Mitchell Kapor Foundation Weblog

Just last week I had the opportunity to meet Bob Edgar, former U.S. congressman and current president of Common Cause. He stopped by for a visit while in town with Nick Nyhart, president of our grant partner organization, Public Campaign. They were on a West Coast tour of sorts, updating activists and funders on their collaboration work. So I was glad to open up the Sunday Chronicle and see an editorial discussing clean elections and the potential impact of  the Citizens United vs. FEC case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling in this case could essentially roll back restrictions on corporate giving to federal campaigns. Nick and Bob are great leaders in the movement to improve the integrity of U.S. elections as representing the will of the our communities, not companies. The necessary distinction between democracy and capitalism has gotten too blurry for my comfort…

I was also happy to stumble upon an excerpt in the Washington Post written by a former student of mine! Lanre Akinsiku is a recent IDEAL Scholar and graduate of UC Berkeley who is now a Coro Fellow out of southern California.  He had thoughtful insights on the opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility. Go Lanre! Go Lanre! Do the daggone thing! I’m so proud!

I feel quite fortunate to have role models and other professional peers whom I admire in the broader philanthropic and civic engagement movements. Thomasina Williams is one of these people. She’s the Program Officer for Democracy, Rights and Justice Program at the Ford Foundation and has a rich herstory as a civil rights attorney and legal advocate for social justice. We met through the Funders Committee for Civic Engagement, where she serves on the Steering Committee. More than once I’ve asked myself, when at the crossroads of a grantmaking dilemma, “What would Thomasina do?” I trust her vision and observations about the power dynamics inherent to electoral politics and what marginalized communities must do in order to break our elections processes free from the stranglehold of big money.

A conversation with Thomasina last week gave me the following inspiration: we must push beyond “diversity.” We’ve heard it used as lingo to indicate that people were at least *considering* the racial/ethnic/gender makeup of a particular entity. Yet, superficial treatment of representation doesn’t ensure that people’s voices, experiences, and opinions are taken into consideration during decision-making processes. Diversity in and of itself does not guarantee that pluralism is woven into setting policy or direction.

If we’re going to really embrace this nation’s diverse demographics, we also have to be willing to build our institutions that are inclusive from the beginning. And if they aren’t inclusive from the beginning, they are doggedly determined to have appropriate representation on the staff and board.  “We’re thinking about it” is so 1987. Do it. And – to borrow another inspiration from the intrepid Ludovic Blain, if orgs aren’t inclusive and don’t have appropriate representation, stop claiming to be diverse or represent diverse communities. Tokenism doesn’t count. Having racial and gender castes by job level (from executive leadership to support staff) doesn’t either.

We’ve made great progress in this nation; I remain cautiously optimistic that we can get even closer to the American ideal of “liberty and justice for all.” For real.

Last year the push was for voter education and registration; this year we’re focusing on ensuring that people know about Census 2010! The Census is a critically important occurrence – its data is used to reapportion Congressional seats and to distribute over $400 billion in federal funds, among other things.

In order to help spread the word to historically hard-to-count populations in the Bay Area, the Kapor Foundation has earmarked $50,000 for an aligned grantmaking effort focusing on census outreach led by the San Francisco Foundation.  The combined funds will support outreach efforts undertaken by nonprofits in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties. The grant request deadline is Friday, so Bay Area organizations make haste! [Please note that this is NOT a Kapor Foundation initiative; your organization should apply for these funds through the San Francisco Foundation's grant application portal.]

Let’s get it done folks!

Painting by Robert Shetterly, from his Americans Who Tell The Truth series

I went to bed last night and did that thing you’re never supposed to do in order to get a good night’s sleep: opened my laptop, went to the New York Times, and started poking around.

About half way down the page was the news of Van Jones’ resignation from the Obama Administration as the Special Adviser for Green Jobs. Within seconds of reading the article, the sad truth about the limits of this presidency became very, very real.  I met Van briefly when I first moved to Oakland in 2000 and our paths crossed numerous times as my great friend Zachary Norris deferred NYU law school because he was so inspired by the work of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the leadership Van offered.  Van is a true intellectual, an amazing orator, and the most down to earth human being you will ever meet.

