Democracy Frontlines Fund - Money to Meet This Moment

Dear DFF community:

In 2020, we came together in a moment of crisis to create the Democracy Frontlines Fund, a national philanthropic initiative to mobilize resources towards Black organizing, power-building, and movement infrastructure and embark on a racial justice learning journey. Five years later, we find ourselves in another moment of crisis, a time of polycrisis to be more specific, where we are experiencing the erosion of our civil liberties and existential, compounding threats to civil society. People are being detained and separated from their families, institutions are collapsing, programs and services intended to serve the most marginalized are being defunded.

The old playbook of deep-seated racism in this country sows chaos, occluding our path with fear, overwhelm and uncertainty. This is designed to throw us off balance, keeping us in a perpetual state of inaction. Movements remind us that we too have a playbook to fight against authoritarianism and fascism. Recalling and bringing forward the stories and lessons from the movements and struggles of our ancestors, the chaos clears. In every crisis there is opportunity; opportunities to build power that transcends and lights a clear path forward to freedom.

DFF has been moving money to the frontlines, listening to the stories of our partners, learning from our movements, and dreaming towards a new world. We know that when our movements and people are targeted, it’s because we are moving closer to justice and liberation.

In 2024, our fourth year of work together, we remained resolute in our values and took action to grow our commitment to Black organizing. When we saw backlash against pro-Black funding, we expanded our table and added two new foundation partners to our community (welcome Stupski and Packard Foundations), growing our total commitment to Black organizing to $83.5M. When we saw retrenchment, we increased our 2024 grantmaking by $2.5M ($12M to $14.5M) to the Slate of Black power-building organizations. When we needed to stoke our imagination to envision the world we seek, we continued our racial justice learning journey and immersed ourselves in a visit to New Orleans and a cultural experience rooted in Black joy and justice. And now, in the face of much fear, we are moving forward with courage (#CourageIsContagious) and standing together with our partners at the MacArthur Foundation and Freedom Together Foundation who are increasing their payouts to flow more money to grantees and community-based solutions.

History will remember this time, and it will remember what we did when our rights and democracy were under attack. It will remember whether we turned our backs, or we came together and kept moving forward. Let’s be remembered for our profound courage at this critical juncture in the fight for justice.

— Daniel & Tynesha

In 2024, two new funding partners joined our efforts to resource and invest in Black organizing and continuing our racial justice learning community. We welcomed the Stupski Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, whose contributions grow our learning community to 16 foundations and the total commitment of funds to $83.5M.

We awarded $14.5 million in 2024 in unrestricted support to our Slate of 11 national organizations building Black grassroots power in civic engagement, community safety, and climate justice solutions.

One of our key strategies is to mobilize resources and redistribute them to organizations working in and in relationship with the frontlines. From our inception in 2020 through 2026, we will have committed and awarded at least $83.5 million over six years in unrestricted dollars to Black movement infrastructure and organizing.

In 2024, DFF awarded $14.5M to the Slate. These grantee organizations received the funds in two disbursements–in the spring in participation of the All By April campaign to accelerate funds leading up to the 2024 election, and in the fall in accordance with our annual grantmaking cycle.

The Slate is composed of national coalitions and membership-based organizations that have state, regional, and local reach. Several organizations regrant as a function of their role in the movement ecosystem to get the dollars to the frontlines which is a key part of the Brain Trust’s design of DFF’s resource mobilization and deployment strategy.

A cornerstone of a thriving, multi-racial democracy are free and fair elections where every vote is counted and every voice is heard. As a strategic pillar of our grantmaking, effective civic engagement builds power to allow communities to determine their own destinies, on election days and on the days between elections and beyond.

Leading up to the 2024 election, one of the most consequential of our lifetime, the Slate made over 208 million voter contact attempts, 178 million successful contacts to voters, collected 841,000 voter registration applications, and fielded nearly 60,000 calls from voters through the Election Protection coalition. These activities build civic power, fight voter suppression, and ensure that voters in Black communities and communities of color have access to accurate information to express their voice at the polls.

