Thought Leadership
Justice Funders engages in a range of thought leadership activities that help the philanthropic community to become a more active, coordinated and accountable partner in efforts to grow and advance movements for justice. Through research, publications and blogs we seek to inspire philanthropy to imagine new practices that redistribute wealth, democratize power and shift economic control to communities.
RESONANCE: A FRAMEWORK FOR PHILANTHROPIC TRANSFORMATION
Building on The Choir Book and the Harmony Initiative, which have promoted the adoption of grantmaking practices that achieve equity and justice, Resonance is a guide to support you and your philanthropic organization in accelerating a Just Transition by reducing extractive practices and increasing regenerative practices.
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Justice Funders on Medium
Stories by philanthropic and movement leaders that inspire us to re-imagine and practice a new kind of philanthropy that redistributes wealth, democratizes power and shifts economic control to communities. What their stories reveal is that changes are already taking place, and it’s up to each of us to decide whether to uphold the status quo or dismantle it. We hope this series inspires you to re-imagine and practice a new kind of philanthropy that redistributes wealth, democratizes power and shifts economic control to communities.
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Stifled Generosity: How Philanthropy has Fueled the Accumulation and Privatization of Wealth
We recognize that making a Just Transition toward a new vision of philanthropy requires that we first understand the laws and practices that have led the modern field of philanthropy to perpetuate the systemic inequalities it was established to combat. To do so, Justice Funders has compiled a brief outline and analysis of historical events, Stifled Generosity: How Philanthropy has Fueled the Accumulation and Privatization of Wealth. We’d love to hear your thoughts and reflections about how we can learn from these events to usher in a new era for our field.
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Choir Book: A Framework for Social Justice Philanthropy
In 2016, Justice Funders released the “Choir Book: A Framework for Social Justice Philanthropy,” which curated practices for social justice philanthropy, identified individual competencies that support values-aligned practice, and defined core values that are vital to social justice philanthropy. Gara La Marche, President, Democracy Alliance; Former CEO & President of the Atlantic Philanthropies said, “The Choir Book lays out the vital building blocks for the kind of philanthropy the world needs today. Even in its brevity, it is a great step by step guide to asking the right questions and changing the day-to-day work of philanthropy to better achieve equity and justice.”
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Breaking Bad Philanthropic Habits
In 2017, Justice Funders curated a blog series on “Breaking Bad Philanthropic Habits” as a way to reflect and identify actions any – or at least many – of us can take. We begin with a focus on individual change because anyone can incorporate values-aligned practices, no matter their positional power. We have a chance now to set new practices that will better serve the movements we hope to support.
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What is a Justice Funder?
In 2014, our blog series on “What is a Justice Funder?” invited funders to explore the values and practices that they believe are central to the praxis of social justice philanthropy. This series engaged nearly 30 individuals reflecting a myriad of philanthropies—c3, c4, public, private, trustee, donor, executives, and program officers. Of this blog series, Sarah Abelow of the Overbrook Foundation based in New York, said, “I have been following the blog series, which is so great! It is really helpful for someone new in the field to read about what this work is supposed to look like.”
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Funding Movement Building: Bay Area Approaches
In 2013, Justice Funders produced “Funding Movement Building: Bay Area Approaches” which detailed the findings from our 2012 Survey of Bay Area Social Justice Philanthropies.
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