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For nearly five decades, NCRP’s mission has been to transform the philanthropic sector to one where funders build, share, and wield power in allyship with domestic social justice movements. Those social movements and the larger communities that we all serve are hurting.

Headshot of Aaron Dorfman, President & CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
Aaron Dorfman


We have all been horrified by the escalating violence that has killed thousands of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, the vast majority of them women, children, and families. While Israelis mourn their dead and wait for the fate of the hostages taken by Hamas, in Gaza more than 2 million Palestinians are being subjected to a brutal retaliatory campaign of collective punishment by the Netanyahu government.
 
Here at home, the violence in the Middle East is fueling increased attacks against Arab, Jewish, and Muslim neighbors in U.S. cities and towns. The corresponding multiple-fold spike in domestic antisemitic and Islamophobic hate incidents, fueled by opportunistic white nationalist rhetoric and action, have placed these communities under attack and caused a tremendous amount of pain and fear. The conflict has also been triggering other communities who live or have come to live in this country fleeing abuse, militarism, authoritarianism and other forms of state-sponsored violence.
 
Some in philanthropy are even allowing the far right to use this conflict as a wedge between and among progressive movements and progressive funders. We are deeply disturbed at reports of threats to defund groups in the U.S. that have stood up for peace, called for a ceasefire, labeled the conflict genocide, or otherwise spoken out against the mass bombing that Israel’s ultra-right-wing government is carrying out in Gaza. Nonprofit and movement allies from organizers in migrant justice and abortion access to climate justice groups have told us that several funders are threatening current or future resources for real or perceived criticism of Israel’s and/or the United States’ role in the devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. While some movement groups have spoken out against such financial intimidation, not every non-profit has the autonomy or the financial resilience to do so.

Nor should they have to.

These threats reflect an abuse of funder power and are antithetical to a vision of partnership and mutual respect between donors and grantees. Weaponizing access to funding creates a chilling effect on nonprofits’ speech and agency and represents the worst impulses of funders to wield destructive power to control grantees as opposed to engaging with them as equals. It’s a major reason why the philanthropic sector as a whole struggles to consistently build trust with many impacted communities. We must all be aware of the long-term consequences of our actions; relationships that we sever now will not be easily rebuilt.

All of us in philanthropy need to engage in hard conversations as we commit to responding to events in ways that move us towards a just and peaceful world. Jewish and Palestinian safety and liberation are inextricably intertwined, not mutually exclusive, commitments. Rather than choosing inaction, censorship, or retaliation, funders should take this opportunity to deepen dialogue with grantees and with communities under threat.

In this spirit, NCRP calls on funders to:

1) Stop threats or actions to defund groups based on their public statements around Israel/Palestine and instead focus on resources and relationship-building to strengthen, not fracture, domestic social justice movements.  Now is the time to double down on supporting movements for equity and justice.

2) Provide rapid response funding to ensure Arab, Jewish, and Muslim communities in the US receive the resources needed right now for immediate safety.

3) Invest in the long-term work of confronting and defeating the agenda of domestic white nationalist hate groups. That could mean providing multi-year, unrestricted grants for leaders in impacted communities and those groups working directly on these issues.

4)  Support groups that are pushing back against interpersonal and state-sponsored violence that so many Americans are facing. There is a reason why violence abroad is touching so many at home. Let’s fund more work that unearths and disrupts the connection between easily denounceable movements like white nationalism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-trans/LGBT legislation with the more “socially acceptable” challenges to civil rights, immigration abortion, and bodily autonomy.

The strategy of mining our differences to keep our communities divided is not a new one and has succeeded in the past. We know that if it happens again, there will be devastating consequences for the trust, collaboration, and solidarity required between funders and movements that is needed to restore our democracy and defeat white supremacy here at home.

Everyone deserves to live in a world where economic, social, and political security is a reality for all, not a select few. Philanthropy has a strong civic, economic, and moral obligation to help make that happen by resourcing a more inclusive and equitable future.

There is no doubt that philanthropy has power.  We call on grantmakers to use that power with wisdom and in solidarity. Let us not spread more fear and harm movements with the threat of scarcity. Instead, let’s act in the service of a shared vision of justice by doing the hard work of building relationships with grantees based on dialogue, trust, and respect.

Aaron Dorfman is the President & CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

I remember when I first met Pablo.

