Jaime Sharp's Blog

From Justice Funders: In 2020, philanthropic institutions in the U.S contributed over 13 times the amount of money to extractive global stock markets as they did to all of their grantmaking focus areas (Source: Climate Justice Alliance).

In response to this horrific imbalance of capital allocation in philanthropy, movement and philanthropic leaders came together to develop a Just Transition Investment Framework that offers a strategy for how philanthropies can shift capital and power to frontline BIPOC communities who are building local regenerative economies.

From the Field Foundation: In partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Field Foundation has launched a new grantmaking program. This program—which we’re calling A Road Together (ART)—is designed specifically for small and mid-sized arts and culture organizations with annual operating budgets up to $1 million and with a strong commitment to equity that are reflective and inclusive of Chicago’s diverse and historically underserved communities.

From Seattle Opera: Inspired by a true story, eleventh grade honor roll student Diane Tran is the child of two Vietnamese immigrants who are now divorced. With her father rarely around and her mother gone, Diane feels bound to help provide financially for her family, be both sister and parent to her siblings, and also keep up her honor roll studies. Despite her heroic efforts, a judge sends her to jail for truancy.

From Capital Collaborative by Camelback Ventures: In this episode of “It’s Not Your Money,” Capital Collaborative Funder In Residence, Jessamyn Shams-Lau, talks with abdiel j. lópez from Justice Funders, to share what a ‘Just Transition’ for philanthropy looks like, how some funders are already moving their power to communities, and how anyone can take steps towards healing and community-centered practices. 
 

Watch the webinar recording here.

"Until 2020 — the year when George Floyd was murdered, setting off a summer of protests demanding racial justice — civil-rights lawyer Ryan Haygood, CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, had never raised a dime from two of the state’s biggest grant makers, the Geraldine R. Dodge and Robert Wood Johnson foundations." said Alex Daniels, Marc Gunther, and Sono Motoyama for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. "Nor had the Rev. Charles Boyer, who leads Salvation and Social Justice, a faith-based nonprofit in Trenton, N.J., that organizes Black churches to advocate on issues of criminal justice, health care, and the wealth and income disparities Black Americans face."

From Philanthropy News: The Barr, Kresge, and William Penn foundations have announced $13 million in funding to support arts and culture programs that help address systemic and intersectional societal challenges.

The commitments will support the Culture and Community Power Fund (CCPF), a funding collaborative formed in 2022 by Barr, Kresge, and Penn to serve as “a lab for investing in, connecting, and amplifying efforts to help build community power through art and culture.”

From Bonfils Stanton: In her artist statement for her work “Minding the Cycles” (commissioned for the Foundation’s offices) Jandel Allen-Davis says “Where are we now and how do we know? We are experiencing some of the greatest turmoil we have had in centuries, perhaps millennia. The sense of insecurity that this evokes can leave us unsettled and unmoored…Our task is to discern where we are and what is required of us in this time.” We as a foundation have thought deeply about what is required of US in this time, and our new Strategic Framework charts that course.  

From A Blade of Grass: We are pleased to announce and welcome Lu Zhang as the organization’s new Executive Director. Zhang will officially assume the position on June 20, 2023.

Zhang currently serves as the Initiatives Director of United States Artists (USA) , a national arts funding organization headquartered in Chicago, where she launched a department dedicated to expanding holistic support for artists and their communities. Prior to joining USA, Zhang was Deputy Director of The Contemporary , a nomadic, non-collecting art museum in Baltimore, Maryland, where she provided strategic and operational oversight, and led resource initiatives for local artists.

While The Presser Foundation is a new member to GIA (since July 2022), they are excited to learn more about equity in arts funding and connect with other arts funders, particularly those funders supporting music organizations in order to learn more about incorporating DEI across music traditions and the nonprofit sector.

Former GIA Board Member Ken Grossinger announced his new book, Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together: An inside look at the organizers and artists on the front lines of political mobilization and social change.

An artist’s mural of George Floyd becomes an emblem of a renewed movement for racial equality. A documentary film injects fuel into a popular mobilization to oust a Central American dictator. Freedom songs course through the American civil rights movement.