A Decade (Plus) of Growth -- But So Much More to Do
It's been a perplexing few weeks for those of us who believe that a better, fairer and more just New York is possible. Longtime North Star Fund grantee Domestic Workers United got the Governor to sign the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights into law. Then, he promptly vetoed the 30% for Housing Bill, which was one of the most thoughtful and ultimately cost effective pieces of legislation on the HIV/AIDS, public health, and housing front in years. Another outstanding North Star grantee, the New York City AIDS Housing Network, had worked for years to get this through the state legislature.
On another front, the LGBT youth organizing group extraordinaire, FIERCE, a former North Star grantee, is celebrating ten amazing years keeping the Village and piers open to another generation of LGBTQ youth. But we all learned of the awful homophobic gang violence that flared in the Bronx last week, as well as two recent cases of gay men who have been assaulted in venerable West Village bars. Council Speaker Quinn is convening the NYPD and LGBT bar owners to figure out how to keep the LGBT community safe, out and proud where they gather to socialize. Meanwhile, she vetoed the right to paid sick days for working people. This was a campaign that activists had been working on for years, and would have better ensured, for instance, that if you eat in one of NY's many great restaurants, the people preparing your food don't have to choose between their wages and staying in bed to get better. Perhaps this was a misguided move to secure business support for her future run for Mayor.
North Star Fund has launched a new grantmaking vision and set of guidelines that builds on our great tradition as the first funder of so many important struggles for equality, economic justice and peace over the last 32 years. As I read over the 36 groups who applied for our new, two year, $25,000 a year Movement Leadership grant, I was left feeling inspired and challenged to do more -- our current resources only allow us to pick five. And I reflected: how have we done in the last decade and are we doing enough? As progressive New Yorkers, we see the need to change the system and stand as a community to protect our neighbors pushed to the margins by private and public forces. But that effort takes resources. Are we growing to meet the challenge?
Let's look at 1998, which has been noted as a banner year for North Star Fund. In that year, North Star was the administrator of a large donor advised fund that supported many important groups in the progressive movement, locally and nationally. And through our annual development work that year, our donor community helped us raise and distribute $483,416 in grants and program activities through our then community funding board.
Despite many challenges since then, including the tragic death of my predecessor, and thanks to our growing community of donors, I'm happy to report that in 2010 our impact is growing along with our available resources for grantmaking. During our fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2010, we raised and gave out $1,105, 589 in grants and program activities through our community funding process -- an increase of 129% from 1998. And this is despite the current tough economic climate.
In addition, our donor advised partnerships have been growing steadily. I took the helm in 2003. In FY 2004, we disbursed $21,796 in donor advised grants. In FY 2009, we disbursed $1.3 million.
In our current fiscal year (ending June 30, 2011), this amount will increase again. After being asked for help by an activist group called Western Queens Power for the People, the Public Service Commission of New York State selected North Star Fund to administer a green infrastructure fund in Western Queens that will give out $8.9 million over the next three years. This fund resulted from a settlement that was negotiated between Western Queens Power for the People and Con Edison, following their mismanagement of a 2006 power outage in the neighborhoods of Western Queens.
One of the lessons from our 30 years is that if we are true to our words of being a community coming together for social justice in New York City, donors have to be part of the conversation. In the last several years, we have changed our governance structure to enable local organizers and our donors and allies to work in partnership around the Community Funding Committee table. And, after several years of pilot activities, next year we will begin an ambitious new donor organizing program that we are confident will raise significantly more funds and enlarge our profile in the New York philanthropic community.
So as you look to what institutions you'll support this year end, please invest in the movements and the leaders who are creating social change by supporting North Star Fund.