It was the fall of 2006. I had flown up to DC to interview for the job of executive director of NCRP. Pablo was on the search committee.

NCRP President & CEO Aaron Dorfman with Pablo Eisenberg. I had known of Pablo for many years before I actually met him. When I was a young organizer working for ACORN, I knew about Pablo and his incredible work at the Center for Community Change. As a student at what is now the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, I had read his writings about philanthropy. But I had never met him in person.

Also on the search committee were luminaries like David Jones, Gary Bass, Diane Feeney and others. And as we sat around that conference table, engaging in a robust conversation about what it would really take to transform philanthropy, I had no idea how much Pablo Eisenberg would be in my head for the next 16 years.

Pablo’s Lasting Impact

Pablo was one of the founders of NCRP, as you all know. In the years leading up to that founding in 1976, Pablo, along with Jim Abernathy, Thomas Asher and others nonprofit leaders, formed something called the Donee Group.

There was a blue-ribbon commission meeting at that time, the Filer Commission, that was looking into how philanthropy could best serve society. And the Filer Commission kept calling for testimony from wealthy donors and the people who led the largest foundations in the country. Pablo and his colleagues knew the commission was only getting part of the story. They weren’t hearing from the nonprofits that serve and represent Americans who had been marginalized or oppressed. They formed the Donee Group to be the voice of grantees (donees) to the Filer Commission.

After several years operating as an unincorporated coalition, they realized that philanthropy would always have blind spots. They decided to form NCRP to be an ongoing voice that could hold philanthropy accountable to those with the least wealth, power, and opportunity in our society.

Pablo was the first chair of the board of NCRP, and he served on the board for 37 continuous years after the organization’s founding. He played a key role shaping campaigns that have made philanthropy more responsive and accountable.

The early campaigns focused on transparency, blasting foundations for not sharing information about their grantmaking and operations. Many funders began publishing annual reports in response to NCRP’s work. And Pablo and NCRP helped secure changes to the 990PF tax forms that foundations file with the IRS, making sure those tax filings included important and relevant information.

In the 1990s, the organization published hard hitting reports about the lack of community foundation support for people of color and for advocacy. Many of those foundations improved after the criticism and after being confronted by local nonprofit leaders.

Pablo also successfully helped NCRP pressure workplace giving programs like the United Way and the Combined Federal Campaign to be more inclusive of communities of color, and to be bolder by funding efforts for systemic change, not just for direct service.

When we were developing Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best in 2008 and 2009, Pablo played a key role.

Continuing Pablo’s Legacy

One of Pablo’s greatest desires was for leaders of grantee organizations to stop being so deferential to funders. So, to encourage this kind of bold behavior and truth-telling, NCRP is establishing the Pablo Eisenberg Memorial Prize for Philanthropy Criticism. The prize will acknowledge and shine a spotlight on those who are speaking truth to power. We’ll share more details about the prize early next year.

The prize is just one way we’ll carry on Pablo’s legacy. Another way his legacy will live on is his impact on all of us who knew him and were moved by him.

I said earlier that I had no idea back in 2006 how much Pablo would be inside my head. For the past 16 years, whenever I had a hard decision to make, Pablo has been there, in my head.

Am I being bold enough?

Am I bringing just the right critique?

I am comforted today knowing that Pablo will be with me, inside my head, for many years to come.

Click here to learn more about how to financially support Pablo’s legacy.  As mentioned above, donations made in Pablo’s name through December 31st  will go to establishing a memorial prize in philanthropic criticism and providing general operating support for NCRP’s ongoing efforts to make philanthropy more transparent and accountable to the communities we all serve. 

aaron2Our work together is more important than ever. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I found myself reflecting about how grateful I am for all of you, staff, volunteers and trustees for an amazing web of nonprofits and foundations. I know this to be true: Philanthropy has a vitally important role to play in building a more just, fair and democratic world.

I hope by now you’ve seen the new strategic framework that will guide NCRP for the next 10 years. We’re expanding the scope of our work to engage with wealthy individuals who don’t give through foundations. We’ll intentionally link with movements to help our nation move forward. And we’re continuing some of our key major initiatives.

This issue of Responsive Philanthropy includes some terrific articles that we hope will spur conversation and much-needed action on equity, the untapped potential of the South and the rigorous study of our sector’s role in a democratic society.

