racial justice.  systems change.  sustaining movements.

​For over a decade, Movement Matters has been a significant strategic partner to the Greater Washington Community Foundation. They have helped us understand and navigate the community organizing landscape around issues ranging from public education to economic justice, and create and implement initiatives that have deepened community engagement around these issues.

​I strongly recommend Movement Matters to other philanthropic institutions that are developing their strategy for supporting racial and economic justice work.
Dawnn Leary,
​Senior Community Investment Officer, Greater Washington Community Foundation.

​Funder Training and Technical Assistance

Movement Matters offers training and technical assistance to foundations and philanthropists who want to align their giving with progressive systems change and racial justice values.

​Our trainings to foundation staff and boards focus on community organizing, advocacy, and other systems change approaches⏤to better understand the context and application of these approaches and how to support them. We help those engaged in philanthropy to investigate not just what they fund, but how they fund. We examine historic and current power dynamics embedded in philanthropy and delve into practices that create a more trust-based and just funding ecosystem.

In addition to our training modules, we provide guidance and technical assistance on giving strategies⏤identifying racially just and democratic policies and practices for the distribution of resources that support a healthy movement building infrastructure. We offer coaching and accompaniment to foundation staff as they shift towards these practices. We also conduct research and report writing that provide the landscape analysis and backdrop for philanthropy to update their strategies.

​We continue to put our combined 40+ years of direct work with organizers, institutions, researchers, and campaigns to support the development of philanthropic work that dismantles supremacy and racial inequity, centers systems change, and sustains movements.​ We have done this work with such philanthropic partners as: The Rockefeller Foundation, Hill-Snowdon Foundation, Collaborative for Education Organizing (collaborative of DC area and national foundations including Gates and Mott), Diverse City Fund, Greater Washington Community Foundation, Horning Family Foundation, Meyer Foundation, Weissberg Foundation, and Resourcing Radical Justice Funders Collective.
​Movement Matters has been providing community organizing support and training for our Fund for DC groups for over a decade. So naturally, when we wanted to get a current assessment of the growth of community organizing in DC we turned to Movement Matters. As usual, they did a superlative job, developing a rubric for community organizing and applying that to a scan of social justice groups in DC and the region; and writing a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of their findings.

​Movement Matters' in depth knowledge of community organizing ecosystems and their strategic analysis were exactly what we needed to deepen our work in the Washington metropolitan region. 
Nat Chioke Williams,
Executive Director, Hill-Snowdon Foundation.

Shifting Philanthropy for Movement Building©

Over the last several years, many within the philanthropic sector have identified community organizing as a critical strategy in achieving systemic change and racial justice. This realization has become more pronounced in the current moment of pandemic and political upheaval. Despite this recognition, it can be difficult from a funder perspective to understand what organizing really is, much less how to support it. ​

Movement Matters has decades of experience helping grassroots groups build their organizing capacity, and also helping funders navigate and strategize how to best support movement work. We have taken this experience and condensed it into a half-day organizing training for funders.
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This 6-hour training helps funders ground themselves in such knowledge as:
  • What is organizing and how is it different from other change strategies?
  • Why is organizing a critical change strategy, especially in the current environment?
  • How is organizing a central approach to achieving racial equity?
  • What are the central components of organizing work and how can funders engage with grassroots partners to better understand and support their work?
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Shifting Philanthropy for Movement Building©

To build in necessary time for reflection, this training is divided into two consecutive sessions.
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This training is led by Movement Matters team members, David Haiman and David Hunt. Both bring extensive experience working at the grassroots and philanthropic levels.​
Course Logistics: 
​6 content hours + handouts and resources.​
​Attendance at both sessions is required.

​2024 DATES TBD: 10AM - 1:00PM EST
Session 1: TBD (3 hrs)
Session 2: TBD (3 hrs)
Cost: TBD
​Limit: 18 participants.
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​The registration process is currently closed. Stay tuned for final 2024 dates.
​Connect with us if you have any questions.
Course Logistics: Participants will complete the Shifting Philanthropy for Movement Building (SPMB) registration and capacity questionnaire form and/or be part of a 1-on-1 prior to the training to ensure that we understand everyone's needs and how to tailor the curriculum. Limit: 18 participants; 6 training hours in total. COVID-safe policies will be in place if necessary.
​The Resourcing Radical Justice (RRJ) Learning team was so privileged to work closely with Movement Matters in the development of our radical learning series. MM team members were incredibly thoughtful partners in thinking through how to authentically and deeply engage funders in a learning space, consider their educational and emotional needs, and ensure there was spaciousness for folks to show up as their whole selves.

We were also grateful for their support in sharing their knowledge and facilitating conversations about the local organizing ecosystem and DMV funding ventures, specifically intersections with racial justice work and grantmaking impacts on community. The Movement Matters team was invaluable in helping us craft a well thought out and people-centered series. 
Leni Dworkis,
Steering Committee, Resourcing Radical Justice Funders Collective.
For more information on Movement Matters' Funder Training and Technical Assistance, connect with us.

Movement Matters is based in Washington, DC.
We work regionally and with national partners.
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