Foundations based in New York City dispensed nearly $10.7 billion in grants in 2014 (the latest year for which statistics are available), according to the Foundation Center. But who cuts the checks and how do they make their decisions?
The 10 leaders of charitable organizations featured here come from wealth, poverty and the middle class. Some went straight into the nonprofit sector after college, and others had earlier careers: teaching, working on Wall Street, in journalism or even—in the case of Edward P. Henry of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation—as a dancer. Some focus on one cause, like poverty, while others try to cover a vast ground.
In 2006, The Nathan Cummings Foundation Jewish Life and Values Program commissioned Visioning Justice and the American Jewish Community — an inquiry into the strategies that would engage Jews, Jewish communities, and Jewish institutions more widely, deeply, and effectively in Jewish social justice.
Through Visioning Justice, we sought to identify trends within the Jewish social justice sector and to understand the interconnected relationships between the organized Jewish community and the secular social change world. Concurrently, we took stock of trends in the external environment, including political and cultural trends that might affect the Jewish social justice field.
Visioning Justice and the American Jewish Community culminates with a set of recommendations designed to leverage the progress that has been achieved and to root this growth in strategic initiatives. Our hope is that, by applying wisdom from a wide range of public sector projects, many more Jews – volunteers, philanthropists, activists, advocates, lay leaders and professionals – will engage in Jewish social justice, to deepen Jewish life and to contribute to social and economic justice, in the United States and around the world.
For more than 20 years, ExxonMobil and other large oil companies have defeated shareholder proposals focusing on climate change. This spring, the trend continued. Not a single climate-focused proposal passed at a major American oil company.
So why…
Dear Colleagues,
We are thrilled to share with you the evolution of the Foundation’s focus, the result of a period of reflection and learning and, significantly, a reconnecting with the work of the last 25 years and what the world calls us to do now.
We are enormously grateful to the many people who shared their time and valuable insights, who pushed us and challenged our assumptions, and who encouraged us to remain bold and forward-thinking as we explored what climate change and inequality mean to us.
We are staying true to our roots and clearer now about how to drive significant change on the most urgent issues of our time. We see the climate crisis from an equity perspective and will push back against the entrenched interests that have left our nation’s infrastructure and communities vulnerable, stalling the energy and economic transformation we need. We want to tap the ingenuity of diverse communities and enlightened leaders to chart a new course for a sustainable future.
We see a historic economic recovery that has exacerbated the divide between the most privileged and those historically left behind because the system is stacked against them, and we know we need to invest in innovative alternatives to the status quo. We hear talk of banning people based on their religion and we know we need a progressive counterweight and a moral voice to fight against that kind of injustice. And we watch the devastating effects of a criminal justice system deeply intertwined with an economic system that has institutionalized racism. We have grieved too many times this year for innocent lives lost and we know that this is a time to come together.
We believe that culture change is necessary for policy change. This is a defining moment. We have lost important witnesses to history like Elie Wiesel and Muhammad Ali, and a new generation of leaders, like those in The Movement for Black Lives, have stepped up to fill those large shoes and urge the world to embrace compassion, lift up our shared humanity and fight hate. The voices of activist artists, particularly from communities of color, are stronger than ever, thanks in part to the legacy of our dear colleague, Claudine Brown, who helped build the field of art and social justice.
Four Areas of Focus
We have honed in on four areas of focus for our programs that together form an integrated framework under which we will continue to build out our strategies, listening and learning along the way. A set of living guidelines will be posted to our website today.
We will accelerate a just transition to a more inclusive clean economy, where communities on the front lines are creating solutions to the climate crisis and where prosperity for all people is not at odds with a healthy environment. We will advance racial and economic justice by unlocking markets that have excluded generations from economic opportunity, reforming systems that criminalize too many and lifting up new models of democratic inclusion. We will use our influence as an investor and grantmaker to increase corporate and political accountability, spurring greater transparency and more democratic systems and structures. We believe in the transformative power of the arts, contemplative practices and religious traditions to change hearts and minds. We seek to amplify voice, creativity and culture to build empathy, nurture compassion and shift narratives to move people to act for social change.
