Updates from Proteus Fund - November 2019
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Dear Colleagues,

Greetings. I hope you’re all doing well despite the challenging times we live in, and that your autumn was as beautiful as it was here in New York. It’s an incredibly busy time of year for us, as autumn and the beginning of winter is when we hold our docket meetings for our donor collaboratives and the family foundation we manage, Colombe Peace Foundation. Many of you have attended one or more of these docket meetings – thank you, as always, for bringing so much to the communities of funders, grantees and other stakeholders that these critical learning discussions and docket reviews create and nurture.

Another important branch of Proteus Fund’s work, which isn’t as visible or as centered in our newsletters and other communications, is our role as fiscal sponsor. We serve as fiscal sponsor to thirteen innovative projects, active nationally and internationally, working across the breadth of our issue areas, and using several different models and sets of strategies and tactics. As a philanthropic intermediary, we have a particular focus on supporting projects that do direct grantmaking (such as Third Wave Fund), facilitate aligned giving (such as Transparency & Accountability Initiative), or serve as philanthropic affinity groups (such as Human Rights Funders Network). To learn about our full slate of fiscally sponsored projects, please visit our website ([link removed]) . In this newsletter, you can learn about some recent updates from our projects.
In This Issue:

Celebrate our 25th Anniversary (#celebrate)
Proteus Fund's Profile in Inside Philanthropy (#IP)
Victory for Protest Rights in our Nation's Capital (#Victory)
Updates from our Fiscally Sponsored Projects (#FSPs)
Our fiscally sponsored projects and the rest of our programs and projects work at the cutting edge of some of the most consequential movements and most pressing issues of our time. This work does not always bring good news, as you all know – and in the age in which we find ourselves, it often feels like our dedicated efforts accomplish little more than holding the line. Sometimes, though, our efforts add up to resounding victories. One of these happened a few weeks ago: the National Park Service announced that it is withdrawing its proposal to change regulations governing protest in Washington, DC. Many of you were among the 140 signatories on Proteus Fund’s letter submitted in October that expressed opposition from philanthropy to the proposal. We were proud that philanthropy could use our voice, not just our grantmaking, as part of the chorus that opposed this proposal. You can read more about this decision in a piece from myself and Melissa Spatz, Director of Piper Fund, below.

Lastly, Proteus Fund is proud to be sponsoring the CHANGE Philanthropy Unity Summit in Seattle next week. We will have several staff in attendance, and Shireen Zaman, Director of the RISE Together Fund, will be moderating the session “Deepening Philanthropic Support for the MASA Community” on Wednesday morning. Please say hello to our staff and explore any of our current work with them if you wish.

I hope that your plans for the end of 2019, personally and professionally, include time for rest, reflection and renewal at the end of what has been a frightening and consequential year for all of us working to advance social justice at every level, both in the United States and internationally.

Sincerely,

Paul Di Donato
President & CEO
Proteus Fund and Proteus Action League
New York, NY

Help Us Celebrate our 25th Anniversary!

We want to hear from you! We'll be celebrating our 25th anniversary throughout 2019, and will be collecting stories, memories, and reflections from our partners, grantees, and other allies - both old and new.
Get In Touch With Us (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Proteus%20Fund's%2025th%20Anniversary)


** High-Touch: How a Progressive Intermediary is Evolving With The Times ([link removed])
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Back in the 1990s, the Proteus Fund helped pioneer a collaborative funding model supporting progressive movement building. Inside Philanthropy reports on its next moves in a volatile era.

Click here to read the full piece in Inside Philanthropy ([link removed]) .
[link removed] Follow Proteus Fund on Twitter ([link removed])
[link removed]

Philanthropy's Multiple Tools: Victory for Protest Rights in our Nation's Capital

By Melissa Spatz, Director, Piper Fund, and Paul Di Donato, President and CEO, Proteus Fund

In a critical victory for basic democratic norms, the National Park Service announced on October 28th that it is withdrawing its proposal to change regulations governing protest in Washington DC ([link removed]) . The proposed regulations would have drastically curtailed protest rights in the nation’s capital by charging exorbitant fees for protests, closing off the sidewalk in front of the White House (a site of iconic protests throughout our country’s history), and slowing down the process for obtaining a permit.

In withdrawing the proposal, the National Park Service acknowledged it was largely due to public outcry, pointing to the 140,000 comments it received opposed to the new regulations. A spokesman for the National Park Service noted ([link removed]) that there was “a good amount of feedback from a lot of folks, not only D.C. residents, but also stakeholders—those who have been issued permits for events on the National Mall—which certainly played a major factor in the decision to withdraw the proposal.”

When the initial restrictions to protest were announced, the Proteus Fund took immediate action as our democracy program has been a pillar of Proteus’ work for our entire history.

