When we step back and look at our work in 2023, we see a constellation formed from moments of mobilization. Like stars in an unchanging sky, movement leaders and organizations guide us toward a more just future, which is why we prioritized and robustly supported existing partnerships with unrestricted funding. We also introduced new partnerships and rapidly moved resources to fill movement gaps, respond to rising needs, and embrace emerging opportunities. 

Together, we channeled an unprecedented $12.075 million to movements advancing gender, racial, economic, and climate justice around the globe.

Here’s a roundup of some of the ways this funding has made a difference:

• Our community quickly mobilized resources to a slate of progressive Palestinian-led, Jewish-led, and BIPOC-led organizations working together in solidarity for peace in the Middle East.

• We seeded and supported the fiscal sponsorship acquisition of the Court Accountability Alliance (CAA), which is building a coordinated strategy to confront Supreme Court corruption and other judicial abuses. Hand-in-hand with individual donations from our membership, the WDN community has channeled over $1 million to CAA.

• Our member-involved initiatives met their goal of moving $5.2 million to the field this year. Some highlights include:
  • Seed funding Jessica Byrd’s Black Campaign School;
  • Supporting Debt Collective, the first debtor’s union in the country that has abolished more than $100 million in debt;
  • Resourcing Climate Justice Alliance’s Fund for Frontline Power, a 100% grassroots-governed participatory fund that supports climate solutions;
  • And funding MacArthur fellow Ian Bassin and the Protect Democracy Project.

• Our Abortion Bridge Collaborative Fund established itself as a unique and trusted partner in the reproductive rights landscape, funding clinics, abortion funds, disseminators of information, and other organizations that facilitate getting people to reproductive care. The $3.04 million they moved this year was vital as we navigate a second year post-Roe.

• We moved a total of $1.7 million to the Emergent Fund, a rapid-response participatory grantmaking fund WDN co-founded in the wake of the 2016 election that resources directly impacted communities responding to the biggest crises of our time.

• We sent $600,000 in grant funding via our Reflective Democracy Campaign, a research and analysis campaign and movement incubator that examines today’s most pressing democracy-related issues.

“I believe that all organizing is science fiction – that we are shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced.” – adrienne maree brown

It is thanks to the collective expertise, actions, and unwavering commitment to justice of our membership and partners that our community leveraged $12.075 million in 2023. 

$12.075 million that has birthed projects, bridged gaps, and given steadfast support to movements that, too often, have to fight to be seen and heard – but whose voices we know bring justice and humanity to our world. 

$12.075 million to help shape the future we long for and have not yet experienced.

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The WDN community protects and advances gender, racial, economic, and climate justice by channeling collective power and resources in solidarity with movements to transform people, culture, and systems. Learn more about what we fund.