Standing Together: Organizing to Back Movement and Meet This Moment

In this time of mounting authoritarian threats against our movements and communities, Common Counsel Foundation continues to stand in solidarity with our partners.

There are many ways our team is connecting with movement partners, donor partners, and to peer organizations to support and grow the network of movement-aligned giving, and stay in formation as the administration tries new tactics to intimidate and isolate organizations fighting for civil rights and social justice.

“When we are organized we gain the collective power to act boldly. We are braver and stronger together.” 

CCF is in formation with our longtime movement partners at Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and allied philanthropic institutions, ready for the challenges and possibilities of this historic moment. Read the joint solidarity statement from Common Counsel Foundation and Movement for Black Lives.

Free Your DAF: Organizing against business-as-usual corporate philanthropy

As financial institutions face pressure to bend to the administration, donors have been organizing to push back, refusing to look away, standing firm, and continuing to move resources where they matter most – to frontline social justice movements. 

In April, politicized financial attacks targeted organizations from the Atlanta Solidarity Fund to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Designed to cut movements off from crucial resources, these attacks also ripple through the philanthropic sector. Without evidence or due process, a group of the largest Donor-Advised Fund providers–Fidelity Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and Schwab Charitable–froze all grants to the SPLC following a politicized indictment by the Trump administration. Each of these institutions made the decision to preemptively comply with this right-wing attack, setting a dangerous precedent that puts movements at risk.

“The aim of these efforts is to chill political dissent by debanking left-leaning organizers and organizations, tying them up with baseless lawsuits, and essentially rendering them untouchable by risk-averse institutions.”

– Beezer de Martelly, Senior Director of Philanthropic Organizing, in their latest article in Convergence Magazine

Banks have long been used as political tools to exclude communities, cutting off resources and isolating people who stand up to unjust, oppressive leaders and regimes. Each of these institutions made the decision to preemptively comply with this right-wing attack, setting a dangerous precedent that puts movements at risk.

In response, a coalition of philanthropic allies are organizing across the sector in solidarity with movements and taking action together. CCF is a core founding member of Free Your DAF, the current effort of this organized group. We stand alongside partners including the Block and Build Funders Coalition, Solidaire, Democracy Fund, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Women Donors Network, Democracy Alliance, Resource Generation, and many more. Together, we’re organizing so that our power is bigger than any one institution.

Reach out to learn more about this campaign and how you can be involved.

New Article: A Blueprint for Donor-Advised Fund Organizing

“The moment demands that we get more sophisticated in our organizing as donors and funders. Campaigns like these offer us an opportunity to build real solidarity across class and identity, not just as individuals with DAFs, but as foundation staff, movement leaders, and community members.”

– Beezer de Martelly, Senior Director of Philanthropic Organizing, in their latest article in Convergence Magazine

Beezer de Martelly, Senior Director of Philanthropic Organizing at Common Counsel Foundation authored A Blueprint for Donor-Advised Fund Organizing in Convergence Magazine, the article shares more about the leverage possible when holders of donor advised funds come together to be organized by social justice movements, and shares five lessons learned in previous campaigns. We hope you will read the article and learn more about this powerful and effective strategy.

If you are a member of the CCF community, you already know that our donor advised funds and strategic philanthropic advising offer trusted, tailored guidance tapped into national grassroots movements, and backing transformative solutions.

Whether you are a part of the CCF donor community or learning about our work, we hope these latest activities spark new ideas and ongoing commitment to social justice movements. Please reach out to the Philanthropic Advising team to learn more about these coalitions or discuss other ways you would like to be involved.