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Asset Funders Network (AFN) is the leading national grantmaker membership organization focused on advancing equitable wealth building and economic mobility.
Philanthropy Mobilizing Together for Policy & Systems Change
While companies typically have legislative matters central to their operations, they won’t always be out front on things like this. However, with our support, AFN has the opportunity to step forward and take a leading role. That’s why policy engagement and funding groups like AFN are critical.
Liz Brister
Entergy
Exploring the Roots and Horizons of Our Shared Asset-Building Journey
Private foundations can advocate. You cannot lobby. But there are vast and permissible opportunities that we need to step into as a sector, particularly at the city and county levels. That’s the only way that we’re going to get systemic change.
Qiana Thomason
Health Forward
Centering Community Voice and Power
Tension is good. But the central tension we want to avoid is imposing agendas in a community that believes and attends to needs that it does not ask to be attended to. Invite them to sit at the table with us, and that’s a tension we bring to our funders. Let’s talk, and let’s unlearn together.
Claudia Arroyo
Prospera
Exploring the Roots and Horizons of Our Shared Asset-Building Journey
I believe AFN is the original system change leader — the network has always tried to understand the underlying root causes of economic inequality and adopt the role of bridge builders between different philanthropic fields, sectors, regions, and cultures. As the issues facing our communities become more complex and intersected, we all need to do that more than ever.
Brandee McHale
Citi Foundation
Unlocking Philanthropy’s Disruptive Potential
Just as policies of exclusion often start at the local level, policies of inclusion can be resourced and work their way up to the national level. So I think it is really asking the question, ‘What will you do in local communities for this effort?’
Dr. Andre Perry
Brookings Metro
Philanthropy Mobilizing Together for Policy & Systems Change
I’ve heard many conversations in philanthropy where we pose the question, ‘Should we engage in policy?’ And then it immediately goes to ‘What might happen if we do? Is it too risky? Will we lose our donors, constituents, and customers?’ The question we need to ask is, ‘What will happen if we don’t?’
Mendi Blue Paca
Fairfield County's Community Foundation
Philanthropy Mobilizing Together for Policy & Systems Change
It’s not just about the wins. We love those policy victories, but it’s also about what we leave behind, the infrastructure we build, the leaders we develop, the narratives we change.
John-Michael Cortez
Google Fiber
Unlocking Philanthropy’s Disruptive Potential
The paradox is that we’re fighting for our humanity, which means we will make mistakes. That means that we will cause harm, and we will have to repair it. But for me, that benefits all of us. We all want to live in a world where if we cause harm or harm is caused to us, we are held, and we have the skills to repair. That’s how we build a world where we all belong.
Aria Florant
Liberation Ventures
Centering Community Voice and Power
I know poverty, I know struggle, but I also know resistance. So I know I can say no to funding and be fine. That’s where communities are now. We’re demanding that you sit with us, talk with us, learn our ways and be able to translate them into the world we live in.
Stephanie Gutierrez
Seven Fires
Philanthropy Mobilizing Together for Policy & Systems Change
Be cognizant that there’s likely an advocacy and organizing infrastructure already in your community that has been working at this long before it became du jour. And it’s probably under-resourced. Make your role to understand this ecosystem, resourcing the people already doing the work and then finding the lane where you are uniquely positioned to amplify your voice and influence.
Jessamyn Sabbag
San Francisco Foundation
Unlocking Philanthropy’s Disruptive Potential
When we talk about racial disparities that come from Black people, we don’t often talk about the advantages that came to white people by design. Even though we know it’s uncomfortable, you can’t do meaningful work without leaning into these uncomfortable positions.
Ryan Haygood
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
Centering Community Voice and Power
We invite philanthropy to lean in, slow down, and get proximal with the community. We invite you to play an intentional role in centering and elevating the voice, power, and innovation by walking alongside each other as critical partners, peers, and co-architects in this asset and wealth-building movement.
Tracey Greene-Washington
Indigo Innovation Group and CoThinkk
Imperative of Influencing Change
We need equity-focused data, yet the current climate’s reluctance has led to dwindling interest and funding for these crucial issues. We need next-generation researchers who are building on earlier foundations and have the boldness and bravery to dig into the narratives, numbers, and nuances of both.
Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman
Editor, The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System
AFN’s newest brief Climate Resilience and Economic Security: How Philanthropy Can Drive Inclusive Solutions sheds light on how climate plays a crucial role, influencing our health, financial stability, quality of life, and overall economy. Indeed, the growing impacts of climate change are increasingly jeopardizing household economic security and racial and gender wealth equity.
AFN’s new brief describes how investing in inclusively owned commercial real estate drives multiple outcomes aligned with foundation priorities and missions, such as addressing the racial wealth gap, democratizing ownership, and prioritizing local control of business assets.
AFN’s Members Making Impact: Case Studies for Change & Innovation is a series that spotlights peer-driven investment strategies fueling systemic and policy change across AFN’s eight issue areas. Check back each month for a new spotlight!