How has philanthropic support in the South changed over the past few years? How can we strengthen partnerships between Southern and national funders? NCRP’s Ryan Schlegel posed these and other questions to Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation executive director Justin Maxson and network officer Lavastian Glenn. Read about it in “Grantmaking in the South: An opportunity to support equity and opportunity.”

A few months ago, the Ford Foundation announced that it will explicitly include people with disabilities in their focus on addressing inequality. In “Ford Foundation and supporting the disability rights movement: We’ve only just begun,” disability rights organizer Jim Dickson and Sarah Blahovec of the National Council on Independent Living ask: “What is the rest of the philanthropic community going to do?”

Philanthropy has been largely ignored by academia despite its important role in our democratic society. In “Moving philanthropy from the margins to the center,” Robert Reich, Chiara Cordelli and Lucy Bernholz are encouraging scholars to ask tough questions about how philanthropy may contribute to or threaten the public good.

Finally, we’re excited to feature the National Birth Equity Collaborative in this edition’s Member Spotlight. NBEC, based in New Orleans, seeks to reduce Black maternal and infant mortality through research, collaboration and advocacy.

Let us know what you think of these articles. We’re always eager to hear your comments and story ideas, so don’t hesitate to send your feedback to community@ncrp.org.

Aaron Dorfman is president and CEO of NCRP. 

Photo by Ryan Johnson, www.flickr.com/photos/dancingterrapin/25035573051/. Used with permission.

We are excited about NCRP’s 10-Year Strategic Framework! We believe you will be, too.

There are pressing challenges facing our society, and philanthropy can and must play a meaningful role in building a fairer, more just and more democratic nation. The recent election results make the next few years incredibly important.

In the near term, we will see concerted efforts to erode our basic human rights and the improvements we’ve made to protect our planet. Decades of social progress may be undone if organized grassroots voices don’t fight against destructive ideas based on hate and exclusion.

Despite these challenges, we believe that we could still see significant progress to advance women’s equality, reform our criminal justice system, combat climate change, expand economic opportunity, secure fair treatment for immigrants and combat structural racism.

America needs philanthropy to step up and be part of the solution.

Over the next 10 years you’ll see NCRP expand its scope to increase the effectiveness and impact of high-net-worth donors who do not give through foundations. We are already seeing the tremendous influence that these wealthy individuals have on issues that affect all of us. It’s important that they, and the various organizations that serve them, have the tools and information they need to give in ways that advance justice and equity.

We’re eager to announce the acquisition of Bolder Giving, pending the approval of Massachusetts authorities. Established by philanthropist activists Anne and Christopher Ellinger, Bolder Giving uses storytelling and practical tools to encourage wealthy individuals to give more and take risks in support of positive social change.

In the strategic framework, you’ll also see NCRP intentionally connect to movements that are important drivers of progress and social change in our country. Notice how we have restructured our team to be in deep relationship with the nonprofits and funders that are leading the most exciting movements with the biggest potential to improve and strengthen our communities.

NCRP will continue to produce research you can trust and that helps philanthropy improve. We also will continue to critique philanthropic practices that don’t measure up, and praise grantmakers that are practicing smart giving.

We believe NCRP’s new strategic framework will enable us to significantly contribute to shaping a country that truly embodies our core values of equity, democracy and justice for all.

How our nation’s grantmakers and high-net-worth donors deploy their resources, and how they practice the craft of philanthropy makes a tremendous difference. Will we take advantage of the historical moment and help our nation make lasting progress on important issues? Ten years from now, we are hopeful that the answer is “Yes.”

We look forward to working with you as we implement our 10-year strategic framework to ensure that philanthropy contributes in meaningful ways to building the kind of world we all want to see.

Sherece West-Scantlebury is the chair of NCRP’s board of directors and president and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Aaron Dorfman is president and CEO of NCRP. 

This commentary was originally published on Nonprofit Quarterly.

There is legalized robbery going in our communities, and foundations and nonprofits have an important role to play in the next few weeks to help stop it.

Payday lending, an industry that makes up for the financial sector’s large-scale neglect of poor people by offering them credit on abusive, ruinous terms, has been the target of economic justice advocates for years. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finally proposed a new rule that will curb the payday lending industry’s ability to prey on low-income members of our communities. Comments on the proposed rule are due October 7, 2016, and they represent an opportunity for foundations that prioritize economic justice to weigh in on the side of their constituents.