Community safety is a fundamental tenet of a functioning democracy. We resource organizations leading community-led reimagining of public safety that centers the experience of those most impacted by police violence who are on the frontlines of advocating for decriminalization, divestment from harmful systems, and dreaming of non-police community-based safety strategies for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Progress highlights of community safety initiatives include: official launch of the Metro Office of Youth Safety in Nashville, TN; advancement of the #PoliceFreeSchools campaign to protect immigrant youth in schools who may be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement; passage of a racial equity resolution in Athens, GA; and holding Phoenix Police Chief and Maricopa County Prosecutor accountable for fabricating a gang in order to increase charges against protestors in the 2020 racial justice uprisings.

The history of extractive climate and agricultural industries that have created the global climate crisis is predicated upon the exploitation of Black labor and theft of Black land. To move towards a multi-racial democracy with regenerative and restorative climate economies, we must invest in the long legacy of movement-builders and organizers who are continuing the history of resilience and self-determination in Black food security, production, and culture, as well as the climate solutions that prioritize sustainability, collective governance, and stewardship of natural resources.

DFF grantees launched The Land, Food, and Freedom Journal; released the YAMS app (Yielding Access to Market Solutions) to empower Black communities with insights into food access and spending patterns; delivered a global frontline working statement on Global Climate Reparations; prepared the Katrina 20 Local Committee to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and lift up the voices of the impacted and displaced; and ratified a merger between the Gulf South for a Green New Deal and Appalachian leaders to form the Gulf South to Appalachia (GS2A) formation.

As a movement-centered and accountable initiative, DFF understands the importance of infrastructure to build strong, durable, and robust movements. As our movement partners organize for racial justice and stand on the right side of history, they face state repression, vigilante violence, digital attacks, and institutional backlash as a result of their work in building power and challenging systemic injustice. We know that movement safety and security is a collective responsibility.

In 2024, grantee partners trained over 650 community members across 100+ organizations through safety programming and infrastructure to be responsive to the security needs of movements, anticipate threats and be ready in moments of crisis, and to live fully into the community value that we keep us safe.

December 2024

Assessing the Electoral Landscape: The Role of Philanthropy to Hold the Line On Progress

OCTOBER 2024

Reimagining Democracy

For our annual DFF Community visit, we traveled to New Orleans to immerse ourselves in a cultural experience rooted in Black and Indigenous arts and leadership. We met with artists and culture-bearers who are on the vanguard of reimagining democracy and building a future where all people are safe, supported, and have opportunities to flourish.

We designed our time around the African principle of Sankofa, to “go back and retrieve.” Our New Orleans grantee and movement partners reminded us that our communities come from a lineage of struggle, and that the lessons from those struggles will serve us well as we continue the fight. Resistance is our ability to dream, to create, to organize and imagine a different future.

At a time filled with so much uncertainty and volatility, Democracy Frontlines Fund is clear on our purpose. By resourcing the frontlines, building power in Black communities, and deepening our practice of racial justice, we will continue to flank social movements organizing for a multi-racial democracy.

Bring DFF funder learning community together in a shared experience on what is required to reimagine a thriving multi-racial democracy, with a focus on Black-led artists, culture bearers, and climate justice organizers in New Orleans.
Reflect on the origins of our collective work, assess the current political and philanthropic landscape, and define our continuing commitments to racial justice.
Scenario plan for 2025 and beyond; lean into imagination and dream space to create the future and democracy we need and deserve.
Strengthen and grow the DFF community to deepen our relationships and continue building power towards collective action and support.

Our first (of several) deep dives as our funder learning community was at the Whitney Plantation, just north and west of New Orleans – one of hundreds of former plantation sites on both sides of the Mississippi River – a place with a history of both enslavement and uprising.

The next introduction to New Orleans’ Black history was with a music- and meaning-filled evening at the legendary civil rights fomenting Dooky Chase’s Restaurant.

