Making a meaningful difference to combatting white supremacy and racial injustice in the U.S. means committing to supporting organizations that are rooted deeply in—and trusted by—the African American and people of color communities they serve. This includes organizations that are grassroots and community-based as well as larger, national organizations, many of which are led by people of color. MCF also recommends considering organizations that meet the following criteria laid about by Marcus Walton, President & CEO of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations:

Frame the issue—acknowledging how institutional barriers to progress persist today;

Focus on root causes
—prioritizing the elimination of social and political barriers to progress that systemically and disproportionately prohibit thriving within historically marginalized communities;

Disaggregate data—illustrating through historical analysis that the concept of race in America remains a determining variable for inequity across identity groups, as reflected in disaggregated data (i.e. cataloguing data according to racial, gender, class, geographical, sexual orientation and other categories). 

Here are some of our recommendations for your consideration (with organizations led by a person of color noted by asterisk):


Racial Justice Organizations

Advocacy and Civic Engagement

Blackbird works hand-in-hand with organizers, storytellers and advocates around the world to change the narrative and win long-term victories that impact Black lives. teamblackbird.org/ *

Note: Blackbird is fiscally sponsored by NEO Philanthropy.

Black Futures Lab works with Black people to transform communities, building Black political power and changing the way that power operates—locally, statewide, and nationally. It works to understand the dynamics impacting Black communities, build the capacity of communities to govern, and engage and include Black people in the decisions that impact their lives. blackfutureslab.org/ *

Note: Black Futures Lab is fiscally sponsored by Chinese Progressive Association.

Black Lives Matter
is a global organization in the U.S., U.K., and Canada whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities. blacklivesmatter.com/

Note: Black Lives Matter is fiscally sponsored by Tides Foundation.

BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity) is a national training, coaching and technical assistance program focused on strengthening Black social justice infrastructure by transforming the practice of Black organizers in the US to increase their alignment, impact and sustainability to win progressive change. boldorganizing.org/ *

Note: BOLD is fiscally sponsored by Highlander Center

BVM (Black Voters Matter) Capacity Building Institute aims to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities. BVM supports community-based organizations with funding, strategy, and technical assistance to help mobilize voters for elections at various levels and strive to obtain social justice throughout the year. bvmcapacitybuilding.org *

Californians for Justice is a statewide, youth-powered organization fighting for racial justice, with a special focus in Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland, and San Jose. It works to improve the lives of people of color, immigrants, those from low-income backgrounds, LGBTQ individuals, and those from other marginalized communities. It focuses its work on achieving relationship-centered schools, equitable school funding, and youth voice in democracy. caljustice.org/ *

Equal Justice Society transforms the nation’s consciousness on race through law, social science, and the arts. Its strategy aims to broaden conceptions of present-day discrimination to include unconscious and structural bias by using social science, structural analysis, and real-life experience. equaljusticesociety.org

Movement for Black Lives creates a space for over 100 Black organizations across the country to debate and discuss the current political conditions; develop shared assessments of the political interventions that are necessary to achieve key policy, cultural, and political wins; and convene organizational leadership in order to debate and co-create a movement-wide strategy. m4bl.org/ *

Note: Movement for Black Lives is fiscally sponsored by the Common Counsel Foundation.

National Coalition on Black Civic Participation is a non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement and voter participation in Black and underserved communities. It strives to create an enlightened community by engaging people in all aspects of public life through service/volunteerism, advocacy, leadership development, and voting. It includes a Bay Area chapter. ncbcp.org/ *

Oakland Rising educates and mobilizes local voters to speak up for and take charge of the issues impacting their lives. Their work focuses on three major goals—to build permanent political/electoral infrastructure, exercise and expand political influence, and align organizations and coordinate with other progressive forces. oaklandrising.org/ 

Note: Oakland Rising is fiscally sponsored by Movement Strategy Center.

Race Forward brings systemic analysis to complex race issues to help people take effective action toward racial equity. It catalyzes community, government, and other institutions to dismantle structural racial inequity and create equitable outcomes for all. It is also home to a national network of local government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. Race Forward publishes the daily news site Colorlines and hosts the country’s largest multiracial conference on racial justice. raceforward.org/ *

re:power fund is a team of organizers, strategists, and technologists dedicated to building transformative political power for BIPOC tied to the belief that by partnering with individuals, organizations, and coalitions across the country, leaders within these communities can create radical change. repower.org/ *

The Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF) provides public education, research, and trainings on civil rights and social and economic justice causes in order to promote and protect the human rights of all people and champion equal rights, justice, understanding, and mutual respect. All Voting is Local, a campaign housed at LCEF, fights to dismantle discriminatory barriers to the ballot so that every voter can cast a ballot that counts to achieve a democracy that works for us all. civilrights.org/edfund *

Young Women’s Freedom Center is a leadership and advocacy organization led by systems-involved women and transgender and gender non-conforming people of color who have grown up in poverty, worked in the underground street economy, and been criminalized. By offering safety, sister and siblinghood, economic opportunities, education, and healing, the organization builds self-determination and self-worth for those impacted by cycles of poverty, violence, exploitation, and incarceration. youngwomenfree.org/


Civil Rights

Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project envisions a world where no one is forced to give up their homeland and where all Black LGBTQIA+ people are free and liberated. The program builds and centers the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants through community-building, political education, creating access to direct services, and organizing across borders. transgenderlawcenter.org/programs/blmp *

Note: Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project is fiscally sponsored by Transgender Law Center.

Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI) protects and defends the human rights of Black transgender people by organizing, advocating, and creating an intentional community to heal, develop transformative leadership, and promote collective power. MPJI’s members are Black trans people and those committed to undoing white supremacy in all its forms who together seek to eradicate systemic, community, and physical violence that silences the community from actualizing freedom, joy, and safety. marshap.org *

Note: MPJI is fiscally sponsored by Social Good Fund.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) works to promote the civil rights of people of color and to illuminate race-based discrimination, including its legal defense fund which fights for racial justice through litigation, advocacy, and education. naacp.org/ *

National Black Justice Coalition is a civil rights advocacy organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and same-gender-loving people, including people living with HIV/AIDS with a mission is to end racism, homophobia, bias, and stigma. wnbjc.org *


Criminal Justice Reform and Policing

Campaign Zero supports the analysis of policing practices across the country, research to identify effective solutions to end police violence, technical assistance to organizers leading police accountability campaigns, and the development of model legislation and advocacy to end police violence nationwide. joincampaignzero.org *

Note: Campaign Zero is fiscally sponsored by We the Protesters, Inc. 

Center for Policing Equity aids police departments to realize their own equity goals as well as advance the scientific understanding of issues of equity within organizations and policing by producing analyses identifying and reducing the causes of racial disparities in law enforcement. They do this using evidence-based approaches to social justice and collecting data to create levers for social, cultural, and policy change. policingequity.org/ *

Community Justice Exchange (CJE) shares and experiments with tactical interventions, strategic organizing practices, and innovative organizing tools to end all forms of criminalization, incarceration, surveillance, and detention. It also hosts the National Bail Fund Network, a formation of over sixty community-led bail and bond funds that are part of campaigns to end pretrial and immigration detention and address the disproportionate impact of bail fees on low-income incarcerated individuals, a large percentage of whom are people of color. communityjusticeexchange.org *

Note: Community Justice Exchange is fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center.

Dream Corps, founded by Van Jones, works to advance solutions that will close prison doors and open doors of opportunity to bring people together across racial, social, and partisan lines to create a future with freedom and dignity for all. Its #cut50 campaign is a bipartisan effort to cut crime and incarceration across all 50 states. thedreamcorps.org *

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is named after Ella Baker, a brilliant Black hero of the civil rights movement. Following in her footsteps, the organization organizes with Black, Brown, and low-income people locally, statewide, and nationally to shift resources away from prisons and punishment and toward opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong. ellabakercenter.org/ *

Equal Justice Initiative works to end mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the U.S., challenge racial and economic injustice, and protect basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. eji.org/ *

Essie Justice Group is a membership-based nonprofit that empowers women with incarcerated loved ones as organizers who take on the rampant injustices created by mass incarceration and advocate for racial and gender justice. Its award-winning Healing to Advocacy Model brings women together to heal, build collective power, and drive social change. The organization is also working to end money bail and raise awareness of the effects of incarceration on gender justice. www.essiejusticegroup.org/ *

Impact Justice is a national innovation and research center focused on reducing the number of people involved in the criminal justice system, improving conditions and opportunities for those who are incarcerated, and supporting successful rejoining of the community. www.impactjustice.org

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (formerly Network on Women in Prison) organizes communities impacted by the criminal justice system and advocates to release incarcerated people, restore human and civil rights against structural racism, and reunify families and communities. It also sponsors All of Us or None, a grassroots civil rights program that fights for the rights of formerly and currently incarcerated people and our families. www.prisonerswithchildren.org *

The Innocence Project works to free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to reform the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment. innocenceproject.org

We the Protesters, Inc. is focused on ending racism and police violence in the United States. This organization is building the most comprehensive database of police violence information in the nation, using that data to identify effective policy solutions, while supporting movement organizers to enact these policies at every level of government. wetheprotesters.org *

Health and Healing

Community Healing Network mobilizes Black people across the African Diaspora to heal from the trauma caused by centuries of anti-Black racism, free people of toxic stereotypes, and reclaim dignity and humanity as people of African ancestry. Its vision is a world in which all Black people have moved beyond surviving to flourishing and are enjoying life in all its fullness—in body, mind, and spirit. communityhealingnet.org *

Loveland Foundation provides financial assistance that allows Black women and girls nationally to receive therapy support. thelovelandfoundation.org *

National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network is committed to transforming mental health for queer and trans people of color (QTPoC). They work at the intersection of movements for social justice and the field of mental health to integrate healing justice into both of these spaces. nqttcn.com/ *

Note: National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color is fiscally sponsored by Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs.