Over the course of the last months, I’ve been a giggling skeptic of the power that Glenn Beck has over the state of American politics.  I imagined it to be peripheral, on the margins of American society, and at the end of the day powerless.  Today, I can’t help but think: What have we done?  As progressives, we have let one of our great leaders, activists, and thinkers fall and still the streets of Oakland, DC, and  New York are quiet.  As progressives, we continue to let the administration fall under the relentless scrutiny of Republicans and, worst yet, right-wing talking heads and assume that it will have little to no effect on the movement we worked so hard for.  What have we done?  And more importantly, what can we do to make sure this never happens again?

Can’t stop won’t stop: http://cantstopwontstop.com/blog/time-to-knuckle-up-on-van-jones-resignation/
Sierra Club: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/2009/09/we-all-blew-it.htm

Looking for some food justice? How about a good fight for the planet? Or maybe seeking out a venue to hear your favorite activist or poet give a 20 minute talk? If your answer is yes to any of these, here go 3 places you should be at at in the next couple of months

Eat Real Food Festival

August 28-30, 2009

Jack London Square, Oakland, CA

Street food, fresh summer fruits and veggies, live music, handcrafted local beers, ice cream sold from the back of a bicycle. Come find it all and more at Eat Real, a free festival, taking place August 28-30 at Jack London Square. Buy from your favorite street food vendors, pick up a ticket for the Beer Shed and sample from among the 40-something microbrews, or shop in the Market for local produce and artisanal snacks. In between the good eats, enjoy the non-stop entertainment and activities that include chef demonstrations, dance performances, bands, films, food competitions, and lots more, for free

Proceeds from the event benefit People’s Grocery, La Cocina and Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Momentum 2009:

September 7-9, 2009

W Hotel, San Francisco, CA

Momentum brings together some of the world’s most innovative thinkers and dedicated activists to challenge, inspire, and energize each other. It’s a conference and it’s a community where ongoing connections are built between key social issues and strategies. Tides first convened Momentum in 2005 as a way to keep the energy and dialog from the 2004 elections open and productive. From that first gathering of donors, Momentum has evolved to embrace the larger Tides community in active, authentic dialog. In 2008, Momentum was re-envisioned with a unique format, placing the spotlight on innovative, emerging and challenging ideas while fostering collective experience. With each Momentum gathering, the forum expands and evolves to embrace a broader vision of community. Momentum’s engaging and brilliant speakers share their passion for new approaches to familiar problems, giving their most intriguing presentations in just 20 minutes.

Crude Screening

September 25- October 1, 2009

Landmark Lumiere, San Francisco, CA

Three years in the making, Crude is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. The inside story of the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film subverts the conventions of advocacy filmmaking, exploring a complicated situation from all angles while bringing an important story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.

The landmark case takes place in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, pitting 30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – spent three decades systematically contaminating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land. The plaintiffs allege that the pollution has created a “death zone” in an area the size of the Rhode Island, resulting in increased rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and a multiplicity of other health ailments. They further allege that the oil operations in the region contributed to the destruction of indigenous peoples and irrevocably impacted their traditional way of life. Chevron vociferously fights the claims, charging that the case is a complete fabrication, perpetrated by “environmental con men” who are seeking to line their pockets with the company’s billions.

IN OTHER NEWS!

Carmen and I (Tiffany) attended CompassPoint’s Nonprofit Day today.  It was an exciting day that started out with an inspiring opening plenary by Benjamin Jealous, CEO of the NAACP.  Ben got everyone even more jazzed about movement building with strong statements about being clear about our convictions, being clear about who shares our conviction, and always trying to act like ‘converts’ who are passionate about the causes we’re working for.  My favorite quote from his speech was about Ben’s pastor who said, “Success is going from failure to failure without lack of enthusiasm.”  Now THAT’S conviction!!

I also listened to a strong panel of experts who also spoke about movement building, learned about how to build coaching into my communication with colleagues and others, and many other hot topics.  If you went to the event, I hope you gained some great networks and kernels of wisdom just like I did!

See you at the next event!!

The month of May wore me OUT! So much going on – can I capture it in 300 words or less? Here goes!

On Tuesday the 19th, I headed to Denver for the FCCP spring convening, Shifting Landscapes: Exploring Civic Engagement Strategies, Partnerships and New Possibilities. These gatherings are always informative with interesting people, and this was no exception. I presented a brief historical overview during the session Turning Promise into Practice: Strategies for Transforming Antiquated Voter Registration Systems – a fired up name for a strategy session on voter registration modernization. Check out the slideshow (pdf) for more information.

