$79M committed in multiyear unrestricted support to Black organizing

12 national Black organizing and power-building grantee and movement partners

16 funders on a racial justice learning journey, supporting Black power-building

30 frontline leaders sharing movement theories and strategies over 12 convenings

6 years of allyship – redoubling efforts to move millions & practice active anti‑racism

Dear DFF community:

As we write this foreword, the state of our democracy is caught between two worlds: a beautiful vision for multi-racial democracy that has yet to be realized, and a dangerous drift toward authoritarianism that has yet to be checked. This perilous balance makes our work together all the more timely and essential.

In the past few years, Black-led groups have spearheaded one of the largest social movements in US history. Predictably, we are now seeing one of the largest backlashes to progress. We are seeing the toxic regrowth of root causes of inequity and injustice, including a white Christian nationalist agenda and anti-Black racism. We are seeing the silencing of protest across the country, sending a message of intimidation to organizers. We must address the root causes, or authoritarianism will just continue to gain strength.

DFF is designed to get to these root causes and resource frontline groups who are organizing, building civic power, and reimagining public safety. This is an opportunity for philanthropy – a sector built upon inequity – to take action and flank Black-led organizing working hard to build a true multi-racial democracy.

We’re excited to share learnings and progress as we complete our third year of work together in 2023, and move on from our first phase of multiyear work (2020-2023) into the second phase (2023-2026). As our Founder Crystal Hayling begins a new chapter in retirement, our team continues to look at this work with great pride and build momentum towards future accomplishments. Read on to hear how we’ve mobilized resources, amplified the organizing work of our partners, and disrupted traditional philanthropy.

There is much to do to realize our vision. Onward!

— Democracy Frontlines Fund team

DFF began in 2020 with twelve forward-thinking philanthropic partners who each committed $3 million dollars over 3 years to capitalize a $36 million dollar fund for Black-led organizing in our first phase of work (2020-2023).

In 2022, the urgency for change intensified and three new philanthropic partners joined our community at the same level of $3 million dollars over 3 years, growing our community to 15 foundations.

In 2023, we invited our philanthropic partners to join us for a second phase of multiyear work, renewing our commitment to fund Black-led organizing and continue our racial justice learning journey. Fourteen foundations are moving into Phase 2 (2023-2026) with us with $40 million in committed funds.

As of the writing and publishing of this report*, DFF, in partnership with sixteen foundations, has organized and committed $79 million in multiyear unrestricted support to Black-led organizing over six years (2020-2026).

Under the guidance of our Brain Trust, a Slate of national Black-led power-building organizations came into formation. These organizations rose to the top because of their exemplary efforts to build sustainable local power, reimagine safety, amplify the voices of disenfranchised voters, and prioritize the leadership of Black, LGBTQIA+, youth, disabled, undocumented, and the formerly incarcerated. The following sections will highlight their accomplishments and achievements.

In Phase 1 (2020-2023), a Slate of 10 organizations each received $3.9 million in multiyear unrestricted support: Black Futures Lab, Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Black Youth Project 100, Blackbird, Communities Transforming Policing Fund, Movement for Black Lives, National Black Food & Justice Alliance, State Voices, and Southern Power Fund.

In Phase 2 (2023-2026), we welcomed two new organizations to our Slate, Taproot Earth and Vision Change Win, to further our commitment to climate justice and movement security infrastructure. Each Slate organization receives a floor of $3.3 million in multiyear unrestricted support.*

Moving Money to the Frontlines

DFF is a resource mobilizer—moving tens of millions to Black-led organizing and power-building. From our inception in 2020 through 2026, we will have committed and awarded at least $79 million over six years in unrestricted dollars to Black-led organizing.

In Phase 1 (2020-2023), $39 million was awarded to a Slate of ten (10) national Black-led organizations building local power in voter engagement, community safety, and environmental justice. These national groups are coalitions and membership-based organizations that have state, regional, and local reach. Several organizations regrant as a function of their role in the movement ecosystem to get the dollars to the frontlines which is a key part of the Brain Trust’s design of DFF’s resource mobilization and deployment strategy.

