Black Lives Matter, today and every day.
The Amplify Fund, alongside our colleagues at NFG, stands in solidarity with Black communities as we again find ourselves anguished, angered, and compelled to action in response to the murders of George Floyd and Black people across the U.S. by police.
Today we are especially energized by mass protests around the country, and the concrete steps towards defunding the police and investing in community priorities.
Today, it is clearer than ever, that defending Black lives requires us all to take powerful action — including those of us in the philanthropic sector. The Amplify Fund calls on all grantmakers, from individuals to institutional funders, to actively challenge white supremacy, and follow the guidance of our NFG colleagues and members through Funders for Justice, by divesting from criminalization and investing in communities.
As NFG’s first grantmaking program, Amplify is proud to learn alongside the organizations that we support, the majority of which are run and staffed by Black leaders. These organizations, based in the eight places where Amplify works — Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Puerto Rico and in California in partnership with the Fund for an Inclusive California - are all fighting to build power and influence decisions about the places where they live, including how public dollars are invested.
Supporting frontline organizations to build power in Black communities and communities of color is the heart of our purpose. We do this is by:
- TAKING DIRECTION FROM BLACK-LED GROUPS, including those with women and gender non-conforming youth leadership, that are working at the intersection of power building and equitable development including:
- The Close the Workhouse Campaign, a prison-abolition collaboration between Action St. Louis, ArchCity Defenders and Bail Project St. Louis that aims to close St Louis City’s (MO) Medium Security Institution which routinely incarcerates people due to their inability to afford unconstitutionally high cash bails and invest the millions of public dollars saved to promote equitable development through efforts like affordable housing and ensuring quality jobs.
- Carolina Youth Action Project, an abolitionist organization that centers political education and community organizing to build power among girls, trans youth, and gender nonconforming youth aims to remove police officers from Charleston, SC schools to redirect the funding to hire compassionate social workers and counselors trained in restorative practices.
- GIVING FLEXIBLE FUNDS including general operating grants so grantees can determine their own priorities.
- SUPPORTING GRANTEES NEEDS beyond grant dollars.
- ELIMINATING CUMBERSOME REPORTING REQUIREMENTS for grantees and instead learning about their work through conversations, attending events, following social media feeds.
- NAMING RACE and examining how to apply a racial justice lens and action to every aspect of our work.
- PUSHING OURSELVES TO SPEAK & ACT on hard truths to other funders that our grantees do not have the privilege to say or do.
We encourage you to get to know our grantees! They are all doing important racial justice work and many are engaged in critical actions in defense of Black lives and against police brutality today.
We also invite you to get to know us — our staff and eleven funder members! We welcome conversations about racial justice grantmaking, centering anti-racist practices and community power as the key driver of equitable development. Join our community of learning and action at the Amplify Fund.
Black Lives Matter, today and every day.
We say their names:
George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN
Breonna Taylor in Louisville, KY
Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County, GA
Tony McDade in Tallahassee, FL
Dion Johnson in Phoenix, AZ