funding social

movements
the new world
foundation perspective
 T here has been a lot of discussion in philanthropic circles lately
about funding social movements. Perhaps the topic is provoked
by the perilous times we live in, as we seek more positive responses to
“Aren’t we privileged to live in a time the politics of fear and force that dominate our nation and the world.
Or perhaps funders are looking again at social movements because
when everything is at stake, and when
the multiple constituencies and issue areas we fund seem to need the
our efforts make a difference in the integration, engagement and synergy that movements create.
eternal contest between the forces In any case, the topic hits close to home for The New World
Foundation, which over a 50 year history has defined its core mission
of togetherness and division, between
as funding the movement building process. It presents us with the
justice and exploitation.” timely challenge of trying to explain what our foundation means by
“movement” and its building process, what we have learned from our
—activist “Granny D” Haddock, experience, and how we read social movements today.
on her 93rd birthday This piece is one version of a conversation we hope to continue
with colleagues and grantees in the field. It covers several aspects of
our thinking thus far:

I. Social Movements for What? Is There a Guiding Vision?

II. Why Are Social Movements Critical to Social Change?
III. The Movement Building Process: Stages, Streams, Spectrums
Stage 1: Building Movement Infrastructure
Stage 2: Building Identity and Intention
Stage 3: Social Combustion—the Movement Moment
Stage 4: Consolidation or Dissipation?
IV. Where Are We Now? (Can We Wait?)
V. Movement Dynamics and Funding Approaches

I. Social Movements for What? Is

There a Guiding Vision?
The American activist and movement teacher Miles Horton used
Copyright ©2003 to say: you make the road by walking. That’s probably why there are
no short cuts. You can, however, use a map. The map is made of our
The New World Foundation past experience, our collective analysis, and our shared values—all
666 West End Avenue, Suite 1b of which are rather new, given the brief history of universally
New York, New York 10025 democratic movements, but nonetheless offer valuable guides.
212-497-3466 We know that most of our struggles strive for what Franklin
[email protected] Roosevelt called “the four freedoms:” freedom of speech and
http://www.newwf.org expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from
http://www.phoenixfund.org fear. We know that democratic rights and social justice are essential


 conditions of each other. We know that our own The building of social movements gives us rich opportunities
The vision has clear organizations have to embody the change they seek for practice. For at the heart of every social movement are the
ideals: democracy and or they will only mimic those they oppose. The people who suffer injustice, who organize to oppose it, and who
justice, peace and Brazilians say, we need to confront vertical power must transform themselves, their organizations and society in
freedom, liberty and structures with horizontal organizing—they call it a order to succeed. And when successful, social movements can
equality, solidarity struggle against social exclusion. produce extraordinary leaps of human progress, even in the most
We also know that almost all movement agendas daunting times.
and community…
represent an effort to close the enormous gaps in It isn’t hard to imagine the scenario, a social movement in full
respect for each other, wealth, health, privilege and power that are rapidly bloom: There would be a massive outpouring of grassroots activism
respect for nature and growing wider in the era of globalization. Even more focused on a galvanizing cause, like racial equality, abolishing
the earth. specifically, we see that most of our issue agendas sweatshops, or ending an unjust war. We would see this mobilization
represent these core demands: springing from many sources; it would have many faces, leaders and
modes of action. We would feel the moral imperative that makes a
• that our society’s resources—natural, intellectual, economic, deep injustice suddenly visible and compelling in public opinion
cultural—be distributed to benefit all members of society and and policy centers. We would sense a common vision of a better
future generations; society—and expect the movement to produce structural changes in
• that corporations be held responsible for the social and ecological law, politics, and culture that move society toward this vision.
costs of their production; But for all their decisive power, social movements seem to have
• that governments regulate economic practices and enforce long cycles, only episodically erupting to win significant victories and
protections to workers, consumers, and the environment; create new terrain for democracy and justice. Are movements really
• that public capital, our tax dollars, be used to serve the public critical to social change? What determines when and where they
good in a process that is governed by and accountable to arise? Can we wait?
enfranchised communities;
• that basic human needs, from water to education to medicine,
require public and non-profit sectors that are driven by social
outcomes, not market imperatives;
II. Why Are Social Movements
• that universal human rights require both democratic nation-states Critical to Social Change?
and a new body of international law and governance.
In another time of harsh inequities, Frederick Douglass explained
Across the world, the values embedded in these demands are the need for social action quite succinctly: power concedes nothing
expressed in many different idioms and traditions, but the guiding without a demand. Social movements have become strong,
vision is not hard to recognize. The vision has clear ideals: democracy sometimes irresistible forces because they assert the demands of
and justice, peace and freedom, liberty and equality, solidarity and ordinary people independently of established government and
community, decency and dignity for all—respect for each other, corporate power.
respect for the generations, respect for nature and the earth. Yet it is Many Americans have seen such movements produce entire
only when people embrace these ideals in action that the words truly eras of social progress, from the CIO and New Deal of the 1930s, to
come to life and take on deep meaning. the Civil Rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s. Many have
We live in a time without a clear alternative to global capitalism or experienced a sea change in social consciousness through more
superpower politics, but a time when the questions have been posed recent movement struggles for women’s rights, sexual equality, and
and new answers are being invented. So while we know that hunger the environment. Across the world, millions more people have
can’t wait and that the planet cannot tolerate indefinite abuse, we are had parallel experiences in national independence movements to
learning that these answers will have to be formed through practicing end colonialism and extraordinary democracy movements against
what we preach. dictatorships.

