We are proud to share an update about our collective grantmaking. At WDN we are moving more than $4.2 million in funding to 44 powerhouse organizations in this grantmaking cycle. 

Thanks to the collective investment of this network, we are able to continue mobilizing critical funding to support the work of our grantees across the country. The majority of them were awarded funding in 2020 because we believe in the power of multi-year support. We are making infrastructure investments in people, systems, and tools that help organizations and coalitions do more and do it better while building the capacity and leadership development of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color-identified leaders.

We believe that organizers know best. Our deep trust and partnership with our grantees eliminates barriers to funding and enables organizations to focus on their work. We prioritize grantees with a strong vision for transformative change, power-building in marginalized and underserved communities, leadership that reflects the communities served, and an opportunity for our funding to be catalytic. This is how we leverage our resources to power justice!

 

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Jean Hardisty Initiative
$1.1 Million to 11 Grantees

As ardent champions of social movement building and grassroots organizing, the Jean Hardisty Initiative renewed funding for 11 of its 2020 grantees to continue support for the centrality and leadership of a movement for Black lives and Black liberation. 

These 11 organizations have formed a bedrock of critical organizing—and continue to lead the way—in building a long-term, Black-led movement. Funds will support organizational infrastructure, leadership development, wellness and safety, and time and space for knowledge creation. 

With WDN’s catalytic funding, our grantees are pursuing ambitious and audacious goals. Some are preparing to transition from fiscal sponsorship to independent organizations. Others are taking proactive steps to fortify their sustainability by investing in both mental health and capital campaigns to purchase land and create physical space for movement leaders to gather. Grantees are championing a southern strategy to develop new leadership from new demographic majorities across the South, and eventually the entire nation, while others are pursuing abolitionist strategies like finding alternatives to calling the police and boldly piloting community-based emergency response teams. 

Grantees:
Black Futures Lab
Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity (BOLD)
Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute
Blackbird
BlackOUT Collective
Dream Defenders Education Fund
Freedom, Inc.
Higher Heights Leadership Fund
Highlander Center for Research and Education
Leaders Igniting Transformation Education Fund (LIT)
Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium

 

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Opportunity and Equality Impact Collective
$880,000 to 9 Grantees

Committed to the fight for worker and gender justice, the Opportunity and Equality Impact Collective moved $880,000 to nine organizations. We renewed support for all eight of our 2020 grantees, and added one new grantee, All* Above All, which works to improve abortion access for all people, regardless of income level.

These funds will support grassroots groups and organizers at the local and national level who are supporting public education, legislative advocacy, litigation, and other resources that protect and expand economic and reproductive justice and opportunities for women and girls.

This Impact Collective continues its seed support for the country’s first women-focused policy hub, as well as grassroots organizing and power building of farmworkers, domestic workers, and other low-wage professions that have been systematically and intentionally excluded from federal labor and employment protections. And it is resourcing the nation’s first-ever reproductive legal defense fund and the nation’s first-ever miscarriage and abortion hotline in the country. 

Grantees:
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
All* Above All
Equal Rights Advocates
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline
National Women’s Law Center
North Carolina Domestic Workers Alliance
Pennsylvania Domestic Workers Alliance
United for Respect Education Fund

 

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Participation and Representation Impact Collective
$1.2 Million to 12 grantees

Dedicated to expanding the electorate and removing barriers to civic participation, the Participation and Representation Impact Collective has moved $1.2 million to 12 organizations, ten of which are 2020 grantees, and with two new additions: Empower Houston and the Texas Black Civic Engagement Fund. 

These 12 democracy defenders are critical voter justice organizations located in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas, all states that have deep-seated histories of voter suppression, disenfranchisement, and extensive racial gerrymandering.

Their high number of New American Majority communities are creating major opportunities to register and turn out new voters. Focusing on voter engagement and protection within these five states is a critical component of establishing a fair democracy. 

Grantees:
Arizona Coalition for Change
Arizona Election Protection Coalition
Blueprint NC
Empower Houston
Michigan Voice
MOVE Texas Civic Fund
New Georgia Project
ProGeorgia
Texas Black Civic Engagement Fund
Texas Civil Rights Project
Texas Freedom Network
Texas Youth Power Alliance

 

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Safe and Sustainable Impact Collective
$1.075 Million to 12 grantees

Recognizing the centrality and intersection of women’s rights and environmental justice, the Safe and Sustainable Impact Collective continues its support of women and BIPOC-led climate justice by renewing funds for 12 of its 2020 grantees. This recommitment of resources will help them grow their capacity and sustain their work. 

Women are a large majority of those displaced by climate change and generations of racism have left too many communities of color underinvested in and facing the brunt of climate crises. 

Our grantees have worked tirelessly to increase attention in recent years to climate change, calling for an acknowledgement of environmental racism and a movement for a just transition, away from profit and pollution and towards healthy, resilient and life-affirming local economies. We have a limited amount of time to act to stave off the worst effects of climate change, but with these grantees leading these dynamic strategies, there is hope. 

Grantees:
Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development
Associação Indígena IWIPURÃGA
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa
Climate Justice Alliance
Future Coalition
Grassroots International
Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy
Indigenous Environmental Network
Maria Fund
Movement Generation
SustainUS
Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network