Piper Fund, our donor collaborative focused on protecting and further expanding a healthy democracy, provided a rapid response grant that enabled the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) to lead an extensive public engagement campaign to encourage the submission of comments in opposition to the regulations. It was through PCJF’s excellent leadership and the work of dozens of allied organizations, that over so many comments were submitted.

Piper Fund followed with a grant this spring to support litigation, ensuring that PCJF would be able to take immediate action in the event that the regulations advanced. The Protect Dissent Network, a national coalition led by Piper Fund and Piper Action Fund, also sprung into action during the public comment period, with members contributing substantive comments in opposition to the proposed regulations.

Finally, Proteus Fund determined that even greater philanthropic leadership on this issue was critical. As a result, we developed a sign-on letter to express opposition from the philanthropic sector ([link removed]) . We were able to mobilize 140 funders to sign onto the Proteus letter which noted:
"Peaceful protest is a hallmark of our democracy and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution—that no matter our race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status or political affiliation, all in America have the right to give public voice to our concerns, to weigh in on our government’s actions, and to support the ideals that are close to our hearts. To restrict or burden the public’s First Amendment right to protest in the nation’s capital is to directly undermine a core democratic and essential Constitutional value and a critical vehicle for public participation in our democracy."

This partnership between funders and advocates was what made the difference, by encouraging large scale engagement of impacted communities to insist upon their Constitutional right being protected. We thank all of our donor partners who played a role in this extraordinary collaborative effort to successfully protect this fundamental Constitutional right at a moment when our democracy is facing such existential threats.

It is important to note that this campaign was part of a sustained effort at Piper Fund, which established a program dedicated to protecting the right to protest ([link removed]) in 2017 in the wake of dozens of state laws seeking to criminalize protest. In addition to Piper’s support of organizations in Washington DC, Piper has provided rapid response grants to 16 states and funded at the national level to build needed infrastructure to fight these attacks against democracy. Because of the amazing growth in the need for this funding and related work, we have hired a full-time program officer dedicated solely to supporting efforts to defend the right to protest.
Learn more about the Piper Fund's work to protect the right to protest (mailto:[email protected])
[link removed] Follow Piper Fund on Twitter ([link removed])
Proteus Fund serves as fiscal sponsor to thirteen innovative projects, and is always interested in having conversations about opportunities for new partnerships. Please visit our website to learn more about our approach to fiscal sponsorship ([link removed]) . Below, please find a selection of updates from current fiscally sponsored projects.


** Introducing BRIDGES
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We are glad to introduce the newest fiscally sponsored project at Proteus Fund: BRIDGES, a start-up organization dedicated to exploring innovative tactics to engage diverse audiences, foster strategic thinking, and encourage alignment across movements, geographies, and disciplines.

Active globally and based in Spain, BRIDGES helps human rights and gender justice movements incorporate strategic approaches, work together, and embrace exploration and innovation.

Learn more about BRIDGES ([link removed])


** Thank You and Well Wishes to PAWHR
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We want to think Philanthropy Advancing Women's Human Rights (PAWHR) for five years of partnership as a fiscally sponsored project at Proteus Fund.

Due to an exciting opportunity to co-manage a global consortium, PAWHR will be rapidly scaling over the next few years and will be leaving Proteus Fund. We wish them the best in all future endeavors, and have been proud to play a role in their launch and growth.
Learn more about PAWHR ([link removed])


** Smarter Grantmaking for Grantee Organizations:
A New Resource from T/AI
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Funder grantmaking and learning practices are best when informed by grantee organization needs and experience. Yet, there are many factors that limit or even block this feedback loop.

Transparency & Accountability Initiative (T/AI), one of our fiscally sponsored projects, invites grantseekers to draw inspiration from this guide to seek clarity and advocate for potential needs with current and prospective funders.

Download the Resource ([link removed])


** JustFund: Transforming Philanthropy
through Technology
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JustFund is a platform that allows funders to leverage their decisions and move resources more quickly to the field, while facilitating greater trust, transparency, and accountability across networks and between funders and organizers.

Click below to read founder Iara Peng's piece in GivingCompass from earlier this year.
Read the Piece ([link removed])


** ReFrame: Creating an Ecosystem for Narrative Power
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ReFrame creates the infrastructure to contend for narrative power by building the next generation of strategic communicators. It realizes this vision through two distinct yet intertwined strategies: Field Building and Narrative Interventions.

Click below to read a Medium piece introducing their model, its historic precedents, and their vision for the potential of expanding the public notion of what's possible.

Read the Piece ([link removed])


** What is Practice-Based Knowledge?
From Prevention Collaborative
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This video by the Prevention Collaborative sets out why they believe that practitioner learning and everyday experiences in designing and implementing programmes form an important body of “practice-based knowledge” with significant potential to improve programming—ensuring programmes and approaches are adapted and optimised for the specific context and respond to the needs and realities of those they are intended to benefit.
Watch the Video ([link removed])

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