Preparing for All Possibilities: Proteus Newsletter

Preparing for All Possibilities

Partners,

Proteus Fund has continued to advance its work this year while also growing and expanding its portfolio, including adding additional initiatives to expand our ability to advance our social justice goals and objectives. Our newest program, the Solidarity Collaborative, is fully up and running with its new Program Director, Terrance Pitts. You can learn more about Terrance’s impressive work in supporting cross-movement solidarity to advance racial justice below.

Aligned with our signing of the Grantmakers United for Trans Communities (GUTC) pledge, which commits Proteus Fund to bringing more philanthropic attention to and investment in the lives and wellbeing of transgender people and communities, we are also making our single largest grant to date supporting transgender justice to Funders United for Democracy and Trans Justice (DTJ) – a project of Funders for LGBTQ Issues. DTJ is a groundbreaking network created to foster collaboration between LGBTQ and democracy-focused funders. I am excited to be leading this work at Proteus, and look forward to doing all we can to rapidly expand DTJ and mobilize philanthropy to respond at a much more significant level to defeat this unbelievably destructive and insidious aspect of the current war on civil and human rights and communities being waged by the far right in this country.

We are also collaborating more deeply now than ever before with other, key social justice intermediaries on everything from countering increasing attacks on social justice funders to strategies to fight the undermining race-based programs (and grantmaking) across the country. And, we continue to raise funds for our Grantee Safety & Security Fund to protect all of our grantees as best as possible for the dangers they face.

Like all of you, we are laser-focused on the upcoming election, now just a few short weeks away. Election results at the federal level will have a profound impact on every aspect of Proteus Fund’s work. The organization as a whole and its donor collaborative teams specifically are deeply engaged in a scenario planning process so that we are as prepared as we possibly can be for any outcome. We are exploring rapid response grants and other actions that we can take between the election and Inauguration while simultaneously doing longer-range planning for February 2025 – January 2027. As we consider who may be in the White House and Congress in January – while also preparing for the potential of another attempted coup – we will be ready to continue our work under any circumstances.

In Solidarity,

Paul DiDonato
President & CEO

Leadership in the Field

In addition to supporting social justice movements through Proteus Fund’s direct grantmaking and related programmatic work, our team members also work in a variety of ways to provide thought leadership to the field as we execute on our mission to advance racial, gender, queer, and disability justice as well as a inclusive, fully representative democracy.

A thought piece by RFDC Director Julia Reticker-Flynn is featured in Ms. Magazine’s latest Women & Democracy series, Feminist Philanthropy is Essential to Democracy. In it, she calls on the philanthropic community to recognize attacks on bodily autonomy as direct attacks on U.S. democracy itself. The piece also provides funders with practical tips for countering these attacks. Ms. Magazine’s collection of essays and videos from leaders in philanthropy also features a piece authored by Quanita Toffie, board chair of Proteus Action League, Proteus Fund’s 501(c)(4) sister organization.
RTF Director Rana Elmir has authored a thought piece that looks at “How attacks on U.S. Palestinian solidarity movements undermine our democracy.” The piece, featured in the Fall 2024 issue of Responsive Democracy from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), explores the deeper implications of the intense scrutiny and reduced support for these movements, which are already chronically underfunded.
Piper Fund Senior Program Officer Kathy Bonnifield served as a panelist at the World Justice Challenge meeting hosted by the World Justice Project. The panel focused on threats to the judiciary globally and the rising pressures on justice sector actors, including security concerns, harassment, censorship, and politicization. Proteus Fund is proud to have participated in this event which brings together an engaged group of democracy and rule of law advocates to better support independent judiciaries and rule of law across the world.
Vice President for Programs Amar Singh participated in a conversation for philanthropy on the importance of investing in the digital and physical safety, security and wellbeing of front line movement organizations and their staff. Amar spoke about how Proteus Fund is supporting its grantees in light of growing attacks against frontline organizations through its Grantee Safety and Security Fund. The discussion was organized by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), Building Movement Project, and Contigo Fund – a fiscally sponsored initiative of Proteus Fund.
Proteus Fund was well-represented at this year’s Funders’ Committee For Civic Participation convening in Phoenix. Piper Fund and RISE Together Fund presented “Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Voices: Crackdowns on Civic Participation and the Impact on the Electorate”, a panel featuring Hasna El-Nounou of Muslim Student Association West (MSA West), Diala Shamas of Center for Constitutional Rights, and Linda Sarsour of MPower Change. Panelists shared their stories of how the current attacks on constitutionally protected domestic protests calling for Palestinian human rights are impacting basic democratic participation in their communities.
Congratulations to board members Ludovic Blain and Guillermo Quinteros on receiving awards honoring their contributions to the philanthropy field at the Funders’ Committee For Civic Participation Convening. Ludovic received the FCCP Legacy Award, and Guillermo received the Network Leader Award. Congratulations also to Estevan Muñoz-Howard, former Piper Fund Money in Politics program officer, who received an award for his service as FCCP’s treasurer.
RFDC was proud to sponsor a screening of an important new documentary about Christian Nationalism called “Bad Faith” during the Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF). The event was organized by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), a partner of Proteus Fund. “Bad Faith” dissects the origins of Christian Nationalism, providing vital context to how it has grown and how it can be defeated. The documentary is available for viewing on multiple streaming services.

