Organizing in Color
While many of us were planning our beach getaways, North Star recently hosted a unique summer Happy Hour that reminded me why their approach to social change matters. I've always known as a donor that North Star Fund, through their activist-led grantmaking can make better decisions about how to allocate money in communities I am less familiar with. However, it was at this reception that I was reminded of the subtle shift that makes all the difference in grantmaking effectiveness and community-led change.
The event, Community Organizing in Color, shared Brian Palmer's photo essay of two groups: Domestic Workers United (DWU) and El Centro del Inmigrante. (Click here for a photo essay of Brian Palmers work with DWU.) The attendees were a mixture of donors, friends of North Star and some of the community organizers who were photographed. The photos, beyond being visually compelling, told the story of these efforts in a way words cannot. The emotional content of the day laborers gathering on a cold February day, contrasted with the warmth of the cultural and family celebrations at the center. You could almost feel the excitement of the celebratory moments of winning the vote for the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights for the campaign workers, and almost feel the frustration as the photograph caught the legislative aide possibly dozing off in a meeting. While it was helpful to educate me and I assume other donors about these worlds that I am often unaware of, the real power of the evening came for me when one of the women from the Domestic Workers spoke.
After the photos were shown there was time for open questions. One of the comments came from a woman in the audience, who was a member of DWU. She expressed an idea, more eloquently than I could, about how she was struck by the similarities and lessons she and her community could learn from the struggle and work of El Centro. It seemed an idea had hatched of how these two communities could work together and share their stories with each other to become more powerful.
I had just come from a foundation meeting where five staff members conferring in isolation made decisions impacting dozens of organizations. I was struck by how North Star Fund's approach was different. At North Star, staff members are regularly in contact with donors and their grantee community in a variety of ways. Decisions are made together, thereby democratizing the power of philanthropic resources.
I also realized that the kind of connection that this woman found with the work of El Centro could not have been dreamed up in a conference room, and while connecting grantees with other grantees doesn't require significantly more financial resources, really deepening their relationships does. And North Star Fund recently unveiled an exciting new grantmaking vision and plan to do it.
North Star is such a powerful resource because it knows that the people on the front lines have the expertise, creativity and resourcefulness to successfully solve the challenges facing their community. The connection between El Centro and DWU was not just some happy, unexpected consequence of a donor reception. As Diana Correa, North Star's Deputy Director for Programs and Strategic Initiatives, pointed out, the connection was an expected outcome of a strategy based on movement building and in the values of equality and inclusion. Diana discussed how the two groups are not two isolated examples, but part of a systematic effort to build the capacity of organizations to make their own media, to craft their own messages, and to share their stories. For communities that are part of so many of our lives, but often in the shadows, this capacity is transformative. I was so impressed that North Star Fund could turn an art exhibit and reception into an opportunity for real relationship building and a platform for social change.