California’s special election was also held on Tuesday. We were concerned about the potential (and realized) low turnout for an election with huge budget implications, so the Foundation made a grant to Citizen Voice in support of their nonpartisan Special Elections Project. In two weeks they reached over a million people! See more on their website.

I also moderated a panel at A Dream Deferred: The Future of African American Education, the annual conference sponsored by The College Board. Our panel, The Black Boys College Bound Initiative: A Philanthropic and Community Collaborative, highlighted the work and strategies of three of our grantee organizations – Young Scholars Program, M3 Education Foundation, and SACREA’s My Brother’s Keeper Summer Algebra Academy. Again, check out the slideshow (pdf) for more details.

Last but certainly not least, I attended a U.C. Berkeley commencement ceremony to happily witness my colleague Carmen Rojas as she received her Ph.D. in City Planning. Many congrats, Carmen! Or should I say “Dr. Rojas”?

More stuff next week. I’m going to rest.

Flickr photo by Mark Jarvis

To my great delight I stumbled on this article featuring one of our grantees, Hip Hop Caucus Institute, which was one of the headliners on the Yahoo! news page. They’re holdin’ it down! Check it out!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090519/pl_politico/22684

The economic crisis has reached a pivotal moment. Not only are major financial institutions and insurance companies having to face the consequences of predatory lending and fiscal mismanagement, everyday people are losing their jobs, homes, and community resources. As the federal government’s disbursement of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act begins to land into empty state government coffers, and cities across the nation are ramping up to access funds to pay for projects on hold, we would like to encourage folks in the nonprofit sector to prepare for this opportunity to influence the movement of resources into their communities.

This economic crisis has impacted low-income communities and communities of color and will continue to disproportionately burden these communities unless activists, advocates, and policy leaders are able to pressure state and federal leaders to invest in them. The numbers are staggering. In “The Preliminary Report of the Impact of the Economic Stimulus Plan on Communities of Color” by john powell from the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity at Ohio State University, it is noted that:

• African American homeownership gains were reversed after 2004; they have reverted to 2000 levels.
• The Economic Policy Institute asserts that black and Hispanic unemployment could reach as high as 18.2% and 13.1% respectively in 2010 if a recovery package is not implemented. Both of these figures are more than twice the unemployment rate the groups experienced in 2007 (8.6% for blacks, 5.8% for Hispanics).
• Between 2000 and 2007, median black family incomes dropped 1.0% for all families (down 1.9% for single female-headed families; dropped 9.1% for single male-headed families; married couples saw a modest increase of 1.9% median income). The overall decline is the first in a business cycle of this length since WWII.

As a Foundation committed to social justice work, we want to make sure our grantees and partners are aware of the consequences and opportunities presented by the crisis. Attached please find links to resources that might support your work and inform your understanding of how this crisis impacts the communities you are working with.

john powell: “Preliminary Report of the Impact of the Economic Stimulus Plan on Communities of Color”

Maya Wiley: “Talking Points Economic and Housing Recovery for Everyone: Racial Equity and Prosperity

Northern California Grantmakers: 2009 Relevant Articles on Philanthropy, Nonprofits, & the Economic Crisis

This week, Cedric forwarded me a recent CompassPoint article entitled “What about the Next Generation of Leaders of Color? Advancing Multicultural Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector.”  The leadership vacuum in the nonprofit sector with particular emphasis on the lack of future leaders of color has been a hot topic for the last few years. Some statistics cited in the article show that while one third of the U.S. population is people of color, staff within the nonprofit sector is 81% white with the vast majority of nonprofit executive directors being white.  The other major decision-making entity within nonprofit organizations, boards of trustees, are 86% white, and over half of all nonprofit boards are 100% white. This article gives insight into why CompassPoint, a reputable Bay Area nonprofit organization that provides capacity building support to many Bay Area organizations, feels developing future leaders of color is important and relevant.

The Mitchell Kapor Foundation is definitely thinking about ways to deepen the pipeline of nonprofit leaders of color and want to make sure you’re linked to these broader discussions of how to strengthen that pipeline.

Photo from a May 29, 2008 blog by Michael Seltzer.