Join us for a conversation on the contradictions (and possibilities) between the future our hearts envision, and the present our behaviors create.

Join Rajasvini Bhansali, Executive Director of Solidaire Network, Solidaire Action & Co-Author of Leading With Joy, and Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano, Co-Executive Director of Justice Funders, in a conversation moderated by Pia Infante, Senior Fellow at Trust-Based Philanthropy Project where they will grapple with the inconsistencies and real implications of uncontested organizational and leadership practices that end up deferring the work of deep internal transformation to future generations. The change we seek begins within us, therefore our vision of a just world becomes possible as we learn to embody that vision. Our actions are both reflections of regenerative realities in the present as well as glimpses into the futures we are building toward. Literally, we manifest the future with our daily actions.

Drawing from two decades of friendship, Vini and Lorenzo will share the hard-earned lessons of leadership and hairstyle faux pas, stories of how heartbreak begot resilience, and candid reflections on how they bounce back, what keeps them coming back, and why joy is a leadership imperative.

This conversation will showcase Lorenzo’s latest work on the (Re)Generative Leadership Framework and Justice Funders’ newest offering, the Liberatory Governance Community of Practice. It is also a preview to the second season of The Light Ahead Podcast that Justice Funders is co-producing with Beloved Economies. Through short narrative fiction episodes, the podcast creatively explores the question, “What will it look like when we redistribute wealth, democratize power, and shift economic control to community?”

Beginning with an opening grounding and land acknowledgment by Sharon Bridgforth, and followed by a somatic stretch and dance party with DJ Nina Sol, this 90-minute program will be a true celebration of the power, innovation, and creativity QTBIPOC leaders bring to transform our futures beyond philanthropy.

Accessibility

Captions and ASL interpretation will be available. A recording of the webinar will also be sent to registrants after the event. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please reach out to Dino Foxx for a comped ticket or other accommodations that would support your full participation in this event. Dino can be reached at Dino[@]justicefunders.org.

Featured Speakers

MODERATOR
Pia Infante (she/her) is the Senior Fellow at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, a five-year, peer-to-peer funder initiative to deconstruct intrinsic power imbalances between foundations and nonprofits. For seven years prior, Pia served as the co-executive director of The Whitman Institute, helping steward its spend down. She believes we have the collective imagination and power to redesign philanthropy to center the people we serve. Philippine-born, California-grown, queer, and the oldest daughter in an immigrant family, Pia navigates differences to broker connection.

Rajasvini Bhansali (she/her) is the Executive Director of Solidaire Network and Solidaire Action, a community of donor organizers mobilizing critical resources to the frontlines of intersectional movements for racial, gender and climate justice.  She is a passionate advocate for participatory grassroots-led power building and a lifelong student of social movements. In a wide-ranging career devoted to racial, economic and climate justice, she has previously led an international public foundation that funds grassroots organizing in Asia, Africa and Latin America; grown a national youth development social enterprise; managed a public telecommunications infrastructure fund addressing the digital divide in the Southern United States; and worked as a community organizer, researcher, planner, policy analyst and strategy consultant.  Born and raised in India, Rajasvini earned a Master’s in Public Affairs with a focus on addressing the Rural Digital Divide from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor′s in both Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities & Social Sciences from UC Berkeley. Vini also spent several years working in rural Kenya with community leaders, an experience she credits as having inspired her to work to transform philanthropy and international development.  Vini co-authored Leading with Joy: Practices for Uncertain Times, recently published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers.  She is also a published poet, essayist, popular educator, yoga instructor and leadership coach. When not engaged with community organizations, Rajasvini can be found nesting with her family, taking long naps in the garden or plotting the next dance party with friends.

Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano (he/him) is the Co-Executive Director of Justice Funders and supports the team in pursuing collaborative strategies to build a bold and sustainable Justice Funders by strengthening internal operational systems, aligning programs with our vision, and cultivating practices that nurture an organizational culture through which we are all able to flourish, thrive, and bring our full selves to the work of transforming philanthropy toward a Just Transition. Early in his journey, Lorenzo was confronted with the painful contradictions between the radical and inspiring mission statements of movement organizations and the mistreatment and exploitation of their employees. Moved by the stories of heartbreak and loss of those who came before him, coupled with the heartbreak and loss he was experiencing, he rejected the practice of creating martyrs out of each other and of offering ourselves—our physical and mental health, our agency, our dreams—as sacrifices in the name of future generations. Turning to the wisdom of women of color, most of them queer, he began nurturing an organizational development and leadership praxis rooted in two fundamental beliefs: 1) to do our work well, we must support each other in being well; and, 2) to move in the direction of a shared vision, we must begin embodying that vision in the present. Building on two decades of nonprofit management and governance experience; graduate training in Cultural Studies, Organizational Leadership and Ethics, and Chicanx Studies; and, a practice in neuroscience-informed asset-based coaching, Lorenzo applies these beliefs to every aspect of his work with the Justice Funders team—from the infrastructure we create; to the design, delivery, and assessment of our programs; to the supervision and professional development we provide; to the questions we ask and the reflections we offer one another; to the wellness strategies we weave into our together. Raised in the Bay Area and northern Mexico, Lorenzo makes queer home with his partners, two rapidly growing teenagers, and a chihuahua in San Francisco.

DJ Nina Sol Robinson (She/Her) is a financial activist, capital convener, and creative.