December 13th, 2023 at 10:00 – 12:00 ET, 16:00 – 18:00 CET

Multitudes Foundation, Civic Power Fund

An energizing, political and engaging conversation, which was co-led by EDGE members Sarah and Jeff from Multitudes Foundation and Martha from the Civic Power Fund, with the important insights of organizing practices from Love and Power and Démocratiser la Politique!. The conversation showed that philanthropy can play a vital role in resourcing groups to raise their own money — backing them for the long-term to build a membership base that can transform initial philanthropic investment into sustainable, self-generated income.

EDGE members were invited to share organizing practices they have been supporting as well as their role as funders organizers.

I fell into organizing really through a story about money which feels appropriate for this crowd. I was organizing with a group of churches and the members of these churches were given really high interest rates. They therefore wrote a letter to the local bank urging them to decrease the rate. Anyone wants to guess what happened with that letter?…they didn’t even bother to respond. We were so low on their power analysis we were irrelevant so we organized a hundred nuns, Catholic order women. We asked them to dress up in full habit and to collect coins from their local churches. On the busiest day of this bank’s year on Christmas Eve as everyone was doing their Christmas shopping…we came with a hundred nuns. And the nuns were very polite. They formed an orderly queue. They went to the front of the queue, they opened a bank account, they went round to the back of the queue, they went to the front, they closed the bank account, they went round to the back, they queued to the front, they opened a bank account, they went round to the back, they went to the front, they closed the bank account and no one knew what to do. The bank couldn’t arrest them, they weren’t doing anything illegal.…So an hour and a half in we got a call. Take your nuns and go. Will change the terms and conditions of the loan.

Charlotte Fischer

Love & Power

Lessons from the Conversation:

We need ordinary People’s Money for Systemic Change: the UK as a Case Study

In the UK context, in 2021-2022 on 5.7% of foundation giving went towards social justice work – and just 0.3% towards community organizing.
Historically, successful social movements have been powered by people, not foundations. From the civil rights movement to the suffragettes, from farm workers to the trade union movements, movements historically organized the money of its members, not only grants and wealthy philanthropists. The backbone of these movements were regular ordinary people who paid dues to thunderwork.
A recent survey of organizations in the UK showed that almost every black majority church, every Muslim community organization contacted as well as every refugee group that was run by and for refugees were collecting money from their community. The majority of organizations surveyed however were not.
Today there is a gap in how much ordinary people’s money is going towards social change. With some exceptions like trade unions and religious congregations, the lack of mobilization of ordinary people’s money is a fundamental block on the development of movement infrastructure in the UK.

The Importance of Social Movements Powered by the People and by Organizing (Not Just Philanthropy)

Organizing is a prerequisite for mobilizing financial support from community members. It is a “magic practice” because it is firmly rooted in the principle of self-determination and achieving change that directly benefits the community involved.
Organizing involves a thorough analysis of where power lies and how to cultivate the kind of power required to challenge and transform broken systems and structures which builds strong bonds within the community, fostering solidarity. These connections are crucial for resisting divisive politics and countering far-right ideologies and are also the basis of collecting dues or financial support.
The reality is, marginalized communities will not be saved by anyone external to their community. What philanthropy and others can do is to get out of the way for the community to organize and lead the change themselves. The importance of letting communities lead their own change efforts is highlighted, emphasizing that no one is coming to save them, and getting out of the way is essential.
Are movements funded mainly by grants working for the people they serve or for funders? Funders often lack a deep understanding of the sector they operate in, leading to misguided priorities and metrics.
Organizations relying on short-term grants, often spanning two years, struggle to engage in long-term, impactful work and instead spend time seeking out and performing to funders. This can lead to a potential misalignment of priorities between what funders want and what the communities they serve want.
Organizing loses its transformative potential when it becomes more focused on pleasing funders than the community’s needs.
Funder dynamics, even in rooms with more radical individuals, can also limit organizations’ ability to adopt radical approaches that funders do not understand or cannot fit in their assessments of impact.
This means that most likely organizations more focused on funders are not going to be able to build the depth and scale relationship that allows them to win the transformative change that their communities seek. It also means that they are not able to challenge the power funders hold or hold them accountable to their perpetuation of systemic crises due to their dependence on their giving.

Organizing Funders: It is not Philanthropy, It Is Redistributing Resources

Funders need to be encouraged away from traditional norms of secrecy around wealth which requires a candid acknowledgment of the resources available and how they are utilized.
There needs to be a paradigm shift from a charitable framework to one focused on redistribution. The key point here is to move away from a narrative centered on giving and charity to one that prioritizes fair processes in redistributing resources. The aim is to move beyond benevolence and embrace a model that addresses systemic imbalances.
There is a fundamental difference between reparation and philanthropy, this point underscores the need to move beyond conventional philanthropic approaches. Reparation implies addressing historical and systemic injustices, whereas philanthropy often operates within a charitable framework.
With the framework of redistribution, competition and “proving of worth” becomes less important. There is a constant concern among organizers about the perceived worth of their work in the eyes of funders. This involves questioning whether the outcomes of organizers’ efforts align with the expectations of funders who are liberating capital. Instead of this dynamic, a framework of redistribution and reparations puts the onus on funders to release their resources rather than just on movements to prove worth.