Between 2020-2023:

Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute regranted more than $30 million to over 600 partners across 25 states in the U.S. South and beyond, building civic engagement and voter power in predominantly Black communities.
Communities Transforming Policing Fund awarded $18.3 million in grant payments and commitments to 146 organizations in 34 states, DC, and Puerto Rico to local grassroots organizing groups led by and for communities most impacted by deadly and discriminatory policing practices.
Southern Power Fund awarded $22.5 million across 13 states and Puerto Rico to over 400 frontline organizations leading transformational efforts throughout the South.

To begin Phase 2 (2023-2026), $40 million is currently committed* in multiyear unrestricted support to an updated Slate with the potential to grow as our work evolves.

* as of the publishing of this report in September 2024

Building Civic & Voter Power

A cornerstone of a thriving, multi-racial democracy are free and fair elections where every vote is counted and every voice is heard. Effective civic engagement builds power to allow communities to determine their own destinies, on election days and on the days between elections and beyond. We promote participation and inclusion with authentic messaging that speaks to the issues, instills hope, and affirms our humanity.

As a strategic pillar of our grantmaking, several organizations in the DFF Slate organize and build civic power in Black communities and communities of color, fighting voter suppression and ensuring that voters have access to accurate information to express their voice at the polls.

Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute’s “We Won’t Black Down” 2022 bus tour campaign was democracy in action! BVM put the Blackest buses in America back on the road for a 12-state tour throughout the South and Midwest (AL, FL, GA, LA, MI, MS, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX) engaging with Black voters, policymakers, faith- based leaders, Black influencers, and HBCU students.
State Voices, through their Affiliated Network of 25 State Tables registered nearly 820,000 people and made over 14 million voter contacts, including 1.9 million calls, 34.5 million texts, knocks on over 1 million doors, and 90 million contacts over mail in 2022. This includes over 3 million contacts to voters in the 2022 Georgia runoff elections.
Black Futures Lab leads The Black Census Project, the largest survey of Black people in the U.S. in 157 years, engaging Black people from across the country about their experiences, concerns, and dreams for the future. The information gathered from over 200,000 Black people will be used to identify priority issues for Black communities and inform a public policy agenda. For the 2024 election and beyond, The Black Organizing Innovations Project focuses on educating, activating, and motivating Black male voters. BFL has awarded over $1 million dollars in grants to community organizations working to engage Black men across 5 key states – GA, NC, LA, CA, and WI.

Reimagining Community Safety

Following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer and the national outpouring of grief, rage, and demand for change, DFF is connected to and in relationship with movements calling for community-based safety strategies beyond systems of policing and incarceration. A thriving democracy ensures that everyone is safe and has their needs met.

DFF grantees are leading campaigns and supporting grassroots organizing groups led by and for communities most impacted by deadly and discriminatory policing practices. These organizations are building power, increasing police accountability and transparency, ending criminalization, and shifting resources away from punishment and incarceration to preventative and transformative community safety strategies.

Communities Transforming Policing Fund – highlights from local organizing partners:

CTJC Trailer (4 min)

Chicago Torture Justice Center addresses the trauma of police violence through politicized healing for survivors of police torture, holistic and liberatory re-entry, community organizing for police transparency, and reparations curriculum in Chicago public schools.
View Full Video

Cambridge HEART Trailer (2 min)

Cambridge HEART organizes a community-led public safety program that addresses the immediate needs of people in conflict or crisis, directly deploying community responders for emergency calls, including for those with mental illness and/or substance use disorders.
View Full Video

TCAC Trailer (2 min)