As you can see, the framework reasserts our strengths in NCF’s signature areas, including funding social justice work that is animated by arts and culture and Jewish values and voices, alongside progressive multi-faith communities. We believe, now more than ever, that philanthropy must invest in the voices, creativity and cultural leadership needed to build solidarity around race, class, gender and ethnicity, and confront inequality and the climate crisis. We know that words matter and that explicitly naming racial and economic justice is an important signal to the field.
While our work is primarily concentrated in the United States, we will continue to support efforts addressing inequality in Israel and are looking globally to other areas where we can make a difference. There are many parallels in the U.S. and Israel, and we will look for ways to leverage our learning in our efforts to build an inclusive shared society.
Integrating for Impact
There is deliberate overlap in our focus areas. We intend to focus on work at the intersections where our issues meet. We know that many of our partners don’t fit in one box and we don’t want them to. The leaders we talk to on a daily basis are working and moving through these intersections in a way that is unprecedented, inspiring and long overdue.
For philanthropy to make a difference in today’s world, we must line up our internal structures to meet our external ambitions. Our first move on that front was bringing on Loren Harris in May to help build an integrated team and support the development of strategies that cut across multiple areas. The second move, which we are announcing today, is promoting Laura Campos, our longtime Director of Shareholder Activities, to the new position of Director of Corporate and Political Accountability. In this role, Laura will be responsible for grantmaking and active ownership strategies, leveraging her expertise across all of our focus areas. We are continuing our internship program, which employs people who were formerly incarcerated or who have non-traditional work histories inside our foundation for a year, and more intentionally drawing from their experiences.
Next up, we’re adding to our dedicated team, hiring two additional Program Directors (Director, Inclusive Clean Economy & Director, Voice, Creativity & Culture) and a first-ever Director of Communications. In the fall, we will launch a new call for fellows and continue to integrate their innovative ideas into our work.
We have a long track record of aligning our investments with our values through shareholder activism and, more recently, mission-related investing. In the year ahead, we will explore how we can expand the tools we use to dedicate more of our investment dollars for greater impact. As we are building out strategies in each of the focus areas, we will look for policy and market-based interventions that can create the breakthroughs we need to drive change.
While we have a clear framework to guide us, we are still working out the details that will bring this work to life, and we are excited about bringing new staff on board to help us do that. We look forward to sharing more later this year when we launch our new website. We’ll be reaching out to you, and encourage you to reach out to us, too. As our work continues, we welcome your input and ideas.
At this moment, the values of pursuing justice and repairing the world that have guided our foundation from the start are more needed than ever across the country and around the world. We know that with great privilege comes great responsibility and we will act with the moral urgency required to create a just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society. We are heartened to know that incredible people like you stand with us in this important work.
Ruth K. Cummings
Board Chair
Sharon L. Alpert
President & CEO
Nathan Cummings Foundation
The Nathan Cummings Foundation recently joined other foundations and institutional investors to call on the SEC to update Regulation S-K to improve reporting of material environmental and social risks in issuers’ filings. In addition to sending its own comment letter, the Foundation joined investors with more than a trillion dollars in assets under management in a Ceres-coordinated letter calling upon the SEC to improve reporting of material sustainability risks in corporations’ SEC filings.
The Foundation’s letter may be accessed here.
Dear Grantees and Colleagues,
Today marks the close of my first month as the President of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. I started days after the attacks in Paris and the shooting of five Black Lives Matters demonstrators in Minneapolis. As I sat down at my desk for the first time I was drawn to the window, with a clear view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. These iconic symbols stood in stark contrast to the global refugee crisis, the unthinkable proposals to ban Muslims from America, and the increasing violence across our country rooted in a dangerous rhetoric of hate. As an American Jew and the president of a foundation rooted in Jewish values, I reflected on the U.S. response to Jewish refugees during WWII and our legacy of partnership in the civil rights movement. And out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a small engraved plaque that read: “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.” This is NCF’s motto, a core tenet of the founder and the family, and while I had heard it before, this time it carried with it a new weight and resolve for the courageous work we support.
