In 2019, North Star Fund turned 40 Years Bold. What does that mean?

We’re bold because we support communities of color building real power in the fight for race, gender and economic justice.

We’re bold because grassroots organizers decide which grants we make in New York City and the Hudson Valley.

We’re bold because when others take a wait and see approach, we support work in its earliest stages.

We’re bold because we invest in the people behind the movements you read about in the news.

We’re bold because we call out the entrenched power dynamics of money and philanthropy, and we organize people from all backgrounds to move more resources towards social justice.

People say we take risks but I think we make bold decisions. We don’t have the luxury to wait. We need to act now: to create housing for all, to end incarceration and police violence, to make education equity real and to end climate change.

When we’re bold, we win.

Take a look at this report and you’ll see that 40 Years Bold looks like power.

When North Star Fund was founded in 1979, few foundations like us had ever existed. The prevailing wisdom was that the best charitable decisions were made by the people with the most money, giving grants to established institutions.

But a bold group of New Yorkers turned that idea on its head. They raised $50,000, then handed control of that money over to grassroots organizers to fund emerging community-led organizations.

These early “Community Funding Committee” activists picked bold organizations where people were rising up to take on injustice in their lives.

Since then, hundreds of New Yorkers have been part of these committees, awarding millions in grants to local organizing that’s won real victories for New Yorkers.

As of 2019, we have three activist-led committees. In the last year, these grantmakers have awarded over $1.5 million in grants to support organizing and movement building.

If you trust the power of grassroots organizing like our founders did, then make a gift today.

North Star Fund is 40 years bold. For 40 years, we’ve been shifting power to create a more just New York by moving money into the hands of activists where it is more accountable to communities and movements. We raise the money every year from New Yorkers: this year, over 1,000 New Yorkers made gifts because they care about how we’re going to have a more just NY. 

If you made a gift, thank you! Take a look at some of the important victories you helped support, the leaders your supported, and see how you’re helping to build organizations for the struggles ahead. 

Take a look at what we’re doing, what we’ve been doing, and how you can be a part of it.

North Star Fund has been funding bold housing organizing for forty years. We support calls for sustainable, equitable community development and safe, affordable housing.

In fall 2018, knowing tenant laws were due to expire in 2019, grassroots organizers asked us to support a first-ever statewide strategy session to plan the fight for permanent protections for tenants.

Knowing that 2019 would be critical, our Community Funding Committee focused on funding housing advocacy. Then during the session, we amplified calls to action and provided grants for actions that brought thousands to the State Capitol.

The new housing laws protect tenants from rent hikes, fees, eviction and for the first time, create statewide tenant protections.

When people are ready to organize and get the resources they need, they can make bold changes that help all New Yorkers.

For 40 years we’ve been supporting bold housing organizing in New York. Join us!

Our 2019 Giving Project brought together over 20 people from different race and class backgrounds to recognize their shared stake in supporting local grassroots movements for justice.

Over six months, members spent weekends examining their relationship to money and learning about the history of wealth distribution that got us where we are today. They also learned about grassroots movements for justice in New York, and how to ask their friends and family to support bold local organizing.

In just a few months, equipped with new skills and with one-on-one support from North Star Fund, Giving Project members raised over a quarter million dollars. Then together they made tough decisions and selected 20 organizations to receive grants.

The Giving Project is part of a growing national movement to practice sharing power within philanthropy. Do you want to practice bold, new ways of giving? Then join us.