 
 The building of such a countervailing which is very different than movements in full bloom and different
popular force seems crucial in America than episodic mobilizations or spontaneous protests.*
today, in this period of conservative Social movements are not built overnight, but in stages. They
ascendance and assault. We see the require strong anchor organizations, grassroots organizing,
gains of past social movements strategic alliances and networks among multiple constituencies.
rapidly disappearing, as lawmakers They need to generate new agendas and vision, foster many layers of
dismantle federal entitlement leadership, and enlarge power for social change through focused and
programs, surrender the tax base sustained mass action from the local level to the centers of power.
to the rich, and indenture future
generations to austerity and debt. The
ideals of civil liberty and social equality
seem fundamentally forsaken as the US
III. The Movement Building
government pursues superpower fantasies Process: Stages, Streams and
abroad and the criminalization of the
poor and foreign born at home. The concept of government by Spectrums
the people seems a receding dream as the vote is devalued and
even defied, as political parties become telemarketing firms, and While it is hard to predict exactly when and where a social movement
as multinational corporations dominate not only the American will reach critical mass, it isn’t so difficult to see the ingredients
definition of “national interest,” but stand beyond the reach of that are already present when it does. Most movements have a life
national governments around the world. cycle with several stages. Most movements have multiple streams or
In these difficult times, there are few places from which people constituencies that converge to build common strength and goals,
can lift their voices and assert collective strength except through their a synergy that is more than the sum of disparate parts. Most social
own organizations and activism. And there are few ways to act on movements engage a spectrum of support from a militant wing to a
a scale commensurate with government and corporate power—to broader, more moderate center.
act locally and globally at the same time, to move regions, states, And the core social groups and leaders building a movement also
or nations—except through inclusive social movements that grow construct a distinctive internal culture and style of action, meaning
independently of the prevailing order. that movements may engage power and public opinion in different
ways, leverage different forms of influence, and produce different
Where is movement activism today? kinds of change.
So while all movements are about changing power relationships—
From the WTO demonstrations in Seattle to the worldwide and therefore are also shaped by the nature of their opposition—
millions protesting the War on Iraq, we have seen first hand there can be considerable variation as well as overlap in their
the incredible potential of popular mobilizations—and we saw strategies, goals and rhythms. Some movement methods are rooted
globalization turned on its head. But we are still far from reaching in direct action and civil disobedience, some are electorally focused,
a “movement moment” that would equate with the 1963 March on some rely on ethical teachings; some movement goals seek a pivotal
Washington, Gandhi at the Salt Marches, the sit-down strikes that governance or constitutional shift, some move a social policy
founded the CIO, or the mass strikes and boycotts that brought platform, some re-invent cultural norms—and many movements mix
down apartheid. * It seems important to us to understand the building process that underlies fully
Our current mobilizations show the immense spirit and latent formed movements and to distinguish this process from many ways we commonly
power of mass action, but also show that we have not yet achieved use the term “movement”—as more than a campaign mobilization, or the label that
the infrastructure, or the financing, to integrate, escalate and sustain a set of institutions acquired in an earlier period of activism, or a single issue or
that activism in a social movement mode. identity group, or a distant hope for future developments, or even just the presence
of grassroots activism.
Hopefully, we are looking at social movements in formation,