We followed up with a day filled with rich sights and sounds of Armstrong Park and Congo Square (bumping into the legendary activist Jerome “Big Duck” Smith) followed by time at New Orleans’ African American Museum, and the Ashé Arts & Cultural Center.

Our funder learning community then got into some good trouble at StudioBE with founder Brandan “BMike” Odums and his cadre of activist artists.

We continued our allyship and antiracism learning journey in this richly-cultured, historically complicated, beautiful city, and departed even more resolute in our commitment to justice.

The Whitney Plantation is a non-profit museum dedicated to telling the history of slavery in the United States from the perspective of the enslaved Africans, African-Americans, and Creoles of Color who built America’s wealth.

DFF funder learning community members toured the site, visiting preserved cabins for the enslaved, the detached laundry and kitchen buildings, the blacksmith and sugar production buildings, and the “big house.”

More than a dozen historical structures are maintained on this former sugar, indigo and rice plantation, which began operations in 1752.

At the Wall of Honor, our community studied the names of enslaved people known to have lived and worked at the plantation–names gathered from sales records and other official documents.

Members also read portions of first-person narratives recounted by formerly enslaved children–documented as part of the WPA Federal Writers’ Project in the 1930s.

Dooky Chase’s Restaurant was founded in 1941 in New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood by Emily and Edgar “Dooky” Chase, Sr. It became a vital meeting ground for civil rights activism.

Our cohort enjoyed a music-and-meaning filled meal at this renowned restaurant, visiting with the Dooky Chase family. (Pictured, a warm greeting from Stella Reese Chase, daughter of Dooky Chase, Jr. and his wife Leah.)

Throughout the civil rights era, Dooky Chase’s hosted strategy sessions for leaders like Thurgood Marshall, A.P. Tureaud, and Martin Luther King, Jr., to discuss legal challenges and grassroots (organizing over plates of fabulous Creole cuisine). Takema Robinson (Converge Consulting) and Flozell Daniels, Jr., (CEO of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation) shared joy with the DFF community.

Through the leadership of Dooky Chase, Jr. and his wife Leah Chase, the “Queen of Creole Cuisine,” the restaurant became a symbol of empowerment, blending activism with the arts.

DFF learning community enjoyed the musical gifts of a local brass band. (The walls are filled with the work of Black artists–as was Leah Chase’s wish.)

New Orleans’ Ashé Cultural Arts Center uses art and culture to support human, community, and economic development–believing in art as a paradigm-shifting call to action.

The center is a testament to the resistance, innovation and intrinsic power of the cultural traditions that thrive in New Orleans and have prevailed throughout the African Diaspora.

Funders were guided by Ashé’s Executive Director Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes, who spoke to the role of culture bearers in a multi-racial democracy.

Asali continued relaying her wisdom at the African American Museum in New Orleans.

Group shot of DFF’s learning community outside the New Orleans African American Museum

North of the French Quarter lies Armstrong Park with Congo Square. Here in the 19th century, both enslaved and free people of color gathered for meetings, open markets, and African dance & drumming celebrations, which heavily influenced the history of African American culture and music–especially jazz.

Chief Shaka Zulu, a prominent figure in New Orleans African American Carnival traditions, and specifically Black Masking Indian culture, guiding us in the history of the Tremé neighborhood.

The DFF community learned about Black Masking Indians while viewing a sculpture of Big Chief Allison “Tootie” Montana.

Chief Shaka Zulu relaying the history in front of the “Dancing in Congo Square” sculpture by Adéwálé (‘Wálé) Adénlé, 2010.

Near Tremé Community Center, the DFF community happened upon civil rights leader and living legend “Big Duck” (a.k.a. Jerome Smith). In the late 1950s, as a 19 year old student, Big Duck became an active member of the Congress of Racial Equality.