Tallahassee Community Action Committee is fighting for the People’s Budget to divest resources from the police department, over 36% of the city budget in 2023, and invest in community safety solutions like schools, parks, housing, grocery stores, and infrastructure.
View Full Video
BYP100 released the She Safe We Safe report in 2022 as part of the “She Safe We Safe” initiative, a transformative movement campaign to prevent, interrupt, and ultimately end the different forms of violence that Black women, girls, femmes and gender non-conforming people face every day. The campaign uses storytelling as a key organizing strategy in the larger fight against gender-based violence, empowering members and leaders with political education and skill building. The She Safe We Safe report is being used to set parameters for new local and national campaigns and strengthen existing campaigns against gender-based violence.
Movement for Black Lives is leading the Community-Driven Safety Alternatives campaign to respond to our nation’s state violence against mentally-ill and neurodivergent folks. An ecosystem-wide campaign, M4BL is supporting its member organizations through convening, technical assistance, and training as they conduct local campaigns to educate their communities on invest/divest and promote policies that designate alternative mental health crisis response mechanisms in target cities.
Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project is an anchor organization of the Border Butterflies Project, a bi-national project to support LGBTQ asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border with legal, humanitarian, and post-detention support and organizing. BBP empowers LGBTQ+ and migrant leaders and organizers to become self-advocates through “Know Your Rights” training. BBP partners provided direct legal services to more than 1,000 people through expertly crafted parole requests, preparation for and representation in Credible Fear Interviews, preparation of asylum applications, and referrals to removal defense attorneys competent to represent LGBTQ+ asylum-seekers.

Designing Climate & Land Justice Solutions

The history of extractive climate and agricultural industries that have created the global climate crisis is predicated upon the exploitation of Black labor and theft of Black land. To move towards a thriving multi-racial democracy with regenerative and restorative climate economies, we must invest in the long legacy of movement-builders and organizers who are continuing the history of resilience and self-determination in Black food security, production, and culture, as well as the climate solutions that prioritize sustainability, collective governance, and stewardship of natural resources.

DFF grantees are working towards a Liberation Horizon – a world where all of us can live, rest, and thrive. A place where we have the right and resources to protect and steward our communities. A vision that lifts up Black food sovereignty, land justice, and self-determined food economies that center collective care and nourishment over profits.

National Black Food & Justice Alliance coordinates the Black Land and Power Coalition, a strategic alignment of Black land institutions and organizations around the U.S. working to deepen collective strategy towards regional and national Black land retention, protection and recovery. In 2022, NBFJA supported a project that has reclaimed over 100 acres in South Georgia.

NBFJA Center for Agroecology Intro (2 min)

NBFJA, through its Blackademics research and academic arm, launched the Lola Hampton-Frank Pinder Agroecology Center in partnership with FAMU (Florida A&M University) in Nov 2022. The Agroecology Center offers a space where Black farmers’ voices, challenges, and strategies are discussed together with the support of academia and research, to promote relevant changes and policy recommendations while restoring a Black agrarian culture.
Taproot Earth Intro (2 min)

Taproot Earth, one of DFF’s newest grantee partners, is building power and cultivating solutions with frontline communities fighting for climate justice and democracy by acknowledging and repairing the harms of extraction and racialized capitalism through healing practices and global climate reparations, using facilitative leadership to build power and alignment, and advancing community stewardship and governance of resources (water, energy, land, and finance).
M4BL introduced the Black Climate Mandate (through the Black Hive), which is a list of demands that call for dismantling the status quo and investing NGO and government resources in transformative climate-change strategies that centers Black lives and protects all communities in the U.S. The Black Hive participated in COP27 in 2022 with 23 delegates from 8 countries and organized for the U.S. to sign on to the acknowledgement in climate change losses and damages, and expand and deepen our climate change work in a diasporic solidarity strategy.

Protecting Movements & Building Infrastructure

As a movement-centered and accountable initiative, DFF understands the importance of infrastructure to build strong, durable, and robust movements. As our movement partners organize for racial justice and stand on the right side of history, they face state repression, vigilante violence, digital attacks, and institutional backlash as a result of their work in building power and challenging systemic injustice.

We know that movement safety and security is a collective responsibility. Key grantee partners within the DFF Slate provide safety programming and infrastructure to be responsive to the security needs of movements, anticipate threats and be ready in moments of crisis, and to live fully into the community value that we keep us safe.