Role of Funders: Supporting Organizing, Not Funding Projects and loosening their impact assessment

The role of funders could be seen as supporting the organizing efforts of building movements where ordinary people play significant roles including funding the work itself.
Ordinary people’s contributions get bigger as more people are mobilized and they offer resources that are larger than a few philanthropic trusts. Philanthropy can support the work needed to organize and mobilize ordinary people to become involved in the solutions for their problems.
Funders need to acknowledge the expense and time required for such organizing and understand that the sustainability of movements is much more likely to be achieved if organizing and fundraising happens from the people themselves, not just from funders.
Funders can also fund the care and repair needed in organizing. Who takes care of organizers? Philanthropy can play a part in that.
To support organizing, here are some recommendations from the call:
- Open Grant Round Approach: Funds are made available upfront without an elaborate application process. This open approach resulted from Multitudes in 900 groups applying who are engaged in profound local organizing work.
- Building Trust: Building trust and facilitating cooperation across regions and movements is important and needs to be supported by philanthropy.
- Crowdsourcing Energy: Work in collaboration with local organizers while putting money on the table upfront and create a vulnerable and open approach to ensure resources reach the places and people doing extraordinary work identified by partners who are closer to the work.
Organizing is hard work, it is not just about logistics but it is about consistency. There will always be public events with 5 people before events with 60+ people happen. Funders need to understand the longevity of that work.
Funders need to change their KPIs and measurement of impact:

Organizing is a non-linear story and processes that is constantly changing, evolving and shifting. It can take a long time and its outcomes are uncertain. Starting organizing with a meeting attended by 6 people might seem like a waste of time if assessed against funders’ quantitative-centering reporting assessments. However, organizing requires the creation of conditions for trust and honesty which takes time.
Organizers need funders most before community buy-in and “the flashy stuff” and in the mundane process of building trust and relationships in order to start organizing. It is in those low moments of reduced engagement that funders need to step up and support organzing efforts.

Grassroots funders fundraising from and funding their own Communities

Grassroots groups fundraising from their own communities to redistribute money (give small grants) have the flexibility to be radical due to their informality. There is not a need for extensive reporting or fiscal constraints. This is not the case with larger funders.
There is something liberating about small, informal structures but also something impactful about larger funding mechanisms that move more money. Is there a way to bridge the gap between the two? Is there a way to flow significant amounts of resources into smaller, informal structures that are embedded in organizing efforts and know the needs of the communities better without losing their radical informal edge?
There is a need to invest in structures that are legally accepted but allow for radical actions and ease in spending without excessive reporting.
More conversations are also needed to interrogate the inherent power dynamics in deciding how and where funds are spent no matter how grassroots and collectively led and funded a fund is.
Funding structures (legal and fiscal) need to shift to be aligned with movement objectives (speedy, lighter reporting for example)

Inspiration from Multitudes Foundation Practices: What Funders Can Do

Multitudes Foundation was established due to a perceived lack of funding for democracy work, especially political work. It operates as a re-granter, participating in conversations within the philanthropic space to unlock more funds for this type of work.
The foundation has the following organizing principles:
- Centering Affected People:
  - Focuses on centering people directly affected by the issue.
  - Prioritizes underrepresented individuals in politics.
- People Before Projects:
  - Emphasizes prioritizing individuals over projects.
  - Invests time in facilitating trust-building and connections among political change-makers.
- Supporting Collective Strategies:
  - Supports a collective strategic approach among grantees.
  - Encourages grantees to strategize together rather than just providing training.
- Shared and Structured Responsibilities:
  - Emphasizes shared and structured responsibilities in organizing.
  - Engages in coalition building and power-sharing efforts.
To live up to its principles, the foundation offers unrestricted funding both in terms of time and direction and leads with trust in the ability of individuals and organizations to do the work they deem needed.
The foundation also puts decision making in the hands of organizers, not just staff. They have grant-making councils which include members from different countries and local communities and help shape the grantmaking of the foundation. Council members scout new grantees, review applications, and provide feedback.
Their grant-making process and cycles caters to diverse needs along the organizing process of building people-power:
- Ideation Grants:
  - Aims to unearth new ideas related to inclusive, representative, and humane politics.
  - Offers up to €10,000 for ideation.
- Incubation Grants:
  - Supports initiatives that have already started work voluntarily.
  - Aims to help structureize their work and possibly develop their initiative into an organization.
- Scaling Grants:
  - Geared toward established organizations that have demonstrated impact.
  - Intended for scaling work either horizontally or vertically.