Funders and donors: It’s never too late to join the fight against fascism
Hi everyone, quick reminder that if you’re free this Saturday January 31st at 9am Pacific, please join me and Kimberly O’Neil for “Leading the Work Without Losing Yourself.” It’s free; auto-caption will be enabled. Register here.
I know all of us have been thinking about the violent authoritarian occupation of Minnesota. Recently federal agents publicly executed Alex Pretti. This comes after the government murdered Renee Good. My friends in Minneapolis tell me of how ICE agents are out terrorizing families. And this nightmare is spreading. An educator friend who works a heavily-immigrant Seattle school told me ICE is coming to Seattle: “If you don’t hear from me for a few days, check the detention centers.”
None of us are safe anymore. Renee Good and Alex Pretti were both US citizens. The government has been detaining and murdering citizens. We can carry our passports, but individual self-protection methods are no guarantees of safety. We need to band together and act as a community.
I am finding hope in the incredible resistance the people of Minnesota have been leading. Thousands marching in below-freezing temperature. Hundreds of businesses closing in protest. It’s inspiring massive anti-ICE rallies in other cities. Meanwhile, neighbors have been supporting one another in all sorts of ways, showing once again that community is what will save us from authoritarianism. If you’d like to help, go to https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ There you can donate and take other actions like sending an encouraging message to people on the ground.
Amidst all this, there are a few amazing foundations, donor networks, and individual donors who are doing incredible things in supporting the resistance. But from most funders, it’s been the same ho-hum tepid response, if they have a response at all. As my friend and colleague from Minneapolis, Kevin Vollmers, points out in this great piece titled “The Funders Have Forgotten Their Role”:
“Many within the funding side of our philanthropic community have forgotten the responsibility inherent in their roles. It is a fact. Many institutions and individuals have more resources now than they did last year. Their investments and endowments are doing just fine. However, institutional funding and individual donations are down.”
Kevin may be more generous than I am, because I am not sure funders have forgotten their role, but rather that they think their role is to safeguard the status quo by prioritizing their institutions’ assets and existence in perpetuity over the wellbeing of the community, a role they’re performing very well.
But let’s save the philosophical discussions for another day. As fascism bears down on us all, we need all funders and donors to treat this authoritarian threat the way they often treat natural disasters; when there’s a flood or earthquake or wildfire, they are often nimble and quick to get out funding. Here are things we need those with wealth to do. And it is not too late to do them:
Give out your money: Not the pitiful 5% or 6% or 10% that most of you still cling to. Ask yourself and your board of trustees what exactly are you existing in perpetuity for? Would your foundation’s perpetuity be worth anything if our world falls to totalitarianism? Your endowments being deployed fully now could turn the tide against fascism.
Give out your money quickly: By quickly, I mean within a couple of weeks, if not days. The people and organizations on the ground cannot afford to wait months for grant decisions, especially those that are actively fighting ICE and protecting people.
Give multi-year general operating grants: All grants need to be general operating, unless they’re passthrough grants designed with specific purposes like providing direct cash transfers to families terrorized by ICE. General operating allows organizations and people to focus and be flexible, and multi-year allows for planning.
Change your strategic plan: If your foundation’s strategic plan does not include protecting democracy and fighting fascism, it's outdated. Change it. Fold in strategies like supporting legal defense and offense work, building movements, strengthening capacity of 501c3s and 501c4s and MAAs on the front lines, engaging in political work, and other tactics I wrote about in “Funders, here’s the blueprint for saving democracy.” (And don’t spend months crafting your new strategic plan either; no one has time for you to do that).
Get rid of all your requirements: You can absolutely increase your payout rates, make grant decisions in a week, accept proposals that have already been written instead of requiring unique ones, fund individuals and MAAs instead of only organizations, fund political work, get rid of grant reports and other burdensome, pointless obligations. The only thing that stops you may be arbitrary rules and processes, but those can be changed, so get your legal team to change them.
Take risks and be OK with imperfection: Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good has always been a trademark of liberal-leaning funders. Stop waiting for the perfect strategy, the perfect organization, the perfect theory of change, logic model, or whatever. Just get your money out there.
The best time to have invested in the fight against fascism was 50 or more years ago, when the right-wing started building incredibly powerful infrastructures and movements by providing 20-year+ grants, supporting their cultural warriors, controlling cultural narratives, and engaging unapologetically in shaping all three branches of US government.
The second best time is right now. I don't care what the reasons have been for your foundation not treating the rise of fascism like the serious humanity-ending threat that it is. It is not too late to get involved and help defeat it.
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