 
 most of these approaches over their life cycle. transforms existing organizations to serve as anchors for broader
For example, the contemporary women’s movement has in two organizing. New organizing also starts to generate internal
or three generations reformed fundamental aspects of the family, grapevines, circuit riders, networks, and strategy circles. Anchor
the workforce, law and culture—on an increasingly global scale—by organizations and issue campaigns begin to enlist allies in the
redefining social roles and rights, but without leading feminists existing institutions of civil society: churches, unions, schools,
yet occupying high offices in government or business. In contrast, advocacy groups, service agencies, and elected officials.
most leaders of independence and democracy movements actually As the organizational infrastructure strengthens in density,
become the next government. In further contrast, the emerging movements gain capacity to link multiple streams of activism and
environmental movement has yet to transform our fossil fuel leadership across institutional sectors and also across regions,
economy, but its resonant message has dramatically changed how a ethnicities, and generations. And as these early networks broaden
great many people, approaching a majority in industrial societies, and deepen, movements also begin to expand the spectrum of public
understand the problems and choices we face. opinion favorable to their cause and to multiply their own lines of
It should also be acknowledged that social movements are not communication.
only built by progressives, or around values of democracy and justice. Taking the South African example a bit further: while the student
People power can also be galvanized to defend traditional hierarchies led Soweto Uprising in 1976 signaled a new era of mobilization in
and cultures, and can be quite effectively cultivated the struggle against apartheid, it was the building of Black labor
We believe in an by the powerful in any system. Indeed, the current unions and federations over the next ten years that created well
essential truth of ascendance of the right-wing Republican Party structured resistance capacity of working men and women, located
progressive social has rested very heavily on its ability to organize in key sectors of the economy. At the same time, political activists
a dormant base of Christian fundamentalists built broad based civic associations in the major Black townships,
change: that the people into a political action crusade around “family with strong youth participation. By 1986, new Black unions were
who suffer injustice are values”—then allying this grassroots force with more actively linked with township civic associations through the United
crucial to overcoming it traditional free market elites. Democratic Front, which also linked them with the anti-apartheid
New World’s attention is focused on the churches, with a small sector of liberal and radical whites, with the
countervailing forces: movement builders seeking social, economic ANC underground and in exile, and with an international solidarity
and environmental justice in a multicultural democracy. This doesn’t campaign.
mean that we have discovered any sure-fire formulas, or any easy The breadth of this movement depended on the breadth of
answers, but we do believe in an essential truth of progressive social infrastructural pieces available to be knit together. The knitting
change: that the people who suffer injustice are crucial to overcoming itself was deliberate, difficult, and demanded whole new levels
it. And while the movement building process on our side has never of leadership, consciousness and collaboration—the stage where
been very neat or simple, we have identified four distinct stages that movements acquire direction and momentum.
help us evaluate movement development and the tasks at hand.
Stage Two: Building Identity and Intention
Stage One: Building Movement Infrastructure
Movements require organizational and communication
Every movement grows through an infrastructure of organizing infrastructures, but these alone don’t seem sufficient to ignite a full-
centers, institutions and networks. At the core, there is usually a new blown movement moment. Movements need to create more than
constituency or mass base of activists with the most at stake: African- civic participation, they need to generate activism with the stamina,
American congregations and student groups in the southern civil focus and intensity to challenge existing power structures and give
rights movement, Latino and Asian immigrant communities in the new urgency to social change. To reach this phase, movements
current fight against sweatshops, South Africa’s Black workers in the require consciousness-raising activities that begin to define
struggle against apartheid. “the prize” or vision that guides participation forward, deepens
As this core base is activated, it forms new organizations and commitment to the cause, and exposes the power structure.