I’ve reviewed some of the nearly 6,000 comments that have been submitted thus far, and it’s clear to me that the industry, not surprisingly, is orchestrating a massive effort to flood the CFPB with comments defending their predatory practices. An equally aggressive push by foundations and nonprofits is needed so that the final rule will be as strong as possible. With some concerted effort, our sector can help rein in the worst abuses of the predatory payday lending industry.

A few courageous foundations have been real leaders on this issue over the past few years:

  • The Silicon Valley Community Foundation leads a coalition of community foundations advocating for an end to predatory payday lending practices nationwide. As part of its grantmaking focus on economic security, the foundation’s lending reform grantees – recipients of about $3 million over several years – have secured passage of 12 local ordinances to limit the availability of payday lending in poor communities.
  • The Northwest Area Foundation’s Financial Capability Policy program focuses on changing public policy and propagating better financial habits to encourage savings, increase access to financial services, expand financial education and regulate predatory lending. They have committed $3 million over three years to building community assets at the local, state and tribal levels to achieve these goals.
  • The Annie E. Casey Foundation has been a key funder of several linchpin organizations in the payday lending reform space, including the Consumer Federation of America and the Appalachian Federal Credit Union. With about $2.5 million over more than a decade, the foundation has supported efforts to identify the impacts of predatory payday lending on low-income communities and study possible solutions.
  • The Ford Foundation has been funding work around consumer lending and ending abusive financial practices since at least 2010, with much of the roughly $11.5 million they’ve devoted to consumer protection for low-income people going to the Center for Responsible Lending, National Consumer Law Center and National People’s Action. The foundation’s grantmaking on this issue has focused on identifying win-win financial products that benefit both consumers and lenders.

More than 500 local, state and national organizations, staffed by Americans for Financial Reform, have banded together to form Stop the Debt Trap and coordinate their advocacy to end the abuses. The coalition and its member organizations need ongoing funding. A new rule would be a good first step, but the industry isn’t going to just roll over and give in. We need well-funded advocates to keep up the pressure so that the powerful interests behind lax payday lending policies don’t react to new regulation by developing innovative new ways to fleece poor people.

Here are three ways foundations can help:

  • Submit comments to the CFPB on behalf of the foundation. The New York Times and others have argued that the proposed rule isn’t strong enough. I tend to agree. Comments should focus on the need for the CFPB to issue the strongest possible final rule.
  • Ensure your grantees, when appropriate, are submitting comments and generating comments from their constituencies. If they need emergency funding to do the necessary outreach, find a way to get them money quickly.
  • Invest in the ongoing work of grantees that are working to reform financial systems to ensure that our economy works for everyone, not just the rich. Fund long-term policy change and community organizing efforts that build power among affected communities, and do it with unrestricted general support.

Foundations have an important role to play in tipping the federal rule-making scales back in the direction of the communities they serve. The next few weeks offer a great opportunity to put a stop to economic abuse that has been sucking the life out of low income community residents for far too long.

Aaron Dorfman is president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Follow @NCRP on Twitter.

Image by www.cafecredit.com, modified under Creative Commons license.

For some people in philanthropy, summer is a sleepier time of year when little of significance happens. Not so for NCRP. There are several exciting developments I want to share with you.

As some of you know, for the past year, the board and staff of NCRP have been working on crafting a new strategic framework to guide the organization for the next 10 years. We’re almost done with the planning, and I look forward to sharing the framework document with you all later this year, after we put the finishing touches on it.

As the plan has come into focus, however, I’ve made some important staffing changes to better support our work moving forward.

The most significant personnel move is that I have promoted Jeanné Isler, NCRP’s field director since early 2014, into an important new role as vice president for learning and engagement. She will spearhead NCRP’s work to make sure that our members and allies are deeply engaged with us as we all strive together to make philanthropy more responsive to those with the least wealth, power and opportunity.

Immediately before joining NCRP, Jeanné served as director of U.S. Programs at Search for Common Ground, where she led national initiatives including Congressional Conversations on Race. Earlier in her career, Jeanné worked to organize nonprofit organizations throughout North Carolina to assist military families involved in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. She also led a restorative justice program for New Hanover County Public Schools in North Carolina, and worked as a faith-based community organizer in Ohio and Florida. She was recently selected for the prestigious Connecting Leaders Fellowship run by the Association of Black Foundation Executives. She’ll be part of the 2016-2017 cohort.

