Funders for Justice
/OVERVIEW: Funders for Justice is a member organization that fosters collaboration among philanthropic organizations and others working in the areas of social, racial, Indigenous, criminal and gender justice in the U.S.
IP TAKE: While Funders for Justice does not make its own grants, it works with a broad range of philanthropic organizations working in areas of social justice and, specifically, toward divestment social systems that maintain the criminal justice landscape in the U.S. It does support some fellowships. FFJ’s resource page features vital information and reports on social movements, divestment and recommendations for moving vital resources to the movements that need them most.
Membership for organizations starts at $250, but if this isn’t an option for you, email this approachable organization to find out how you might collaborate with them.
PROFILE: Funders for Justice (FFJ) is a “national network and organizing platform of funders increasing resources to BIPOC grassroots organizations.” FFJ does not make grants, but, in collaboration with its member organizations, it galvanizes and organizes support for various stakeholders “working at the intersections of racial justice, gender justice, ending criminalization, and building models for community and safety.” A signatory of the GUTC Pledge, FFJ “envisions a world where the prison industrial complex and all of its interwoven parts no longer exist” and works “to redistribute philanthropic dollars investing in that long-term process and vision.”
FFJ’s work consists of various groups and collaborative programs that produce resources to guide social justice philanthropy and divestment from systems that enable the criminalization of BIPOC and marginalized people. It is also the author and organizer of the Safety and Security Pledge, through which signatories commit “to support the safety and security of movement organizations.”
Grants for Racial Equity, Indigenous Rights, Criminal Justice, LGBTQ, and Women
FFJ, with its member organizations, frames its work in terms of Divest/Invest, articulating the importance of diverting resources from criminalization and the existing justice system and directing them instead to “the work of transforming communities to be truly safe and secure.” The organization’s programming consists of four core practices and several program areas. FFJ’s core practices include:
Promoting the leadership of people of color, including “women and trans people of color” in social justice movements and philanthropy;
Committing to and participating in supportive, collaborative learning initiatives;
Supporting the work of “communities and movements” and enabling grassroots resource allocation; and
Bringing new funders into the fold at FFJ, thereby bringing “new resources to movements.”
FFJ names several intersecting program areas that address its overarching goal of divestment from criminalization.
FFJ provides member organizations with a toolkit for its Divest/Invest platform. In addition to background, research and statistical information about the movement, the toolkit maintains a section of recommendations for grantmakers.
Since 2017, FFJ has run a Healing Justice Strategy Group “to educate funders on a healing justice framework and move money in a way that best supports movements.” This program builds on and scales the work of healing justice practitioners and is “jointly led by Joy Messinger, of Third Wave Fund, and Maisha Quint, of Libra Foundation.”.
In 2019, FFJ established an Eroding the Power of Police Unions Strategy Group. The goal of this program is “to educate funders and mobilize resources to grassroots organizations leading accountability campaigns against police unions and associations.” The group is advised by leaders from the California Endowment and Borealis Philanthropy’s Communities Transforming Policing Fund.
FFJ runs a Fellowship program to support leadership development among its member organizations. An early cohort of this program consisted of “women, trans, and gender queer people, and nearly all people of color” who held “program director and program officer roles in a mix of private and public foundations.” Areas of focus include “accountability practice,” relationship building and “political alignment & organizing skills.”
Since 2020, FFJ has run organized and run a Donor Organizing Committee in Support of M4BL. This organization not only works to encourage monetary support for Movement for Black Lives, but also “challenges power dynamics and empowers frontlines of movement to be just as bold in their demands for resources.”
FFJ selects Movement Advisors, who are recognized for “their expertise and leadership in movements for racial and gender justice, anti-criminalization movements, and efforts to inform more impactful grant-making for community power-building.” Advisors appear to be selected annually and serve as consultants to FFJ’s work and as representatives of the organization at “national panels and workshops.”
FFJ also engages in Ad-Hoc and Emerging Projects “that are critical interventions in the philanthropic sector.”
Some of the above programs have authored or contributed to FFJ’s accessible online Resource Library, which contains reports, analysis, information about relevant social movements and a section on Funding Needs and Opportunities. Resources also include FFJ-authored publications including a Safety & Security Institute Report and an Eradicating Gender-Based Violence Report.
Important Grant Details:
JJF does not make grants but supports foundations and other stakeholders in their social justice work. It is unclear how many organizations are members of FFJ, but members appear to be organizations of all sizes and from all areas of the U.S. FFJ members include Restoring Justice for Indigenous Peoples, the African American Roundtable, the Transgender Law Center, Fresno Barrios Unidos and Georgia’s Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom.
Submit inquiries to JJF via email at info@funders4justice.org or reach out via its social media channels, which are linked to the bottom of its website.
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