 
 In the Southern civil rights movement, for instance, the Stage Three: Social Combustion—The
Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56 was a seminal victory but just a Movement Moment
beginning step toward the much greater mission of ending Jim Crow
segregation. That would take another ten years of lunch-counter If the movement building process gets this far, the opportunities
sit-ins, freedom rides, court battles and street battles, mass marches, for take-off greatly expand. In the course of mass activism, there is
mass arrests, beatings, bombings and assassinations, teach-ins and usually a moment of social combustion producing new, spontaneous
voter education, grassroots and institutional fundraising, labor and waves of mobilization that exceed the organizational infrastructure
religious alliances, a free Black press, national and international and often outstrip the leadership as well. This moment—really a
media coverage, Federal legislation, and on occasion, Federal troops. series of moments happening in many places all at once—is what we
So the second stage of movement building needs to be more usually associate with the term social movement.
explicit. In this phase, movement-oriented organizations work hard At its best, the experience is transformational and collective.
to promote collaboration over fragmentation among constituent It produces a profound shift of moral legitimacy in the society, it
groups, to develop an integrated social agenda instead of a laundry expands democratic terrain, it raises social expectations, and it
list of special issues, and to sustain the escalation of goals and targets changes the parameters of social conscience, consciousness and
over one-shot successes. courage. People speak truth to power. What seemed almost impossible
The inherent tensions between growing broad and deep will in one generation seems inevitable to the next: apartheid is defeated,
escalate as well: creating new levels of work while keeping the Jim Crow is dismantled, the Berlin Wall falls, slavery is abolished,
infrastructure strong at home, reaching broader allies without juntas go on trial, the sun sets on the British Empire, women vote.
diluting the core goals, respecting cultural diversity and ideological At their apex, movements appear to be all mobilization, which is
pluralism while maintaining a sense of common cause, struggling probably why so many attempts are made to shortcut the building
constructively around the priority of base building vs. alliance process and go straight to the barricades. But within a genuine
building. movement moment, one should be able to perceive a broad spectrum
This is a critical phase in the formation of movement leadership. of support from the front lines to the mainstream, across generations,
Despite competing ambitions and inevitable factions, leaders gain and even into sectors of the most powerful. One should perceive the
stature by their ability to remain tied to their core base, to resist deep reach of activism from the pinnacles of power to the most local
cooptation by partial gains, to withstand backlash and repression, bases.
to be accountable to their organizations, to put collective advance The sense of community should be stronger, the density of
ahead of personal prominence. They civil society should be richer, political issues should become more
also gain stature by the ability to think compelling, if also more contentious. A new culture should be visible
strategically (“How do we get to the next and audible. It might even be argued that there isn’t a movement if it
level of power?”), beyond merely symbolic doesn’t have its own music, its own anthems, and young people who
or tactical victories (“How do we get can sing every word, standing on the front lines.
tomorrow’s headline?”). In their fullest forms, social movements change our concepts of
In this phase, leadership expands both possibility and nature—of what is possible in the human condition,
vertically and horizontally across the many and what is natural to life on the planet.
layers and streams of organizing, from the
grassroots to the movement centers. And Stage Four: Consolidation or Dissipation
quite inspirationally, successful movements do
attract, test and forge great leaders—those who Movements flow—and ebb. It is very difficult to sustain high levels of civic
become the heroes of history like Martin Luther energy indefinitely. Vested power interests regroup, usually through reform
King or Nelson Mandela—and many, many more or repression, or both. Maybe that’s why Thomas Jefferson proposed having
on the frontlines, known only by their peers. a revolution every 30 years. But movements don’t just die, they generally
either dissipate their power or consolidate it.