Vision Change Win, one of DFF’s newest grantee partners, provides consultations in organizational development, conflict transformation, anti-oppressive practices, organizational sustainability, community organizing, and political advocacy. They are a crucial partner to social justice organizations and offer key support in community safety and security including: National Community Safety and Security School, GIFTS (Get In Formation Training Series), and BOOTS (Building Our Own Training Series). In 2024, they are leading an Electoral Safety Toolkit training series and expect between 700-900 individuals across 100 organizations to participate in at least one of their safety and security programs.
Blackbird, a DFF Phase 1 grantee partner, built durable movement security infrastructure with expertise in cyber, digital, legal protections and physical security. The security infrastructure grew to have the capacity to respond rapidly in moments of crisis, provide recommendations to organizations on how to incorporate best practices, and provide a series of training for leaders across the ecosystem. In addition to movement security, Blackbird built movement communications infrastructure and grew narrative power by producing content that shifted public consciousness, especially in regard to Black organizing and transformative justice.

For years, social justice movements have demanded that philanthropy look in the mirror and see the ways the field replicates the harmful systems that it insists it wants to change. DFF commits to disrupting traditional philanthropy by: funding organizations led by and for Black communities; funding power-building organizers; providing multiyear general operating support; eliminating burdensome application requirements; and recruiting a Brain Trust of women of color movement advisors to direct and vet grantmaking, with additional diligence from the Libra Foundation.

Alongside the resource mobilization, DFF funding partners commit to participating in a years-long learning cohort designed to dig deeply into issues of racial justice and equity. In partnership and leadership with our Facilitation and Curriculum Advisor, DFF is facilitating a racial justice learning journey to unpack the legacy of discrimination and anti-Black racism and push the boundaries of what is possible in philanthropy. Through virtual and in-person quarterly convenings we feature our Slate grantee partners, discuss movement theories and strategies, build community, and embrace what it means to practice active anti-racism through racial justice grantmaking, allyship, and principled struggle.

Social justice activist and Equal Justice Initiative Executive Director Bryan Stevenson with DFF Funders and Team on Montgomery’s West Jefferson St.

Some of the 800+ corten steel monuments hanging in the National Memorial — each representing a U.S. county — engraved with the names of Black people killed in racial terror lynchings in that county between 1877 and 1950.

On the Memorial’s grounds are duplicate steel columns intended for each county to: claim its own, establish a memorial on home ground to its lynching victims, and conduct related public education.

DFF Funders and Team at the entrance to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

Hank Willis Thomas’s sculpture *Raise Up* — one of several installations on the Memorial grounds — comments on police violence and brutality in America.

DFF Funders and Team in conversation with leaders Lateefah Simon and Bryan Stevenson in the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Room Annex.

Lateefah Simon and Bryan Stevenson discuss why history, truth-telling, and reconciliation are all crucial for preservation of our democracy.

“More Than Tours” owner Michelle Browder recounting the haunting journey of thousands of enslaved Africans who arrived on Montgomery’s riverfront by steamboat – then paraded in chains up Commerce St. to be sold in the city’s slave markets.

Michelle Browder reviewing Montgomery’s historical timeline with DFF Funders and Team at the riverfront.

DFF Funders walking the pathway of generations of enslaved Africans – from the docks, up Commerce St., past the sites of many slave trading companies, and toward the site of the Court Square slave market.

A visit to Browder’s “Mothers of Gynecology” monument, honoring the sacrifice of Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey — the enslaved experimental subjects of the “father of gynecology” J. Marion Sims.

Three exceptional leaders from our DFF Slate — (L-R) Alicia Garza (Black Futures Lab), LaTosha Brown (Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute), and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson (Highlander Research and Education Center, co-leader of the Southern Power Fund).

Another view of the hundreds of steel monuments hanging in the National Memorial — each engraved with a list of Black people lynched in a single U.S. county during the time between Reconstruction and the mid-20th century.

DFF Funders and Team at the Parsonage of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church — site of bombings during the fight for Civil Rights, and home to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his family from 1954-1960.

DFF Funders gathered for dinner of sustainable local fare, reflecting on our visit to the National Memorial and our racial justice tour, on a cool Montgomery night.

One captured moment (among many) of deep connection and community-building during our DFF Funder Learning Journey in Montgomery.

Community activist Michelle Browder describing the journey that was forced upon hundreds of enslaved Africans daily, once steamboats enabled transportation from the Upper to the Lower South in the early-to-mid 1800s.

