023 Newsletter
Hi friend, Join us for an in-depth discussion and interactive workshop for philanthropy to identify roles their institutions can serve in advancing community-led land stewardship models. Based on their recent report entitled “Community Ownership: Emerging Models and Roles for Philanthropy” Inclusive Capital Collective and Roanhorse Consulting will introduce how community land stewardship models are proven…
Read MoreNFG’s April Newsletter: a moment of connection with our convening Co-Chairs
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…
Read MoreNFG’s March Newsletter: it’s all about connection!
“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,…
Read MoreNFG’s February Newsletter: join us for our latest political education series!
Dear friend, I’m immensely proud of the ways that Neighborhood Funders Group pairs principle with practice in a myriad of ways — in our programmatic priorities, relationships with movement, collaboration as colleagues, and even internal operations. As a community organizer, I know that fighting the violent systems that structure our society is grueling work. I’ve also seen us…
Read MoreDDP February 2023 Newsletter
Mural on Lake Street in Minneapolis, MN supported by members of Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia that states “From the grips of landlords to the community” “Land is a basic requirement of life” – Gilda Haas Hi friend, The statement above from Gilda Haas during the Land Stewardship Learning Series launch helped chart the direction and…
Read MoreNFG’s January 2023 Newsletter: what nutrients must philanthropy employ to fuel ourselves, our communities, and our movements?
Dear friend, I’ve been thinking about nutrition lately — not nutrition in the toxic diet culture way — but nutrition as in the necessary ingredients that fuel our bodies and also our spirits, our communities, and our movements. This thinking was in part prompted by Alice Sparkly Kat’s 2023 horoscopes. I’m an Aquarius sun (happy Aquarius…
Read MoreNFG’s wishes for joy, rest, resilience, and building with us in 2023: NFG’s December 2022 Newsletter
Dear NFG Community, I hope that you’re finding an abundance of joy and reflection as we move towards the end of this year, and that you can radically rest and connect with your loved ones before the beginning of 2023. I last wrote to you in June, right as Neighborhood Funders Group embarked on a…
Read MoreBuilding power in place: NFG’s November 2022 newsletter
The integrated voter engagement efforts leading up to the recent elections underscore how local grassroots organizers are leading the way to seed transformative change and ensure that our communities thrive in the face of extreme challenges. At Neighborhood Funders Group, we are encouraged by philanthropy’s moves to uplift (and fund!) community organizing in bolder and more impactful ways. We also know that…
Read MoreDDP November 2022 Newsletter
Hi friend, This newsletter contains updates from our partners at HouseUS, a national housing justice fund supporting organizing and tenant-led change at the local, state, and federal levels, and the Homes Guarantee campaign: In November, the Homes Guarantee campaign will host a convening of its tenant leadership team, the Tenant Reckoning: The Rent is Too Damn High, in Washington DC.…
Read MoreNFG’s October 2022 Newsletter: imagining how philanthropy can move toward a non-racialized economy
Neighborhood Funders Group first introduced you to our Racial Capitalism Community of Practice, which is hosted by NFG’s Funders for a Just Economy, in our August newsletter. Now we’re sharing key takeaways on what a non-racialized economy means from this six month-long cohort in which 20 people representing seven foundations and NFG participated. Our first Racial Capitalism Community of…
Read MoreMidwest Fall 2022 Newsletter: Holding Change with Care 🍂
I hope you are finding rest and warmth as we traverse this season of transitions. In our home, the little ones and I have been tracking the colors of the leaves and we’ve been celebrating with loved ones the Mid-Autumn Festival and the upcoming Día de Muertos. Fall has already been filled with reminders that change is…
Read More2022 October Amplify Newsletter
Dear friends, Our commitment to deep, relational grantmaking means that, in addition to our long-term commitment to racial justice powerbuilding, we respond during crises of all kinds. Crises that affect 1) all our grantees partners, like COVID; 2) individual grantee partners; and 3) grantee partners in just one of our eight places as was the case…
Read MoreEvent Recap: 9/15 Indiana Co-Governance Funder Briefing
In Indianapolis, gun violence is down 20% so far this year for the first time in a decade; a new crisis response system supports people in crisis to get the care they deserve rather than ending up behind bars; and the nation’s strongest civilian oversight body over law enforcement, created just nine month ago, has…
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