 
 Dissipation looks like exhaustion—perhaps more often, the IV. Where Are We Now?
center is satisfied with modest reform, leadership is co-opted into
elite circles, and the bottom is sold out. Consolidation, on the other (Can We Wait?)
hand, usually amounts to structural change: new organizations
and institutions are built, new laws and instruments of power are As a social justice funder that has focused primarily on the US
exercised, the tensions between militant and moderate change over the past 50 years, New World’s perspective is that most of
remain alive. In the best case, the worldview of a generation has been this country is in the first stage: rebuilding an infrastructure of
shaped and a next generation, just behind it, has been seeded. organizations, leaders and networks in the destructive wake of
And then, we have to think about the movement building process federal devolution, corporate globalization and a renewed drive to
starting over again, around the next set of social needs or goals, empire in US foreign policy.
around future generations of activists. In the US, the consolidation The social movements of the past have left important institutional
of the New Deal set a context for the 1960s movements to build on legacies—and we still call them the labor movement and the
and extend, by adding racial and gender equality to the standard of civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and the women’s
government responsibility, and by challenging the war economy. The movement—but in reality, these causes are starting over in terms
dissipation of those movements in the 1970s, and the resurgence of of dynamic base building, meaningful alliances, and a pro-active
right wing movement building over the past two decades, leaves us in agenda.
a very different place. As social justice forces regroup, a critical breakthrough is
Of course, actual experience (unlike hindsight and history) occurring with the revitalization of the service sector unions and
is never really so tidy. The four stages we use to look at social vibrant organizing among new immigrants. Progressive unions
movements are in practice more fluid than distinct—they flow into are also adding organizational capacity to growing alliances
each other, overlap, diverge, plateau then leap ahead, and are always with religious, campus and community partners. Many of these
uneven. The process itself is as conflicted and consuming as it is community partners themselves represent a next generation of
inspiring and transformational. And certainly, movement building grassroots organizing, which is strongly centered in working class,
can regress as well as progress, critical opportunities can be lost, people of color and immigrant constituencies.
leaders can be lost and mislead, competition can undo collaboration, The issues are familiar: environmental justice, health care access,
egos can overwhelm ideals. And the powerful who are challenged do affordable housing, quality jobs, education access, the criminal
not sit back: repression and genocide can freeze a society for decades injustice system, guns vs. butter, but there are some new intersections
and generations. with very broad issues like environmental health, sustainable
We don’t have the view that progressive social movements economic development, and perhaps most critically, the tax base to
are inevitable, or inevitably successful—only the view that sustain the public sector and social programs. In some places, notably
they are necessary if we are to make better societies in the California, but also a string of metropolitan centers where labor
age of globalization. and community alliances are forming, we are beginning to see more
Clearly, many movements go full cycle and have intentional and strategic movement building activity across all these
mixed results. Some are confined to single issue sectors, and perhaps progress toward a next stage.
victories, some are contained within a city, state
or region. Yet we believe that Who’s Ebbing and Who’s Flowing?
even when movements don’t
reach their fullest potentials, Curiously (or optimistically), while progressive movement activism is
the movement building process resurfacing at the grassroots, the social movement in the US that may
remains crucial to educating its well be passing its peak is the fundamentalist crusade of right-wing
members, enlarging civil society, Republicanism. That is not to say that the Christian Right cannot
and keeping a vision of justice be mobilized effectively as a swing voting block, or that its zeal is
alive for succeeding generations. diminished. And certainly the current Administration is relentlessly