There were several other promotions, too. Long-time employees like Yna Moore, Lisa Ranghelli and Kevin Faria all moved from director-level positions into senior director positions, which reflects their past accomplishments and continued leadership in our new strategic framework. Dan Petegorsky will take on a new role overseeing the growth of NCRP’s public policy work, in addition to his continued work on civic engagement. Janay Richmond will lead the expansion of our nonprofit membership program. Additionally, several associates were promoted to the senior associate level, reflecting their critical work and continued growth. You can check out the full NCRP staff listing, with updated job titles. You will also notice that the board changed my title from executive director to president and CEO to be more in line with titles used by other philanthropy infrastructure organizations.

Another big change at NCRP is that we moved into new offices in early August. There’s so much more natural light in our new digs, it’s wonderful! Beverley Samuda-Wylder, our director of HR and administration, was in charge of the relocation, and it went off without a hitch. This is the fourth office relocation she’s overseen in her career – two with Philanthropy New York (when they were still NYRAG) and two with NCRP. Please update your records with our new address: 1900 L Street NW, Suite 825, Washington, D.C. 20036. And make plans to stop by for a visit!

Aaron Dorfman is president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Follow @ncrp on Twitter.

This commentary was originally published on The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

In the last week, we learned unsettling information about money the Baltimore Community Foundation channeled to the police for mass surveillance of Baltimore residents.

Community foundations serve a valuable role nurturing local philanthropy and leading efforts to improve the neighborhoods, cities, and people they serve. But the funding in question, uncovered by Bloomberg Businessweek and the Baltimore Sun — from two private donors with vast wealth and influence who financed a clandestine police program — violated not just the tenets of philanthropy at its best but the vision, mission and values of the Baltimore Community Foundation.

Policing is a public good, governed by community priorities and overseen by a community’s elected representatives. When private donors conspire with a private company to subvert the public oversight process and engage philanthropic dollars in a secret policing program, they pervert this foundational democratic value.

What’s more, most of the citizens being surveilled by this program are black, and as the Movement for Black Lives policy platform points out, such government surveillance has and “continues to be concentrated within targeted communities of color, namely black, Arab, and immigrant.”

Such unwarranted and racially unbalanced surveillance could, the Black Lives platform continues, violate citizens’ constitutional rights.

Problem With Neutrality

The Baltimore Community Foundation is a tax-exempt organization created “by and for the people of Greater Baltimore” whose vision is for a Baltimore where “all have the opportunity to thrive” and where “enlightened civic leadership” based on values of trust and inclusivity can be leveraged to make Baltimore a better place for all of the city’s residents. It also calls itself a foundation “committed to transparency and accountability.”

Yet these values are undermined by their facilitation of a secret funding stream for a project that, in other communities similarly stricken by conflict and distrust between police and community, such as Los Angeles and Dayton, were rejected wholesale by democratic debate.

The Baltimore Community Foundation ought to serve the Greater Baltimore community and not just house transactional philanthropic activities that serve donors’ interests. What does the foundation stand for? How is it leading the community in the wake of a year of political and social strife over the violence visited on Baltimore residents of color by their police department?

Vocal Leaders

Many community foundations across the country are struggling with these questions. Some really do see themselves as facilitators of philanthropy by donors, without taking positions on the causes being supported. Others, like the San Francisco Foundation, have taken strong positions and are using the foundation’s reputational and financial capital to advance equity.

I urge all community foundations to undertake serious discussions about what they stand for. Many are already doing this, but far too many others aren’t. Neutrality isn’t nearly as valuable as some in philanthropy have claimed over the years, and it isn’t really even possible — as the Baltimore ordeal illustrates. For foundations, attempting to be neutral often means that the foundation — even if unintentionally — is actually supporting greater oppression rather than standing on the side of those in their communities who have the least wealth and power.

Community foundations ought to be vocal leaders on issues that impact their communities, and the only responsible way to do that is to listen — especially to those most harmed by injustice. We can learn from several leading community foundations that are acting on their values.

For example, in 2014, the Cleveland Foundation became a presenting sponsor for the Gay Games, using the foundation’s money and influence to advance LGBTQ equality. It also used the opportunity of the games to start a community-driven LGBTQ fund to accept donations and channel them to local charities.

