Funding Social Justice: Who Controls Movement Money?
As the wealthy get wealthier, a handful of major financial institutions are gaining enormous and disproportionate power over which social justice movements get funding and which don’t.
Issue Area: Thought Leadership
Beyond Broken Promises: What Philanthropy Still Misses About Funding Black Orgs
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported on a new study showing many funding promises made to Black-led organizations after “2020’s racial reckoning” were never kept. It’s an important story, and we at Social Justice Fund Northwest are glad it’s sparking needed conversations about how BIPOC-led organizations are funded.
FUNDING JUSTICE: Philanthropy for Collective Liberation
At Social Justice Fund NW (SJF), we center leadership and resourcing that’s rooted in lived experience and shared values. Our team represents identities that have been historically excluded from power. We’re not just reacting to the moment–we’re building an audacious future for collective liberation. SJF’s Black Femme Leadership Valériana Chikoti Bandua-Estes (she/her), executive director, is […]
Thinking emergently, imagining audaciously, moving nimbly: Our Rapid Response & Seed Celebration and Appeal!
Over the past few years you’ve heard us talk about the trials and challenges we’ve faced as a community and as an organization. We navigated through turnover, the uprooting and rebuilding work necessary to center Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty, and battled the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, however, marked a turning […]
On the Atlanta spa shootings, anti-Asian violence, and liberation
These are the names of the eight victims of the Atlanta spa shooting. Rest in power: Park Soon Chung 박순정, age 74 Kim Hyun Jung Grant 김현정, age 51 Kim Sun Cha 김순자, age 69 Yoo Yong Ae 유용애, age 63 Tan Xiaojie 谭小洁, age 49 Feng Daoyou 冯道友, age 44 Delaina Ashley Yaun, age […]
Black Liberation, Through Protests and Beyond
George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Tony McDade. Ahmaud Arbery. The murders of Black people at the hands of police — and former police, in the case of Mr. Arbery — galvanized demonstrations of grief and rage that spread from Minneapolis across the nation over the past week. Black communities grapple with and fight against the terror of […]
Solidarity & Stepping Up During Coronavirus
Everyday the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are becoming more severe. Just yesterday here in Washington state the governor announced a “stay at home” order, following other states like Oregon in mandating the closure of non-essential businesses and instructing people to stay put in order to stem the spread of the virus. Since the beginning […]