Leaders of DFF Slate Member NBFJA (L-R) Cicely Garrett, Dr. Jasmine R. Jackson, and Dara Cooper, along with Truly Living Well executive director Carol Hunter, who all guided us on a Food & Land Justice Tour in Tuskegee and Atlanta.

j. olu baiyewu, the Urban Agriculture Director for the City of Atlanta, speaking with DFF Funders & Team at Atlanta’s Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture Collegetown Farm.

Members of the DFF Funder learning community in Atlanta at the Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture Collegetown Farm, sharing our final meal and conversation at the close of our convening.

DFF Founder Emerita and former Libra Foundation Executive Director Crystal Hayling, with civil rights lawyer, author, and Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson.

In October 2022 we traveled to Montgomery and took a deep dive into the legacy of slavery and racial terror, partnering with the Equal Justice Initiative to visit the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and The Legacy Museum and reflect on the parallels to the current challenges for our democracy.

We also met with DFF grantee partners and movement leaders Alicia Garza of Black Futures Lab; Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson of Highlander Research and Education Center / Southern Power Fund; LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute; Cicely Garrett, Dr. Jasmine Ratliff, and Dara Cooper of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance; Carol Hunter of Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture; and Michelle Browder of More Than Tours.

For details, please read our Learning Journey Spotlight in DFF’s Y2 Report.

November 2022

Critical Race Theory & Democracy

March 2023

Money, Racial Capitalism, & Democracy

June 2023

Planet Justice is People Justice

September 2023

Community Safety & Democracy

Our DFF Funder Community trip to Minneapolis was deeply spiritual and powerful.

Together we visited the site where George Floyd took his last breaths to pay our respects and reflect on the legacy of a tragedy that changed the trajectory of the world. We met with organizers who turned a moment into a movement and made sure we couldn’t turn away from the truth—policing and incarceration have never created safety and justice for Black communities.

Our frontline partners show us that community safety is created when our needs are met and relationships are rooted in love and humanity. Our ability to create that future requires us to organize and stay in the fight.

At a time when too many funders are retreating from commitments to racial justice, Democracy Frontlines Fund is recommitting—from the heart. What we felt in Minneapolis was the powerful renewal of our collective will and determination. And that is reflected in three more years of work going forward to defend our multi-racial democracy. It’s going to take all of us, and it has never been more urgently needed.

— Democracy Frontlines Fund Team

Bring DFF funder learning community together in a shared experience on community safety strategies beyond policing and carceral systems as a fundamental tenet of creating a multi-racial democracy.
Reflect on the origins of our collective work, our shared learning journey thus far, and our continuing commitments to racial justice.
Continue developing relationships and building power within our funder community for collective action.
Leverage the experience to inspire and catalyze actions in our work and the philanthropy sector more broadly towards long-term investments in Black movements to address equity and injustice issues.

On May 25, 2020, the world witnessed the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis at the hands of the police. George’s murder became a catalyst in the fight for racial justice and inspired the founding of Democracy Frontlines Fund. Together we visited the George Floyd Global Memorial and met with his auntie Dr. Angela Harrelson in remembrance of George’s life, walked past a mural on the wall of Unity Foods (formerly Cup Foods), listened to mutual aid organizers at the People’s Way Gas Station (formerly Speedway), and paid our respects to more individuals who have lost their lives due to police brutality at the Say Their Names Cemetery.

Minneapolis’ Chicago Ave. from E 37th to E 39th — including the 38th & Chicago intersection where he was murdered — now known as George Perry Floyd Square.

A George Floyd mural displayed on a bus shelter steps from the site of his murder, visited by DFF Founder Emerita Crystal Hayling.

DFF Funders and Team in an alley of icons including Kathleen Cleaver and Colin Kaepernick, near Unity Foods in George Perry Floyd Square.

Community guide Kia Bible speaking with DFF Funders & Team at “People’s Way” (formerly Speedway gas station) in George Perry Floyd Square.

The “I Can Breathe Now” mural, created the week of George Floyd’s murder by artists Cadex Herrera and Xena Goldman, with the help of Greta McLain, Maria Javier, Niko Alexander, Pablo Helm Hernandez, and Rachel Breen.

