Philanthropists, foundations and donor advised fund providers take a stand against funding hatred.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 19, 2019: Amalgamated Foundation and its partners today launched the Hate Is Not Charitable Campaign, an initiative to prevent funding groups that promote hatred.
The campaign includes more than 20 donor networks, foundations, and Donor Advised Funds (“DAF”) providers that collectively represent over $1B in assets and growing. The campaign is calling for DAF providers to exercise their legal discretion over grants recommended by their donors and adopt pro-active policies to ensure that funds do not flow to organizations that promote hatred. Additionally, the Hate Is Not Charitable Campaign calls for “donors of conscience” to demand that their own donor advised providers adopt such policies.
The initiative follows a recent investigative media report exposing the use of DAFs to finance hate groups. The report found that, between 2014 and 2017, major donor-advised funds including Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Schwab Charitable Fund, and Vanguard Charitable provided nearly $11 million in grants to 34 organizations that have been deemed hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The organizations listed in the report include anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, and anti-LGBTQ groups.
“In light of recent events, there is an increased urgency for the funding community to be unequivocal in its opposition to hate,” said Anna Fink, Amalgamated Foundation Executive Director. “It is time for the philanthropic sector and its many stakeholders to hold ourselves to a higher standard that fulfills our responsibility to the public interest.”
“Foundations, like financial institutions, must be responsible in shepherding financial resources and consider the risk associated with supporting organizations that promote hatred.” said Keith Mestrich, Board Chair of Amalgamated Foundation and President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank. “In the wake of the 2017 white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Amalgamated Bank helped draw attention to the banking sector’s transactions with hate groups and we’re glad to see the Foundation taking on this issue in the philanthropic sphere.”
Amalgamated Foundation has enacted a policy and hopes to serve as a model for other DAF providers and foundations. This change includes adjusting the due diligence process to ensure no funding flows to organizations identified as hate groups.
The growing list of nationwide partners in the Campaign include the Women Donors Network, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Stonewall Community Foundation, North Star Fund, Liberty Hill Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, and Brooklyn Community Foundation.
“The campaign gets at a central issue in the intense debate that’s been swirling around donor advised funds: do sponsors truly exercise discretion in making grants, or do they simply function as a pass-through and make whatever grants donors advise?” reflected Aaron Dorfman, President and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a signatory to the Campaign. “Enacting policies to block support for hatred is more than a best practice, its common decency.”
Organizations can learn more about the Amalgamated Foundation’s model policy or pledge support to the Hate Is Not Charitable Campaign.
Hate Is Not Charitable Supporters as of March 22, 2021:
Advocate Safehouse Project
AJL Charitable Foundation
Allegany Franciscan Ministries
Amalgamated Foundation
American Muslim Fund
Appleton Foundation
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
BALLE Network
Benevolent
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Boston Foundation
Bread and Roses Community Fund
Brooklyn Community Foundation
CERES Trust
CHANGE Philanthropy
Chicago Theological Seminary
Chinook Fund
Colorado Fund for People with Disabilities
Compton Foundation
Council of American Islamic Relations
Define American
Dietel and Partners
Documented Investigations
East Bay Community Foundation
EDGE Funders Alliance
Embrey Family Foundation
Fiduciary Trust Charitable
FJC
Fleur Larsen Facilitation
Funders for LGBTQ Issues
Geyelina Foundation
GLAAD, Inc.
Global Fund for Women
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees
Pamela Grow
Haymarket Peoples' Fund
Hazen Foundation
Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation
Hill-Snowdon Foundation
Hispanics in Philanthropy
Horizons Foundation
IfNotNow
Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund
JustFund
Justice Funders
Kolot Chayeinu
Liberty Hill Foundation
Move Money Shift Power
MRG Foundation
Muslim Community Network
Naah Illahee Fund
Nathan Cummings Foundation
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
National Immigration Law Center
Neighborhood Funders Group
Network of Elected Women
New York Foundation
North Star Fund
Pacific Foundation Services, LLC
Peace Development Fund
Philadelphia Black Giving Circle
Phila Engaged Giving
PRBB Foundation
Progress Alliance of Washington
Propel Capital
Proteus Fund
Race Forward
Reis Foundation
Robasciotti & Philipson
Cathy Raphael
Resource Generation
Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment
RSF Social Finance
San Francisco Foundation
Social Justice Fund NW
Solano Community Foundation
Solidago Foundation
Solidaire Network
Solutions Project
Spyder Fund
Stonewall Community Foundation
Sweet Livity LLC
TAKE ON HATE - New York
The Douty Foundation
The Gift Trust
The Grove Foundation
Threshold Foundation
Tides Foundation
Washington Area Women's Foundation
Women Donors Network
Young Aspiring Americans for Social and Political Activism
Zevin Asset Management
About Amalgamated Foundation
Amalgamated Foundation is building a powerful community of individual donors and institutions committed to collective impact. Leveraging the financial acumen and integrity of Amalgamated Bank’s near 100-year history as a socially responsible banking leader, the Foundation offers a values-aligned alternative to donor advised funds that raises the bar on how providers inspire and engage their audiences. For donors who care about the environment, inclusive democracy, racial equity, LGBTQ equality, and reproductive freedom, Amalgamated Foundation’s expertise and platform meets today’s urgent need for impactful philanthropy.