Smith was beaten multiple times while challenging Federal desegregation laws across the South, and as a member of the Freedom Riders, he’s since mentored countless individuals across New Orleans, and made a profound impact on civil rights history

StudioBE, a 36,000 square-foot gallery founded by artist Brandon “BMike” Odums, is a landmark and cultural destination in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans.

BMike toured the DFF learning community through the space, providing details and context for each compelling piece–evidence of the power of arts and imagination in social movements

Through intentional programming, workshops, exhibitions, and resource allocation, StudioBE lives out its mission to be a vibrant space for the New Orleans community, promoting local artists and engaging in social dialogue.

Our community learned StudioBE is a product of alchemy: a space for artists and the things they create, and a space for the local community and the culture that comes from it.

Brandan “BMike” Odums leading the DFF community in a tour of StudioBE, describing his vision of art and resistance.

A local brass band led the DFF community in a second line through StudioBE.

The DFF learning community closed our time in New Orleans “in the round” at StudioBE.

They shared reflections, insights, and their ongoing commitments to racial justice.

Youth artists from StudioBE and Eternal Seeds guiding the DFF community in a creative multimedia arts workshop.

DFF community member painting a StudioBE Bloom Fist.

A completed StudioBE Bloom Fist, a symbol of power and growth.

New Orleans offered us a glimpse into the power of people, place, and culture,

and, through this learning journey, we witnessed how interconnected the ecosystem of Black and Indigenous leadership is;

a leadership that is rooted in generational legacies dating back before the founding of this country.

It’s a leadership that holds firm across organizers, cultural leaders, community developers, policymakers, and storytellers

all aimed at uplifting and strengthening local communities and their relationship to the land, each other, and our democracy.

DFF Funder Community Member

History tells us that a vibrant multi-racial democracy is going to be built by social movements led by those most impacted, through grassroots power-building and deep, long-term, relational organizing.

Organizing, and the relationships that deepen from it, are what connects us to each other, forms activated networks in our communities, and provides hope to change the issues and conditions in our lives toward a world of thriving and flourishing for all.

The challenges we face are real, and so is the impact we can have. Now is the moment to move with purpose—our communities and the world need us.

Home: “2024 1004 DFF Funder Community at Studio BE: New Orleans, LA” photo by Jean Melesaine.

Remaining Resolute: “2024 1003 Daniel & Tynesha at Ashé Cultural Arts” photo by Jean Melesaine.

From the Frontlines, Grantee Updates:

Moving Money to the Frontlines: “2025 0310 End of Black Lives Matter Plaza, Washington DC” photo by Victoria Pickering, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Building Civic & Voter Power: Photo courtesy Black Voters Matter.
Reimagining Community Safety: “2021 0221 Protest Sign on Security Fence Surrounding White House After Capitol Hill Riots” photo by GummyBone.
Designing Climate & Land Justice Solutions: “Issue 1 / Volume 1 / Land, Food, & Freedom Journal” image of publication produced by National Black Food & Justice Alliance, Blackademics, and The Agroecology Center.
Protecting Movements & Building Infrastructure: “National Community Safety & Security School” image, courtesy Vision Change Win.

Learning Journey Spotlight: New Orleans, Louisiana:

Reimagining Democracy: “Ashé Cultural Arts Center” background photo by Jean Melesaine.
Our Goals & Intentions: “StudioBE” background photo by Jean Melesaine.
Community Deep Dives: “StudioBE” background photo by Jean Melesaine.
Community Deep Dives / Carousel: “Dooky Chase Exterior,” “Congo Square Sign,” and “Leah Chase” photos by Kelly Costa; All 29 other Learning Journey New Orleans carousel photos by Jean Melesaine.
Speaker Quotes: “Dueling Oak, New Orleans, LA” background photo by Kelly Costa; All speaker photos by Jean Melesaine.
Funder Learnings & Reflections: “StudioBE” background image and all Learning Journey photos by Jean Melesaine.

Our Thanks: “Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes With Her Son” background photo by Jean Melesaine.