10 11
 consolidating its narrow victories into sweeping institutional changes most defensive battles can be fought in ways which enlarge capacity
in the judiciary, government regulation, trade policy and the tax/debt and engage new activists.
structure. We do know that without a coherent or mature opposition, And there are certainly easier ways than movement organizing
power will expand its terrain at will. to get a seat at the tables of power, but not if the goal is turning
Nonetheless, the Republican’s fundamentalist base may well have the tables—changing the purposes of power and empowering the
reached the limits of influence with a majority of Americans around people to hold it.
social values. And the Administration may well be over-reaching, not
only in its international ambitions, but in its abrogation of domestic
programs to an agenda of privatization and cowboy corporatism.
These scorched earth strategies, and the vacuums of government they
V. Movement Dynamics and
create, are at least producing fertile opportunities for democratic Funding Approaches
movement building.
Much of that scorched earth is in the Third World, where social If New World’s experience tells us anything, it is that funding social
movements are an assumed form of empowerment. New World’s movements is a long term investment that requires some concrete
grantmaking experience with global movements is a response analysis and willingness to take risks. Our own check list for
to the new realities: successful social movements need global movement grantmaking includes:
dimensions, not only to confront the problems, but
Successful social also to envision the solutions. Our current global • Understand what stage movement development is in. Looking
movements need programs in the environmental justice and worker at the first stage of infrastructure development, some of the
global dimensions, justice arenas are both directed at the multinational questions we ask include: is there a base being organized? Are
corporations and free trade policies ravaging the leaders indigenous and accountable to a base—are they the tip of
not only to confront the
Global South. the iceberg or just a floating ice pack?
problems, but also to These movement building efforts are generally at
envision the solutions. Stage One or Two in their home countries, although • Fund across organizational partners and peer networks, in
geographic or issue clusters, rather than funding isolated models
Brazil offers the example of a movement arriving at a
or autonomous intermediaries. We ask: does an organization
critical juncture of power, and South Africa the example of the post-
measure its gains by itself or by the movement around it? Does it
apartheid struggle between consolidation and dissipation.
promote a culture of collaboration? Does our funding promote
What is particularly heartening, however, are the global
mutuality or division?
networks emerging across grassroots groups that are adding to
overall capacity and creating a process for the formation of multi- • Avoid narrow issue silos and rigid program areas, which often
national movements: around food safety, the ownership of water, reward special interest advocates but punish base-building around
oil and toxics, child labor, free trade zones, militarism and peace, to a broad, multi-issue empowerment agenda.
name a few.
• When funding issue campaigns and mobilizations, look for the
And in most of these places, unlike the US, issues do not develop
opportunities to build long term infrastructure—leadership
in silos, with special interest identities, but as part of a larger vision of
development, staff training, exchanges among peer organizations,
human rights and social justice that is self-evident and widely shared,
research and policy capacity, media outreach, etc.—that are
if far from fruition.
embedded in these short term projects. As one activist put it,
More than once, we have asked: can we wait for new movements
“fund rain barrels to capture the passing storm.”
to mature? Aren’t we losing too much ground right now? And we
remind ourselves to look back at all the social engineering fixes • Look at lines of accountability in organizations and grantee
of the 20th century that left people just as disempowered, all the collaborations, so that funding does not impose leadership or
mobilizations that spoke only to the converted. There are certainly partners on grassroots groups. The point was brought home by a
imminent dangers that demand immediate responses, but even the grantee in Mexico that asked for travel money to go to the US and