Just a week earlier, I joined the Nathan Cummings Foundation in celebrating its 25th anniversary. There could be no better way to kick off my time at NCF than to be in a room full of past and present trustees, staff, fellows, grantees and partners who were responsible for so many important milestones in the foundation’s history. Family members across three generations recalled the early days of developing a foundation rooted in the Jewish tradition of social justice, accountable to the public trust and committed to supporting leaders who are curious, bold and humble. James Cummings heralded a new NCF phrase, referring to our grantees as our implementation allies, a term that has already caught on. Allies like Heather McGhee from Demos and Ai-jen Poo from National Domestic Workers Alliance reminded us that NCF has played a unique role as a funder that focuses on changing systems and hearts and minds. Former President Charlie Halpern and Program Director Jennie Rosenn recalled how a strong culture that encourages taking risks and making bets on new ideas gives birth to new institutions and fields that have become critical infrastructure for social change. We were also fortunate to hear from Carlton Turner of Alternate ROOTS and Rabbi Jonah Pesner of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, two visionary leaders who reminded us of the power of arts and culture and religious traditions to embolden communities and call them to action. And one of the highlights of the night was when the current staff wrote and performed a song – which spoke volumes about what a talented and creative team we have here, willing to take risks out in the field and out on stage.
As I said in my talk at the 25th celebration, I believe philanthropy plays a critical role in making change in our society. Our job is to call out injustice when we see it, and back those willing to take it on. We are challengers to the old ways of working, and instigators of imagining new ways. We work best when we are a trusted and credible partner and a connector of people and resources. To make the gigantic leaps we want, we must harness our collective knowledge, networks and influence. You can read my full remarks from the evening here and I’d love to hear from you if it sparks ideas.
And we saw proof that change is possible in Paris during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP21. I had the privilege of experiencing history in the making when I traveled to the COP21 talks with two trustees, Adam Cummings and Ruth Cummings, Maurine Knighton, who leads our program team, and an incredible group of funder colleagues. We saw how our support over the last decade built a much broader constituency – leaders from businesses, government, grassroots, indigenous and faith communities, young people and artists. It was civil society at its best – a movement of people insisting our leaders take this issue seriously and work together to address it. By all accounts, the Paris accord is a huge victory, but there is still much more to do at home and abroad to usher in a more democratic, equitable, new energy economy and make the vision a reality. You can read our reflections from our trip here.
In this last quarter of 2015, the board also approved $7.8 million in grants. This is the result of much hard work on the part of the board and staff to dive deeper into the foundation’s new grantmaking strategy, focused on inequality and climate change. We are investing in the people most impacted by climate change to help lead the transition to a greener, more equitable economy by supporting organizations like the Climate Justice Alliance and Kentuckians For The Commonwealth. And we are investigating what’s at the root of destructive narratives that perpetuate inequality, and how we create effective new frames through grants to Define American, Race Forward and the Pacific School of Religion. Our longtime partners in Israel, New Israel Fund and Shaharit, are also addressing inequality and broadening the base for leadership. We remain committed to deepening the catalytic role that arts and culture plays in social change, exemplified by grants to the Center for Performance and Civic Practice and Junebug Productions.
So, what’s next for the foundation? NCF enters the new year re-energized and with a focus on increasing our impact, using all of NCF’s resources. We are going to be learning and doing and learning by doing. I am committed to spending this year listening to our trustees, our staff, our grantees and partners in the field, while continuing to support bold leaders and organizations that are standing up for our values and our vision of a just society. Together, we will continue to refine our strategies and the ways we do our work.
