2020 was a year of reckoning. In the midst of the devastation of COVID-19, people around the world rose up to defend Black life and, in doing so, helped accelerate conversations about safety, race and injustice. The power of queer and trans Black, indigenous and people of color was especially palpable, whether organizing people in the streets or turning out communities to the polls.

What will philanthropy do now that the media frenzy of 2020 has seemingly calmed, but our communities continue to face the same underlying crises of white supremacy, transphobia, patriarchy and more? This moment offers a critical opportunity for funders to reckon with ways our sector has hindered movement efforts and to step up to instead support silo-busting organizing for liberation.

Join groundbreaking queer, trans and non-binary organizers of color from Southerners on New Ground, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, and the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM) in conversation with funders. We’ll explore the challenges and opportunities movements are facing as they set the bold visions and build power towards a world where our communities can thrive. Borealis Philanthropy’s Transforming Movements Fund and the Foundation for a Just Society will facilitate conversation to examine ways our sector has hindered organizing, share lessons on supporting power-building, and explore opportunities for funders to amplify the impact of movements for liberation.

Moderated by Dani Martinez, Borealis Philanthropy, Paulina Helm-Hernandez, Foundation for a Just Society

Speakers:
Vanessa Maldonado- Flores, Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM)
Montserrat Padilla – Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network
Aesha Rasheed – Southerners on New Ground

This year has shown us our opposition’s next strategy for stigmatizing and dehumanizing trans people: pushing trans youth out of school sports and denying them access to basic medical care. This panel will discuss what we learned this year, how this tactic is targeting the South, and how far we have to go to counter it. Panelists will discuss messaging and organizing responses, key areas of leverage for TGNC and allied communities, and how this tactic is driving a wedge between us and our usual allies.

Speakers:
Various Southern-Focused Funders

The field of philanthropy needs to be more honest with itself about how its practices inhibit the kinds of social justice and liberatory work we need right now. We know that traditional (and even some “progressive”) funder practices embody white supremacy culture and inhibit or disrupt the very work we need most right now.

Over the past 10 years, the Out in the South Initiative and Grantmakers for Southern Progress have been identifying how funders can be in actual alignment with southern movement organizations to build power and create structural change in the South. We would like to share some key lessons learned about how we can move money in ways that meet the needs and supports the vision of southern movement organizations. While the examples offered are rooted in southern movement work, they are applicable to work happening in most regions of the country (and the globe) that are facing long standing structural oppression and recent backlash and subsequent increases in white supremacist violence.

Join us to learn about three southern based funding structures that are moving money in ways that resources some of the most creative and brilliant work happening right now in service to LGBTQ liberation. The funding structures we will be learning from are The Contigo Fund, the Queer Mobilization Fund and the Southern Power Fund.

Speakers:
Out in the South, Grantmakers for Southern Progress, Contigo Fund, Southern Power Fund, Queer Mobilization Fund staff

Are you an early-or mid-career professional in philanthropy, wondering what a journey forward looks like in this sector? Are you hungry to find more of your people who share values of intersectional racial equity and feel committed to building the future of philanthropy to reflect these values? Join Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy, a community of changemakers committed to using philanthropy to build a more just, equitable, and sustainable future. Learn About professional development opportunities for emerging practitioners, how to get connected with your peers, and share your favorite cocktail or mocktail with the EPIP family while we engage in some lighthearted activities to keep us all connected.

Speaker:
Elyse Gordon, Director of Programs, EPIP