12 13
 international conferences—so they could choose who to partner About The New World Foundation and
with, rather than be “chosen” by whichever American group had
the US funding to identify and visit them. Opportunities For Partnership
• In assessing collaborations, look at the relative costs of
collaboration for each partner, including qualitative costs like:
who is bridging the cultural divides, who is risking resources
or credibility, who’s accruing the new capacity. In funding
T he New World Foundation is turning 50 years old, and one of
the most important things we’ve learned over the years is that
we need to join forces to make a difference. Having grown from
collaborations, also consider funding the partner groups directly a private foundation to a public charity, we combine New World’s
around their costs, such as lost staff time, travel, and competing resources with other foundations, family funds and donors to build
program needs. strategic grantmaking programs.
Our current grantmaking is structured into three funds. The
• Fund internal organizational efforts to increase sustainability
budget for each fund is raised through collaborating funders with
and capacity. General support and long term grants are key, as
New World providing core support, fiscal sponsorship, staffing and
are supplemental grants for technical assistance, management
overhead costs.
training, leadership transmission, sabbaticals and education,
evaluation, alternative fundraising… Look at how and whether an
The Phoenix Fund for Workers & Communities supports worker
organization is able to move toward a next level of work.
organizing for economic justice and human rights in the US and
• Move the grantmaking focus along the movement cycle: where Mexico, funding labor-community alliances and immigrant worker
grassroots grow, fund anchor organizations; where anchors grow, centers that promote fair labor standards, economic policy reform,
fund organizational capacity building; where capacity is shared, and civic participation.
fund networks; where scope and scale enlarge, fund new partners;
when the movement arrives, fund a stream or a spectrum; when The Global Environmental Health & Justice Fund supports
the moment passes, fund implementation and the next generation. environmental justice activism in the US and in the global South,
supporting poor communities in the fight for healthy environments,
• Even a small funder can use a movement framework to help
community empowerment, corporate accountability, effective
the “missing pieces” gain the visibility and capacity needed to
government regulation, and sustainable economic practices.
become coalition partners and movement leaders—through a
women’s leadership program, a youth project, a Black-Latino
FUSE: The Fund for Unity, Sustainability and Effectiveness is a
dialogue, a labor-community joint venture, a do-or-die campaign,
new donor collaborative that supports movement sustainability and
an exchange or mentoring program, or maybe just the airfare to
organizational capacity building. While there are two distinct FUSE
attend a regional conference.
grantmaking programs, one focusing on internal development
• Whether our money is large or small, we can all join with other
funders to reduce redundant demands on grantees, expand
complementary grantmaking, and build our shared knowledge
base.

14 15
and the other on communication strategies, both grants programs
combine resources in several current projects

FUSE: The Regeneration Grants Program is aimed at helping

established organizations and emerging movements reach the next
levels of scope, scale and sustainability. The Fund will begin work
with current grantees and their allies around five priorities: creating
political action vehicles, deepening skills for collaboration, extending
outreach to broader constituencies, growing the next generation of
leadership, and diversifying funding streams.

FUSE: The Media and Communications Grants Program has

evolved from NWF’s longstanding Media Fund. This program
supports the development of intra-movement media and
communication networks, deploying progressive media resources
that enable movement organizations to establish broader public
identities, discover shared values, learn from best practices, and forge
a common public policy agenda.

Special Projects and Programs: In addition to the grants made from

its core funds, New World’s discretionary grantmaking is responsive
to timely opportunities to promote political participation and the
visibility of peace and justice issues.
We also founded and continue to sponsor the Alston-Bannerman
Fellows Program, providing sabbaticals to veteran activists of color
in the U.S. To help nurture the next generation in progressive
philanthropy, we sponsor and house a national network of young
donors and program officers, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy
(EPIP).
Past special projects have included Take Action Awards for youth
activists and The Harold Fleming Award for civil rights leadership.
In the 1990s, New World also sponsored the development of the 21st
Century Foundation, which works with African-American donors to
promote community activism.

New World is proud to have participated in some of the most

significant progressive advances of the past fifty years. We welcome
donors and foundations who would like to join us in nurturing the
important movements of the future.

16
 We would like to thank the following organizations for the use of their photos: AGENDA/SCOPE, groundWork, Jobs with
Justice, Virginia Tenants and Workers Support Committee. Back cover mural by Jorge Somarriba with Alexandria United Teens.

The New World Foundation • 666 West End Avenue, Suite 1B

New York, NY 10025 • 212-249-1023 • www.newwf.org