We are also growing. In the coming months, we’ll hire new program staff to bolster NCF’s expertise and capacity, so we can collaborate more deeply with all of you. We will also share our inequality guidelines in the first quarter, the culmination of an extensive period of learning among our board, staff and thought leaders from the field. It also marks the beginning of a new phase at NCF, of testing our assumptions, refining our ideas and being responsive to the shifts in the world around us and the opportunities revealed in those moments.
I look forward to learning from all of you as we embark on this next chapter at NCF. I hope you will join us in approaching repairing the world with the audacious optimism it requires.
Thank you for the work that all of you do, and may each of you have a joyous and peaceful holiday season.
Warmly,
Sharon Alpert
President & CEO
Nathan Cummings Foundation
Loren Harris, a Philanthropic Leader Devoted to Challenging Racial, Gender and Economic Inequality, Joins Nathan Cummings Foundation
The Nathan Cummings Foundation today announced that Loren S. Harris, a philanthropic leader with more than 20 years experience challenging structural barriers to equality and creating economic opportunity and social inclusion, will join the Foundation as Vice President of Programs. Harris, who will begin work on May 18, will report to the Foundation’s President and CEO, Sharon Alpert.
“Loren is a visionary thinker who brings a strong racial and gender equity lens to inequality issues. He was responsible for the earliest efforts to bring philanthropy together to reframe the narrative for young men of color and to invest in innovative asset building strategies,” Alpert said. “He is deeply thoughtful, humble, and entrepreneurial, and is a great partner to colleagues and grantees. His expertise in the field, collaborative style, and passion for working across issues makes him a great fit for this position and our team.”
As Vice President of Programs, Harris will support the development of integrated program strategies, and manage a team of program directors and officers to support NCF’s efforts to address inequality and climate change.
Located in New York City, the Nathan Cummings Foundation is a national grantmaking organization that has made $425 million in grants over the past 25 years. The Foundation is rooted in the Jewish tradition, and is committed to social justice and democratic values, including fairness, diversity and community. It seeks to build a just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society. NCF’s programs are aimed at addressing inequality and climate change, with approaches focused on arts and culture, constituency building, disruptive ideas, religious traditions and contemplative practices. NCF also supports a fellowship program that annually grants three visionaries $100,000 each to turn an inspired idea in the field of social or economic justice into a game-changing reality.
Harris is currently the Director of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich. Serving in this capacity since 2014, Harris manages a $25 million a year grantmaking portfolio that focuses on advancing the economic security of low-income children and families across the country by increasing employment, earnings, savings and asset ownership.
Harris has dedicated his career to empowering under-resourced communities through poverty reduction, workforce development, youth development, and related matters. He began his career as the program director of the Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center in East Harlem, where he saw firsthand the toll the absence of work has on individuals, households, and entire communities. It was here that Harris says he also witnessed the structural impediments that too often push young men from communities of color into incarceration.
Addressing structural challenges to equity and justice became the motivating factors driving Harris’s career. He founded and operated KIREN Legacy Enterprises, a social enterprise focused on improving the impact of institutional and individual philanthropy. Harris also served as a program officer granting more than $30 million for the Ford Foundation’s Asset Building and Community Development Program, and an associate program officer for the CS Mott Foundation’s Pathways Out of Poverty Program. He also leveraged philanthropic capital for a fund to advance young women’s economic empowerment, and reproductive health and rights.
Among several professional affiliations, Harris sits on the board of directors of the Levitt Foundation, a New York City-focused foundation interested in food justice as it relates to children and youth. He has a personal passion for environmental issues and creating jobs that can simultaneously address inequality and advance the sustainability of our planet.
“The opportunity to join the Nathan Cummings Foundation deeply resonates with me on a personal level. It is a smaller, family foundation with a national reputation for punching above its weight. I see my own path reflected in NCF,” Harris said. “I come from humble people of modest means and have worked hard to honor my family by achieving beyond my background. So I feel aligned with the foundation, both personally and professionally, and I feel a tremendous sense of allegiance with it.”
