NFG Newsletter
Midwest Spring 2022 Newsletter: Seeding Change 🌱
I am so honored to say hello to you as the Program Manager of the Midwest Organizing Infrastructure Funders (Midwest Program) at Neighborhood Funders Group. I shifted into this role from Sr. Program Coordinator last month, a transition that has paralleled the Midwest’s journey into spring. In recent years, I have begun gardening vegetables, which has been…
Read MoreHow NFG Celebrates Worker Justice Movements: NFG’s May 2022 Newsletter
At the beginning of May — on International Workers’ Day — Neighborhood Funders Group was excited to announce the winners of our 2022 Discount Foundation Legacy Award! We’re resharing this announcement and sending our sincerest congratulations to this year’s awardee, Wendy Melendez Garcia of Local 32BJ SEIU District 615, as well as the runner-up and equally-inspiring Nap Pempena, Secretary…
Read More(Re)Sharing NFG’s National Convening update + more events: NFG’s April 2022 Newsletter
Neighborhood Funders Group is re-sharing the announcement about our National Convening that we made earlier this month. We are shifting the timing of our National Convening in Wilmington, North Carolina from June 2022 to Spring 2023. Convening is NFG’s ‘superpower,’ and the most frequently named reason for why we are many funders’ political home in philanthropy.…
Read MoreSharing NFG’s refreshed theory of change: NFG’s March 2022 Newsletter
Neighborhood Funders Group has shared snippets of our new theory of change in each of our newsletters so far this year. In January, we unveiled our long-term outcome: Philanthropic assets are liberated so that BIPOC communities and low-income communities have power to self-determine. In February, we applied this outcome to NFG’s Funders for a Just Economy program…
Read MoreHow will you commit to building worker power? NFG’s February 2022 Newsletter
Neighborhood Funders Group’s new theory of change has our organization working toward a world where philanthropic assets are liberated so that BIPOC and low-income communities have power to self-determine (read more about why this long-term outcome from our President, Adriana Rocha, in our January newsletter). NFG’s Funders for a Just Economy (FJE) program brings funders together that are committed to advancing the…
Read More2022 February Amplify Newsletter
Dear friends, This is a significant year for Amplify Fund! As we continue to do our everyday work – funding our grantees and their collaborative endeavors, bringing people together in learning spaces, and organizing with our Steering Committee for change in philanthropy – we are also in the midst of planning for Amplify 2.0. Since…
Read MoreGetting grounded for 2022: NFG’s January 2022 Newsletter
I began 2022 taking comfort in the seemingly little — but deeply meaningful things — a hug from my son, a good laugh with friends, a walk after school drop-off. These comforts help me ground myself, as I set my intentions for the year and for our collective work at NFG. When I became NFG’s…
Read MoreSaying ‘no’ and rest as resistance: NFG’s December 2021 Newsletter
At the beginning of this month, Neighborhood Funders Group hosted our final Member Connection Call of 2021. These calls are informal virtual spaces for grantmakers to truly connect and co-conspire; if you haven’t joined one yet, we hope that you will in 2022 — register here for our next call on January 26! On this…
Read MoreLooking back & what’s ahead: NFG’s November 2021 Newsletter
As we’re approaching the end of the year, our team at Neighborhood Funders Group has begun reflecting on the many ways we’ve been organizing with funders to move more money to racial, gender, economic, and climate justice. In this month’s newsletter, you’ll find our highlights from 2021 and a glimpse of what to expect from…
Read More2021 November Amplify Newsletter
AMPLIFY FUND Neighborhood Funders Group Dear friends, Here at Amplify Fund, we believe that taking action together yields the most fruitful results. As a collaborative of 17 funders we are focused on: Nurturing and strengthening the conditions necessary for BIPOC communities to build power; and Organizing funders so we shift what and how we fund.…
Read MorePhilanthropy’s horoscope for care + liberation: NFG’s October 2021 Newsletter
I’ve been on NFG’s staff team since July 2019 — popping into your inbox (whether you knew it was me or not) as one of the behind-the-scenes creators/writers/editors of our monthly newsletters and other communications pieces. In addition to being NFG’s Director of Membership and Communications, I’m a puppy parent, an avid car camper, a…
Read MoreConnect & co-conspire with us: NFG’s 2021 September Newsletter
As a proud partner of CHANGE Philanthropy, NFG is excited to come together for the 2021 Unity Summit — the largest convening of progressive philanthropy! Join us for the virtual & live Unity Summit experience from October 25-28. The Unity Summit will continue November 1-5 with a week of interactive experiences. This year’s format will offer live…
Read MoreWhat Philanthropy can Learn from Labor Organizing: NFG’s August 2021 Newsletter
I am so excited to join NFG’s Amplify Fund team. Amplify, a funder collaborative, has organized local, regional, and national funders to distribute over $8 million in power building grants to Black, Indigenous, people of color and low-income organizations. As the Fund’s inaugural Director of Learning and Communications, my skills with research, evaluation, and messaging…
Read MoreTransformative change, rooted in place: NFG’s July 2021 Newsletter
Can you imagine what New York would look like if private equity funds weren’t evicting low-income renters? What about, if in the Washington, DC area, historically Black neighborhoods were not being gentrified by wealthy white people and behemoth-tech corporations like Amazon? What if, in Southern California, essential workers had the power to set policies that…
Read MoreReflections 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 More2021 May Amplify Newsletter
Dear friends, We hope you are all healthy and well as we start the second year of this pandemic, and enter the final days of springtime. Here at the Amplify Fund, we are staying focused, motivated and inspired by the work of movement leaders across the country, like Tequila Johnson (Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of…
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 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 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…
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