South Minneapolis artist Jordan Powell-Karris’ fist sculpture at the center of the 38th St. & Chicago Avenue intersection, first created in wood, now fabricated in metal.

Community guide Georgio Wright educating DFF Funders outside the Cup Foods convenience market, now known as *Unity* Foods — the site of George Floyd’s murder.

Community guide Kendrick White and DFF Funders at People’s Way, noting the many murals memorializing other victims of police violence installed throughout the Square.

Visiting the art installation “Say Their Names Cemetery” containing 100+ gravestones made of simple materials like cardboard, plastic and paper, showing the names of Black lives cut short by police brutality.

“2014 I can’t breathe; 2020 I can’t breathe. People are angry because waiting patiently for 6 yrs *did not work*. Stop promising change, *make change*.”

DFF partnered with our grantees and local artists to host conversations on community-centered strategies that rely on relationships and community resources to create safety, rather than systems of policing, incarceration, and punishment. Junauda Petrus presented her book Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers?, followed by a panel conversation with Jeree Thomas of Communities Transforming Policing Fund, LaTanya Jenifor-Sublett and Mark Clements of Chicago Torture Justice Center, Signe Harriday and Roxanne Anderson of Relationships Evolving Possibilities.

A legacy of multi-racial organizing in Minneapolis created the conditions for George Floyd’s murder to become a catalyst for racial justice movements. The DFF community engaged in conversation with local grantees and community organizers Oluchi Omeoga of Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, JaNaé Bates of ISAIAH, Sheila Nezhad of Interrupting Criminalization, and Kandace Montgomery of Black Visions Collective (former), to learn more about the intentional base-building that took place before 2020 and how the fight for community safety and racial justice has evolved in the years since.

What is possible when we build real movement ecosystems?

An ecosystem is different beings playing different and interdependent roles. The mushrooms do not do the same things as the trees, but they rely on each other. Movement ecosystems are a lot of different folks coming together and holding down their role.

The harm that philanthropy has caused, is [it’s] made leaders feel like they have to hold it all down all the time.

Kandace Montgomery
Founder and Former Co-Executive Director of Black Visions

As far as we have come together, it feels like we are just at the beginning of our resource mobilization and organizing to flank Black movements.

Our work is even more important because we’re in a time of orchestrated backlash against movement gains and progress. Despite the challenges, we must keep moving forward with love and empathy, because the systems we need don’t exist yet and the future we deserve needs to be created. We know that only through deep, relational, long-term organizing will we get to where we need to go.

On a personal note, I am learning again that change is constant. Our DFF team is experiencing that lesson with the transition of Crystal to Founder Emerita with her retirement. We continue to honor her leadership and vision in blazing bold paths forward for philanthropy.

As we embrace change, we are excited to continue this journey together in a second phase of work. Through renewed commitments from our original funding partners and commitments from new partners (welcome Heising-Simons Foundation!), DFF will move a minimum of $40 million between 2023-2026, bringing our lifetime grantmaking to Black organizing to a floor of $79 million. We welcome two new grantee partners to the Slate, Taproot Earth and Vision Change Win, to double-down on organizing for climate justice and movement security infrastructure. And with our funding partners, we continue our learning and journey towards racial justice, through a container that allows us to sharpen our political analysis, be in principled struggle with movements, and challenge our notions of what is possible in philanthropy.

We are proud to do this work and stand firm in our commitment to racial justice.

Democracy Frontlines Fund (DFF) was conceived and launched in fall of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 by a police officer, one in an unbroken string of unjust Black deaths at the hands of law enforcement. George’s murder triggered an unprecedented national outpouring of grief, rage, and demands for change, connecting police brutality in Black communities to systemic health and socioeconomic inequities. And yet, despite the overwhelming attacks on Black communities, philanthropy has failed to adequately resource Black-led organizations at the center of transformative change.

For years, social justice movements have demanded that philanthropy look in the mirror and see the ways the field replicates the harmful systems that it insists it wants to change. Activists have long warned that this lack of action undermines the very pillars of democracy. For example, modern-day Jim Crow laws expressly designed to suppress Black votes are now being widely deployed to suppress all voting.