Harris is also eager to help NCF deepen its work on impact investing, noting, “We can change the odds for people who have been left out of the economic recovery and paint for folks a more hopeful picture of how to engage in our economy and our democracy.”
Harris earned a master’s degree in public administration from Farleigh Dickinson University and a bachelor’s degree in American history from the City University of New York, Queens College. He is currently on his way toward earning a master’s of business administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
On Thursday, April 14th, Philanthropy New York will host a panel discussion exploring active ownership and divestment. The Nathan Cummings Foundation’s experience with active ownership strategies will feature in the panel discussion. The program will be live-streamed. More details can be found here.
Bonuses at many energy companies based on higher oil production, reserves; shareholders seek change
“The Nathan Cummings Foundation…has asked Chesapeake to eliminate reserve growth from its pay calculations.”
We are thrilled to announce the #PopJustice report series, which illuminates the promise and potential of popular culture to achieve social change. The #PopJustice series was produced by Liz Manne Strategy, with funding from Unbound Philanthropy and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. The Executive Brief provides an overview of = the six-volume report series.
#PopJustice is intended for funders, advocates, and entertainment industry professionals interested in the promise and potential of popular culture as an agent of change. It helps us define and understand pop culture, and answer the question of how philanthropy can be involved in supporting work at the intersection of pop culture and social justice.
The full report is available at PopJustice.org, and below.
NCF has always believed in the power of arts and culture to engender empathy, and catalyze and advance social change. As we tried to figure out how to expand the reach and impact of arts and social justice work, we began considering pop culture as a potential narrative and culture change strategy.
Over the past five years, our exploration of pop culture has been greatly informed by the work of our grantee partners, including Active Voice, ColorOfChange , Define American, Firelight Media, Global Media Center for Social Impact, Let's Breakthrough, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Opportunity Agenda, and Revolutions Per Minute. We also found incredible learning partners among our board members, and among our network of NCF Fellows – Bridgit Antoinette Evans (2015 cohort) and Andrew Slack (2013 cohort) both created successful models for integrating pop culture and movement building, which are featured as case studies in #PopJustice.
Convinced that there was a place for pop culture in social change work, NCF wanted to better understand the role philanthropy could play in advancing this intersection. In 2015, we partnered with Unbound Philanthropy to co-fund the #PopJustice report series. The research provides a deep and cogent understanding of the pop culture landscape, and elevates case studies of successful interventions. The series also identifies opportunities for future philanthropic investments that can harness and influence pop culture, with the goal of improving public opinion and behavior toward migrants, people of color, and other strategic constituencies.
On March 21, NCF, Unbound Philanthropy, and the Ford Foundation co-hosted a learning exchange in New York that brought together more than 70 funders, culture change creators, and strategists for the launch of the #PopJustice report series and a conversation about the promise of pop culture in advancing social justice goals. The report has also catalyzed thinking about a new big idea: creating a pooled fund dedicated to supporting work at the intersection of pop culture and social change.
NCF believes that culture change is critical to policy change, and that artists are central to shaping culture. We’re excited about pop culture as a promising strategy for shifting culture and dominant narratives towards improving perceptions, attitudes, and ultimately conditions for people of color, women, and low-income communities.
NCF, Unbound, and Ford will continue to engage in learning exchanges with diverse stakeholders, and to develop the idea for a collaborative fund. We look forward to continuing this exciting exploration.
Volume 1: Social Justice and the Promise of Pop Culture Strategies
Volume 3: Pop Culture, Perceptions, and Social Change
Volume 4: Understanding the Entertainment Industry
Volume 5: Creative Voices and Professional Perspectives
Volume 6: Economic Data and Foundation Grantmaking
The #PopJustice series of reports were written by Liz Manne, Joseph Phelan, Thelma Adams, Michael Ahn, Rachel D. Godsil, Jessica MacFarlane, Mik Moore, Meredith Osborne, Brian Sheppard, and Michael Simkovic. Graphic design by Luz Ortiz. Revolutions Per Minute served as the project’s fiscal sponsor. Cover Images for Volumes 1 – 6: 'POC TV Takeover’ (c) 2015 Julio Salgado. The #PopJustice reports are © 2016 Liz Manne Strategy Ltd. All rights reserved.
