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The 2023 edition of the NCG Annual Conference was powerful on so many levels. We had 411 folks represent the complete diversity of philanthropy and their nonprofit allies. The theme – mapping a collective future – held deep resonance with participants, and the content received high marks throughout the day.
Join Funders for LGBTQ Issues to learn more about the far right’s attack against transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) communities across the country. This webinar is geared towards national and state funders, and will offer an overview of national and regional efforts to counter these attacks and protect our TGNC community members.
In order to make real changes in our communities, it is not enough to win elections. When progressive candidates get elected, philanthropy must provide them the support they need to govern effectively with the communities that helped elect them. Philanthropy already invests in increasing civic engagement and advocacy on social issues such as improving healthcare, education, and building a strong and inclusive economy for everyone.
The 2024 election results put us face to face with the brutal truth of rising fascism in our country and the reality of California’s return to conservative “tough-on-crime” policies. We know the communities that will be most impacted by the regressive and dangerous statewide and national legislation are the same communities that survive the oppression of state violence, criminalization, and incarceration. Our solidarity with grassroots movements for healing and community safety is needed now more than ever. As we consider what this moment requires of us, we want to reflect on the lessons and successes from CCJFG’s last year and recommit to our role of supporting funders standing with the people.
In 2020, we witnessed philanthropy make major commitments and promises to resource Black-led organizations and movements as part of a renewed reckoning with racial justice after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black lives. Historically, Black-led power-building efforts have been at the forefront of transformative change but have been consistently underfunded and under-resourced. The sudden surge in resources allocated to Black-led nonprofits and power-building organizations over the last four years highlights the urgent need to invest in the leadership and visionary ideas for dismantling systemic racism and advancing an inclusive, multiracial democracy. Now, the question remains whether the investments so far are truly sufficient to provide long-term support for Black power-building organizations and their vital work.
Achieving racial equity and sustaining a viable democracy go hand in hand. NCG defines democracy as the processes, systems, and structures for historically marginalized and underrepresented community members to participate in a political system that fulfills the promise of an equitable multi-racial society. Northern California is a region that can model this approach, ensuring that people of color and other communities historically underrepresented and marginalized in our political process fully engage in the democratic process.
November’s presidential election results will have pulled the United States back from the brink of authoritarianism. After we’ve taken a moment to celebrate our achievement and rejuvenate, there comes the challenge of plotting a course forward. Because there’s no going back to some imagined normalcy. Many consequences of Trump’s presidency – cult of strongman personality, capture and erosion of the courts and other democratic institutions, normalization of misogyny and white nationalism, consolidation of Christian Right power, mobilization of vigilantes, enrichment of oligarchs, rise of a media disinformation infrastructure – will not be so easily undone.