In response, The Libra Foundation enlisted a group of forward-thinking philanthropic partners to come together in DFF. As a collective giving and learning community, DFF resources and is in relationship with Black-led movements and frontline organizers fighting voter suppression through long-term voter engagement, defunding the carceral system in order to build safe and healthy communities, and implementing climate and environmental solutions to build a world where we can all live, rest, and thrive.

Although many foundations have posted statements and announced commitments for racial justice, the vast majority of these pledges do not explicitly name the philanthropic approaches and practices that need to be undone in order to shift from transactional to transformational giving. DFF disrupts traditional philanthropy by committing to the following: funding organizations led by and for Black people; funding power building organizers; providing multiyear general operating support; eliminating burdensome application requirements; and participating in an ongoing learning cohort designed to dig deeply into issues of racial justice and equity.

Guided by a Brain Trust of accountable movement advisors, DFF is unique—we are funding the country’s most impactful racial justice groups led by and for Black communities with unrestricted dollars and getting rid of the red tape. Not tomorrow, today. Not alone, together.

The DFF slate includes national organizations building sustainable local power. These groups are in partnership with one another and are committed to reimagining safety, amplifying the voices of disenfranchised voters, and prioritizing Black, LGBTQI+, youth, disabled, undocumented, and formerly incarcerated leadership. The DFF slate illustrates that change happens at the speed of trust, and no organization can effectively tackle our society’s problems without including those disproportionately hit. Funding organizing is different from funding services or museums. The work rarely falls neatly within prescribed program areas. It can feel messy, and those seeking logic models will feel frustrated and troubled by the breadth of unfamiliarity of these approaches.

But as Rep. John Lewis said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, to help redeem the soul of America.” Unequivocally, these organizations are building a world where we all count, where our voices are heard, and where our communities can thrive. Our democracy depends on it.

Home: “You Changed The World George, Minneapolis, MN, June 18, 2020” photo by Lorie Shaull, (CC BY 2.0).

Realizing Our Vision: “DFF Intro Y3” video and DFF Team photo by Jean Melesaine.

From the Frontlines, Grantee Updates:

Moving Money to the Frontlines: “60th Anniversary March on Washington, August 26, 2023” photo by Victoria Pickering, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Building Civic & Voter Power: Photo courtesy Black Voters Matter.
Reimagining Community Safety: “Black Lives Matter Signs, 17th and H, Washington D.C., June 12, 2020” photo by Victoria Pickering, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); CTJC, Cambridge HEART, and TCAC trailers and full videos created by Jean Melesaine.
Designing Climate & Land Justice Solutions: “Carolina Gold Rice with Rollen Chalmers” photo courtesy Travel With Annita; “NBFJA Center for Agroecology Intro” video courtesy NBFJA; “Taproot Earth Intro” video courtesy Taproot Earth.
Protecting Movements & Building Infrastructure: Photo courtesy Southern Power Fund.

Disrupting Philanthropy, In-Person Convenings: All Montgomery Learning Journey photos by Jean Melesaine.

Learning Journey Spotlight: All Minneapolis Learning Journey photos & videos by Jean Melesaine.

The Work Ahead: “This is a Movement, Not a Moment: Street Art at BLM Plaza, Washington D.C., August 27, 2020” photo by Elvert Barnes, (CC BY-SA 2.0).

About DFF:

[Panel 1]: Background: “Society’s Cage: National Mall, Washington D.C., September 6, 2020” photo by Victoria Pickering, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); Inset: “BLM Memorial Fence Artifact Collection, Baltimore MD, August 14, 2023” photo by Elvert Barnes, (CC BY-SA 2.0).
[Panel 2]: Background: Photo courtesy Southern Power Fund; Inset: “Equality, BLM Murals, Washington D.C., September 18, 2020” photo by Elvert Barnes, (CC BY-SA 2.0).
[Panel 3]: Background: “The Time Is Now, BLM Murals, Washington D.C., September 18, 2020” photo by Elvert Barnes, (CC BY-SA 2.0); Inset: “Activism is My Superpower, March on Washington, August 28, 2020” photo by Victoria Pickering, (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Our Thanks: “Mourning Passage in George Perry Floyd Square” photo by Jean Melesaine.