News

an infographic that reads "3.4 million community leaders, intersectional organizers, movement builders, visionaries, freedom fighters

Emergent Fund News: One Year, $3.4 Million, What’s Next?

September 8, 2021 /

In 2016, WDN co-founded Emergent Fund to move rapid-response resources with no strings attached to communities under attack by federal policies and priorities. Led by an Advisory Council of organizers, Emergent’s participatory model enables them to respond to communities’ needs more quickly and efficiently than traditional philanthropy, dramatically increasing resources moved to the frontlines in […]

A photo from the San Francisco Chronicle showing Kathryn Snyder, left and Nolizwe Nondabula, right, raising their fists as they block traffic during a demonstration against police brutality. The photo was taken on the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in Oakland, California on January 18, 2016.

Understanding Defund the Police: Contextually, Historically and Strategically

August 18, 2021 /

For many of us, defunding the police is a new idea. How do we help more people in our lives understand what defund means? How can those of us who are new to this demand deepen our understanding of what frontline organizers are calling for? This piece written by WDN staffer, Kathryn Snyder, uses her […]

Photo of a colorful mural. The mural depicts a person with long hair with a bright pink blindfold tied over her eyes. Colorful lines and loops are drawn in the background, some cover part of the person's face

7 Takes on the Disinformation Pandemic

August 13, 2021 /

Mural entitled “Disinformation” by Kevin Ledo. Photo by @urbanmuralhunter and cropped into landscape format.    Disinformation is a powerful weapon, we’re now seeing the widespread results of that. We collected seven personal takes on disinformation from our members and staff, as well as the movement leaders and experts who will be speaking at the upcoming […]

Graphic has a pink background and wording "WDN Connect November 4 and 6, 2021"

Save the Date: WDN Connect 2021

August 2, 2021 /

Save the date for WDN Connect this November! We’re planning powerful virtual programming from November 4th to 6th to share the impact of our collective funding, progress on our equity journey, and to talk about what comes next. While we’re hopeful about the pace of vaccinations and updated CDC guidelines, there are a number of unknowns that […]

Cheryl Houser stands in front of a black background and smiles at the camera. She has shoulder length brown hair and wears a pink blouse and blue scarf.

Giving Is a Journey: Cheryl Houser Shares Hers and Why She’s Focusing More on Political Giving

August 2, 2021 /

WDN member Cheryl Houser joins us in an interview to share her giving journey and what avenues she’s using to create change. You’re a relatively recent member having joined in October of 2020, so welcome, we’re excited to learn a bit more about you and your passions. Tell us about your background. What other work […]

What Can We Do to Uplift Birth Justice?

July 27, 2021 /

In June and July of 2021, we hosted a series called Uplifting Birth Justice. With 15+ speakers and partner networks, this unprecedented series taught us that the fight for birth justice requires all of us. Now is our chance to transform institutions and improve outcomes for birthing people around the world. What Can We Do to […]

When Self Care Meets Collective Care, Our 2021 Member Retreat

July 23, 2021 /

On July 17 and 18, 2021, we held our member retreat, Me to We: When Self Care Meets Collective Care with Sonya Renee Taylor, Prentis Hemphill, Aryeh Shell, and Amber Field. Visionaries, whose life work is healing the world through individual healing and collective anti-oppression work. Day 1 Build Resilience and Radical Love “Radical self-love […]

How WDN’s Grantmaking Is Building Trust

July 16, 2021 /

The trust-based philanthropy movement, championed by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, is about “redistributing power – systemically, organizationally, and interpersonally – in service of a healthier and more equitable nonprofit sector.” The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project encourages funders to adopt “six key principles which include: multi-year unrestricted funding, streamlined applications and reporting, and a commitment to building […]

Photo of Jennifer Risher, a white woman with shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes standing in front of a bookshelf and smiling at the camera

Real Talk With New Member Jennifer Risher

July 13, 2021 /

New member Jennifer Risher, author of We Need to Talk, tells us how she’s shaking up the conversation about wealth and philanthropy. You have an interesting story about how you became wealthy. Can you share it with us? I am lucky. For one, I was born into a white body, into a stable family, and […]

Investing Now for Long-term Impact: Grantmaking Update

June 21, 2021 /

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 […]

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