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 actions our members are taking to shift philanthropic practices and fund our communities and movements like we want them to win, including (but not limited to):
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Allegany Franciscan Ministries just announced its first open grant opportunity in its new priority focus area, Climate Justice & Care for Creation.
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Chorus Foundation recently sponsored “Philanthropy and Power,” a collection of essays — many authored by NFG members — to share stories, lessons learned, and recommendations from actions they have taken to cede power to communities.
- Kataly Foundation, Edward W. Hazen Foundation, Compton Foundation, and others are spending down and redistributing all assets to communities. Join Kataly Foundation’s webinar on February 22 to hear more about the state of their spend-out.
- Woods Fund Chicago is creating more space to further deepen its trust-based philanthropy practice, which includes implementing multi-year unrestricted general operating grants and increasing its annual grant payout to 11% (up from the federally mandated 5%).
We know that the work to deepen our commitments to liberation and self-determination happens most powerfully in community and we hope you’ll join us for our upcoming programming:
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Attend an event on values aligned investing, reparations and reparative action, employing collaborative governance to support housing justice, and more!
- Get involved in learning cohorts.
- NFG’s Funders for a Just Economy’s third Racial Capitalism Community of Practice will begin in March. The deadline for applications is February 8.
- NFG’s Values Aligned Investment Praxis Group will launch its second cohort on April 25 — learn more about this community of practice that is focused on social movement aligned investing to support groups building community power at our upcoming webinar.
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If your grantmaking organization is an NFG member, please reach out to Courtney Banayad, Director of Membership and Communications, to propose an idea for a future Member Call. This could be related to what you’re funding, new tools you’re using for your grantmaking, ideas for pushing the philanthropic sector toward greater accountability to our movements, or anything else you dream up in your efforts to co-conspire with NFG and our community of 130+ grantmaking organizations.
- We’re beginning preparations for NFG’s 2025 National Convening! Stay tuned for the save the date, location announcement, and opportunities to support program design and become a sponsor in the coming months.
In solidarity with you, our communities, and our movements for liberation and abundance,
Team NFG