Legal Rights

American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) is a nonpartisan, 1.5 million+ member public interest organization devoted to protecting the civil liberties of all people in the United States. Recognized as the nation's premier public interest law firm, the ACLU works daily in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The ACLU addresses a wide range of civil liberties issues, including immigration, voting rights, criminal justice, racial justice, free speech and more. aclu.org/

Note: The ACLU is a 501(c)(4) organization that cannot be supported with a grant from a DAF. However, The ACLU Foundation can, as it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps fuel the ACLU’s litigation, communications, advocacy, and public education efforts.

Southern Poverty Law Center fights hate and bigotry and seeks justice for the most vulnerable members of American society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the organization works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality. splcenter.org/ * 


Policy

Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans, through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Their aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country by developing new policy ideas, challenging the media to cover the issues that truly matter, and shaping the national debate. americanprogress.org/

Center for Popular Democracy builds the organizing power of communities to transform the policy landscape and to ensure the country embodies an inclusive, equitable society—one in which people of color, immigrants, working families, women, and LGBTQ communities thrive together, supported by a resilient economy and political institutions. populardemocracy.org *

PolicyLink advocates for groundbreaking policy changes that enable everyone, especially people of color, to be economically secure, live in healthy communities of opportunity, and benefit from a just society. They do this by weaving together four essential functions—advocacy, applied research and communications, constituency and network engagement, and implementation capacity. policylink.org/ *


Youth Empowerment

Black Girl Freedom Fund, is a 10-year philanthropic initiative to invest $1 billion in the brain trust, innovation, health, safety, education, artistic visions, research, and joy of Black girls and their families. The initiative will support work that advances the well being of Black girls and their families, including work that centers and advances the power of Black girls through organizing, asset mapping, capacity-building, legal advocacy, and narrative work to shift structural violence. 1billion4blackgirls.org/ *

Black Girl Freedom Fund is an initiative of Grantmakers for Girls of Color, a fiscally-sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

100 Black Men of America is a national mentoring organization that works to improve the quality of life and enhance educational and economic opportunities for all African Americans. Local chapters help develop young people—across genders—into future leaders by surrounding youth with a positive network focused on mentoring, education, health and wellness, and economic empowerment. Bay Area chapters exist in Oakland, San Jose, and Sonoma County. 100blackmen.org *

My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a national initiative launched by President Obama, addresses persistent opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color in order to ensure that they can reach their full potential. MBK Alliance’s work is rooted in supporting key life milestones that are predictive of later success. Local MBK Communities exist in Oakland, Richmond, and San Jose. obama.org/mbka2

Note: My Brother's Keeper Alliance is fiscally sponsored by The Obama Foundation.

RYSE Center, located in Richmond, creates safe spaces grounded in social justice for young people to love, learn, educate, heal, and transform lives and communities. rysecenter.org *


Arts and Culture

Museum of the African Diaspora, a contemporary art museum in San Francisco, celebrates Black cultures, ignites challenging conversations, and inspires learning through the global lens of the African Diaspora. MoAD’s focus spans the African Diaspora across history that has affected communities and cultures around the world by exploring themes of origin, movement, adaptation and transformation in the exhibitions and programming. moadsf.org/ *

Youth Speaks uses the intersection of arts education and youth development practices, civic engagement strategies, and high-quality artistic presentation to create safe spaces that challenge young people to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of societal change. youthspeaks.org/ *

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Organizations Based in Marin County

Community Action Marin breaks down the barriers to community members being able to support themselves by providing support to families and children through safety net services, access to mental health, nutritious meals, and economic opportunity. camarin.org/ *

Hannah Project boosts the academic proficiency and college attendance of Marin City and other low-income youth of color by working in partnership to promote a community culture that encourages achievement, celebrates heritage, and equips families and students with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to fulfill dreams and ambitions. thehannahproject.org *

ISOJI a Nigerian word for renaissance, revitalization, or rebirth. Since 2000, ISOJI has been a forum for Marin City residents, community leaders, and friends to gather, discuss, and  strategize next steps toward greater community well-being, social equity, and self-empowerment. isoji.net/ *

Marin City Health and Wellness Center provides innovative health and wellness services to all, with the goal of African American health equity. Its Marin Family Birth Center in San Rafael provides perinatal, water birth, and midwifery services as Marin County’s only  freestanding birth center. marincityclinic.org *


This is a robust though not exhaustive list of organizations that address racial justice issues. Inclusion on this list does not indicate that MCF has a prior relationship with an organization.


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Selected Readings & Viewings

James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

Ava DuVernay, 13th, an American documentary film (2016)

Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (Book, 2014), Just Mercy (Film, 2019)

Nikole Hannah-Jones, NYT’s 1619 Project, America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made it One (Article, 2019)

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (Book, 2015)

Robin J. DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (Book, 2018)

Ibram X. Kendi, How to be an AntiRacist (Book, 2019)

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