March 14, 2016
Following the submission of a shareholder proposal by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Duke Energy has agreed to expand its sustainability report to include a discussion of its plans for responding to the potential challenges posed by slower load growth and increases in distributed generation. Duke will also include links to information on various scenarios used in its planning process, including variations in carbon costs and the adoption of energy efficiency measures.
Long-term investors are interested in this information because of the growing recognition that solar power and energy storage technologies could be disruptive to utilities like Duke. Utilities that are proactive will limit their downside exposure to disruptive technologies and may even stand to benefit from changes in the industry. Those that aren’t may be left behind. Navigant Research, for instance, recently warned that, “Energy providers that fail to adapt to new technologies may find their customer base migrating to alternative solutions.”
As You Sow, Pax World Management LLC, and Praxis Mutual Funds joined the Foundation in filing the proposal. The proponents of the proposal view the commitments as a step in the right direction for Duke. Though questions remain about the Company’s construction of long-lived natural gas plants in the post-COP 21 era, the expanded reporting should help investors and other concerned stakeholders to get a better handle on the company’s plans for addressing the risks and opportunities its business faces as a result of climate change.
“As long-term investors, we appreciate Duke Energy’s willingness to spend time speaking with us about the issues raised in our proposal. Our conversations with the Company were really constructive and resulted in a positive step forward for which Duke Energy should be congratulated,” said Laura Campos, director of shareholder activities at the Nathan Cummings Foundation. “We’re looking forward to continuing our conversation with the Company once the new reporting is released.”
On the heels of a historic global climate agreement in Paris, investors have filed a record number of shareholder resolutions this year with major U.S. energy companies asking them to disclose their strategies for competing in a global economy that is shifting towards clean energy and away from fossil fuels.
The resolutions seek clarity on fossil fuel companies’ plans to evolve post-Paris, and include requests that companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, AES Corp. and Southern Co. ‘stress test’ their business plans against the accord’s goal to reduce carbon pollution in order to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius.
On February 29, 2016, the Nathan Cummings Foundation joined more than 40 other members of the Executives’ Alliance for Boys and Men of Color in the “Ban the Box Philanthropy Challenge,” a pledge to adopt fair chance hiring practices. The Foundation does not ask questions about any criminal records on our application forms for potential employees, and does not otherwise require this information as part of our standard hiring practices.
In addition to NCF’s internal hiring policies, the Foundation operates the Annette Ensley Ladder of Opportunity Internship Program. Founded in 2004, this program was established to provide meaningful employment and advancement opportunities to college-age, low-income individuals and students of color, and has since become a model program other foundations have begun to emulate.
In 2013, the program was expanded to include two, year-long slots for formerly incarcerated young people. These part-time internships provide substantive work experience that results in solid skills training and improved job opportunities. NCF works with the Center for Employment Opportunity, Columbia University’s Center for Justice, Greenhope Services for Women, and other New York City-based organizations whose mission is to assist formerly incarcerated people to obtain employment. So far, this program has been an overwhelming success. NCF has also hired from its interns for full-time positions.
Ensuring that all job applicants are evaluated on their skills and qualifications, and not judged solely on past mistakes is a significant step toward an economy with more fair income distribution and greater opportunity for all.
Addressing inequality is one of NCF’s major priorities, and we believe fair hiring practices – not only through the work of our grantees, but also through our own institutional practices – is an important step in that work. Our hope is that raising awareness and modeling this approach will help eliminate systemic and structural barriers to opportunity, especially for people of color who are disproportionately impacted by mass incarceration.
To learn more, visit www.bantheboxphilanthropy.org.