Similarly, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation has been taking a bold stand combating predatory lending, recognizing that one in four of the people in the community it serves is cash poor and is disproportionately impacted by the abusive payday-lending industry. The foundation has also spearheaded a national coalition of community foundations to work on the issue.

These and other community foundations have a vision for their communities and are willing talk out and act on important issues. The Baltimore Community Foundation has an opportunity — and an obligation — in the coming days to begin answering questions about its vision for the community and the role of philanthropy, and of the community fund specifically, in helping to bring about that vision.

The statement the community foundation released on Friday saying it will “require government agencies to promptly and publicly disclose receipt of funds and adhere to all applicable public reporting requirements” is a start, but it is not sufficient. The leaders of the foundation owe it to their neighbors to be as transparent, accountable, inclusive, and civically minded as they claim to be.

Aaron Dorfman is president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Follow @ncrp on Twitter.

This post first appeared on The Huffington Post on June 23, 2016.

After a gunman killed 49 people and injured dozens more in a horrific act of hate at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, many people are asking what they can do in response to this terrorism. For wealthy donors and foundations, there are two imperatives: Fund the ongoing struggle for the safety, health and full social inclusion of LGBTQ people, and bankroll a movement for sensible gun laws that can counter the outsized influence of the National Rifle Association and its funding base of gun manufacturers.

The attack in Orlando was an act of malice directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Throughout U.S. history, when a group of formerly marginalized people have begun to achieve fuller social inclusion, there has typically been a violent backlash against their progress: Lynching of African Americans increased dramatically in the South after emancipation. Attacks on abortion providers have increased apace with legal access to reproductive health. With the recent progress of the LGBTQ rights movement, we can expect violent acts against LGBTQ communities to continue and possibly escalate. This was not the only reported act of terrorism targeting LGBTQ people in the U.S. this month.

Now is not the time for donors to abandon this community. Only 0.28 percent of the $54 billion in grants given out annually by U.S. foundations goes to explicitly benefit LGBTQ communities, according to one recent study by Funders for LGBTQ Issues. Without the leadership of the Gill, Arcus, Ford, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. and Open Society Foundations, those figures would be even worse.

Troublingly, after a victory at the Supreme Court in 2015, some donors have hung out a “mission accomplished” banner and have moved on to other causes. Nothing could be more dangerous.

Foundations and wealthy donors played a vital role in helping the LGBTQ rights movement get to where it is today, and they must double down on their support. Funding for marriage equality and anti-discrimination legislation is crucial, but the basic safety of some LGBTQ people across the country is still at risk. As cisgender gay and lesbian Americans have been increasingly embraced by the mainstream, the health and safety of trans people has unfortunately been made a political football. As white and wealthy LGBTQ people are given space to thrive, queer people of color and poor LGBTQ people feel the brunt of violence and inequity.

The intolerance that motivated this latest attack must be addressed, and we also cannot ignore the means that made it possible: Gunman Omar Mateen carried out the deadliest shooting in U.S. history using an assault rifle. That such weapons are still legally available in the U.S. is due to the enduring power of the National Rifle Association, which is significantly supported by gun manufacturers.

A few visionary foundations and wealthy donors have begun funding a mass movement to combat the NRA’s power. In 2014, Michael Bloomberg provided $50 million to bankroll Everytown for Gun Safety and other organizations that promote sensible gun control. Bloomberg has also backed candidates who support sensible gun laws and opposed candidates who do not. The Joyce Foundation, based in Chicago and on whose board of directors President Obama once served, has been another significant investor in this movement.

Yet funding for sensible gun laws is not nearly sufficient to counter the power of the NRA, whose annual budget is almost $300 million. By comparison, total foundation funding for gun control is approximately $8 million per year on average.

Imagine the potential of a well-funded, coordinated effort that leverages the existing momentum, leadership and political power of the LGBTQ movement with a push for sensible gun control. If donors step up now, they can capitalize on LGBTQ communities’ organizational might to accelerate change to our dangerous gun policies.

Empowering LGBTQ communities – keeping them safe and giving them a platform to demand respect and humanity – will be difficult even in the wake of marquee victories, but it can happen. Beating the NRA will not be easy, but it can be done if we invest in building people power among all those who have been impacted by gun violence. Which foundations and wealthy donors will step up to the plate to give these movements the resources they need to compete and win?

Aaron Dorfman is executive director of NCRP. Follow @NCRP on Twitter. 

Image by Fibonacci Blue, used under Creative Commons license.