“Prepared, Hopeful, Connected” – Reflections on the Protect Dissent Network Convening

Vina Kay, Director, Piper Fund

Piper Fund convenes the Protect Dissent Network (PDN), made up of grassroots groups throughout the country and national organizations that support their work, all committed to protecting the right to protest to advance a more inclusive, multiracial democracy. The PDN came together in a hybrid gathering in Washington, D.C. and online August 13-14, 2024, with the goal of continuing to build relationships, connections, and collaboration in service of protecting the ability to dissent. We were joined by 50 partners in-person and another 20 online, representing over 40 organizations and eight states. I felt fortunate to get to spend time learning from this powerful group of partners over two days.

The continued criminalization of protest within Black communities impacts everyone who seeks to protect this right, and thus, work specifically addressing anti-Black racism should be shared by all.
Attacks on constitutionally protected Palestinian/Gaza protest erode core democratic values, and feeds more widespread suppression of free speech and the right to protest.
Identifying trends and patterns across states in the responses to protest movements that call for racial justice, police accountability, climate justice, and Palestinian solidarity, and other pressing issues, supports more coordinated efforts to defeat anti-protest bills.
Threats to safety and security continue to be a significant concern for progressive organizations, emphasizing the ongoing need for developing safety and security infrastructure for groups engaged in protest.
Messaging strategies that frame a positive, pro-democracy narrative about protest and dissent are an important tool in pushing back against anti-protest efforts.
A network of trusted partners as a place to strategize, coordinate, and share learnings and challenges, is key to strengthening and protecting the right to protest and dissent.

Q&A With Solidarity Collaboratieve Director Terrance Pitts

Last month, Proteus Fund welcomed Terrance Pitts as the director of the Solidarity Collaborative. Proteus Fund launched the Solidarity Collaborative earlier this year to support intersectional solidarity between organizations and communities working towards racial justice through dedicated grantmaking and programming support. With over 20 years of experience supporting communities in building impactful, resilient, and intersectional movements for racial justice, Terrance is exactly the passionate, trail-blazing professional needed to lead this new, innovative donor collaborative, championing its vision and objectives.

What excites you most about leading the Solidarity Collaborative?

I am hopeful about solidarity as a strategy to win. Over the past several years, we have seen an alarming rise in threats to our democracy including rollbacks to reproductive rights, voting rights, the dehumanization of immigrant communities, discrimination against LGBTQ+ communities, political polarization, and disinformation campaigns that fuel hate. I believe the kind of transformative change we need to disrupt these threats is strengthening the connective tissue between and within social justice movements, which is one of the key pillars of transformative solidarity.

I also feel deeply connected to Proteus Fund’s explicit focus supporting communities impacted by unjust systems and willingness to make big bets to address the most fraught social justice issues of our time such as immigrant justice, reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ equality. I’m also drawn to Proteus’s approach to philanthropy which emphasizes risk taking, relationship building, elevating grassroots decision-making, and shared learning.

Fiscally Sponsored Project Feature: State Law Research Initiative

The movement to dismantle mass incarceration is not a new one. For decades, advocates have fought to reverse the extremely long prison sentences that are a major driver of widespread mass incarceration. More recently, though, there have been efforts to “pull new levers” in the fight against excessive criminal punishment. One of those levers – and the focus of the State Law Research Initiative’s work – is state courts and constitutions.

The mission of the State Law Research Initiative (SLRI) is to shape and strengthen state constitutional law to support individual rights against excessive punishments, with an emphasis on excessive prison terms and inhumane incarceration conditions. Under federal constitutional law controlled by an increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court, federal rights against excessive punishment have become almost non-existent. State courts and state constitutions represent another pathway to protecting these rights.

Fiscally Sponsored Project Updates

We are excited to welcome Disability Culture Lab as one of Proteus Fund’s newest fiscally sponsored initiatives. Launched in July as the first-ever nonprofit disability media and narrative lab, the Disability Culture Lab will support strategic communications infrastructure by and for the disability community rooted in disability justice. Read more about their exciting work!
Disability & Philanthropy Forum welcomes Sandy Ho as its new executive director. Sandy succeeds Emily Harris, the Forum’s inaugural executive director, who retired in July.
Contigo Fund was recently spotlighted in ELLE Magazine for its work with regional partners to establish the Central Florida Emergency Trans Care Fund, which helps individuals access gender-affirming care.
Puentes has launched a new website. The site reflects Puentes’ identity and reputation as a global expert in narrative change. Puentes’ work centers around three specific focus areas: understanding audiences and identifying narratives that connect with them; reclaiming narratives about families and faith; and developing and strengthening hope-based communications that lean into desired world principles and shared values. Last year, Puentes co-hosted Confluence, the first international convening on narrative work, in Bogota, Colombia.
Welcome to Third Wave Fund’s new co-directors, Morgan (Mo) Willis and MARS. Marshall! After a several-month-long, nationwide search, Mo and MARS. were selected to carry forward Third Wave’s growing legacy of youth-led intersectional gender justice activism, grantmaking, and donor organizing.

Preparing for All Possibilities