Dear Friend, Greetings! My name is Maggie, and I am the new Managing Director of Donor Engagement at Grassroots International. My job is to build a strong and engaged base of individual donors, and to support our donors as they deepen their knowledge about and solidarity with frontline grassroots social movements. As you know, Grassroots International has been supporting grassroots social movements in the Global South for almost four decades. At this moment our work is even more critical than ever. The pandemic has exacerbated long-standing inequalities and, in doing so, more deeply exposed the roots of inequality in our societies. Additionally, the escalating climate crisis has resulted in a series of ecological disasters around the globe, growing in frequency and intensity. In many ways, it feels like we are at a breaking point. The grassroots movements in the Global South that Grassroots International supports have been advancing, for decades now, the kinds of solutions we all desperately need to the problems of our day. They have been: - Serving as first responders to pandemic-related crises, including building community wellbeing by sharing Indigenous wisdom about traditional healing practices;
- Asserting their right to and reclaiming the ancestral lands with which they have a sacred relationship, reminding all of us of our interconnectedness with the Earth;
- Developing cooperative economies and sustainable food production systems rooted in peasant agroecology, while advancing a vision for local food sovereignty;
- Working at the frontlines of struggles against all forms of physical and systemic violence against women and gender non-conforming people; and
- Building alignment and energy around political visions rooted in joy, solidarity, and love.
It is time for us all to pay heed to this great work. The solutions we need at this moment - a moment that has been described as a “Great Turning” - are already in front of us, being articulated and created by grassroots social movements. We only need to recognize their leadership, and join them as co-creators of the conditions for our collective liberation. We also need to support these movements with the financial resources we are fortunate to have access to; to move money, boldly and without reserve, to the frontlines of struggles for justice. Today, Grassroots International is raising money for our annual fund, and I’d like to ask you for your support. This is a critical component of our annual fundraising strategy. Our goal is to raise $100,000 through this campaign. Will you support us by making a donation today? One of our long-time donors, Micky McKinley, describes why she gives to Grassroots International: “I support Grassroots International because it is a perfect example of the value of a "re-granting" organization. While I want to support grassroots groups outside of the US, I would have no way to connect with them without Grassroots International. I have had the opportunity to be on delegations to meet the partners with Grassroots International staff and so I know first hand how respectfully they work with the groups we met. I love that they make long-term relationships with the groups they fund. So I'm making a long-term relationship with Grassroots International!“ The funds we raise through this online fundraising campaign will support Grassroots International in achieving our five strategic priorities: - Grantmaking: We are currently supporting grassroots social movements in Mesoamerica, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Haiti, Palestine, West Africa, the United States, and at the global level. We partner with movement organizations in these areas in long-term relationships based on trust and solidarity.
- Advancing Solidarity Philanthropy. We are seeking to excite other institutional funders as well as individual donors about Solidarity Philanthropy - our radical approach to giving that seeks to disrupt the power imbalances prevalent in traditional philanthropy.
- Social Action and Movement-Building. With guidance from our partners about how we can best be a political ally to them, we take political action here in the United States to address the policies that are reinforcing systems of oppression.
- Promoting Grassroots Knowledge and Analysis: We seek to counter hegemonic media narratives, which often dismiss or invisibilize the worldviews of people most negatively impacted by systems of oppression, by uplifting and centering perspectives and political analyses of our movement partners.
- Organizational Health and Wellbeing. We seek to create an organizational culture at Grassroots International that reflects our most deeply held political values, and that centers wellness of body, mind, and spirit, as well as collective community building.
If the work described here resonates with you, and you would like to support it, I have two suggestions of ways you could contribute to Grassroots International at this time: - MAKE AN ONLINE DONATION: Make an online donation today using your credit card. If you feel moved to do so, we especially encourage you to make a recurring monthly or quarterly donation to Grassroots International.
- MAKE A BEQUEST: Grassroots International is excited to have partnered with FreeWill, a public-benefit corporation that gives people the opportunity to make a free will, and to designate organizations they care about to be beneficiaries in the will. We encourage you to visit their site to make your free will, and to designate Grassroots International to be one of the causes you want to support.
We hope you will join Micky McKinley and our other donor partners as we build on our nearly 40-year legacy of standing in solidarity with grassroots social movements. Thank you, in advance, for whatever you are able to give. Warmly, |
