“Federal arts funding in the United States is something of a sore subject: in comparison to other places around the world, creatives in this country function in near-perpetual states of uncertainty, striving endlessly to be afforded the security of a grant or gallery representation,” writes Helen Hlmes in the Observer.

As institutions implement their federal grants, it’s essential that they continue to keep workers in mind. “The ongoing difficulties of the pandemic have laid bare the struggles of American museums to do many things at once,” Holmes continues, “display robust rotating exhibitions, draw consistent audiences, and maintain healthy relationships with their full- and part-time employees.”

Read here.

“Racism is structural; it is upheld and perpetuated by institutions, like foundations, in the ways that they operate,” writes Celia Bottger, program assistant & grants manager, NorthLight Foundation in a blog for Philanthropy New York. “In addition to taking concrete steps to institutionalize racial equity in our policies and practices, we at NorthLight came to recognize that we must engage in a process of decolonization.”

Bottger specifically centers colonization at the root of structural racism and racial injustice, linked to “both the physical invasion of Indigenous peoples and land, as well as the belief that White European culture is superior to Indigenous cultures.” Therefore, in order to dismantle White supremacy in philanthropy, “we must actively decolonize our philanthropic institutions and practices.” Bottger outlines how the NorthLight Foundation approached its own decolonization strategies, beginning with “accept that we do not know and will never fully know the answers to the question: how do we decolonize as a foundation?” and continuing anyway.

“This is what decolonization should look like: a fundamental shift in how we, as a foundation, engage with the concept of ‘philanthropy’ in a way that transcends the flow of money from foundation to grantee,” writes Bottger. “Instead, philanthropy can be used as a tool to shift power to communities that have systematically been disempowered in order to heal generations of trauma and facilitate a liberated future.”

Read the full piece here.

“Using learnings from the Giving Circles,” LUNAR Co-Founders/Directors Yichen Feng and Sabrina Wu write in their recent announcement, “we are building a $20M+ integrated capital fund. Rooted in solidarity, racial justice, and trust, we will deploy patient, flexible, integrated capital to Black and Indigenous-led organizations, businesses, and community developments.”

LUNAR, a vehicle for Asian American solidarity and participation, announced the start of Phase II – Lunar Fund, a solidarity fund for collective liberation between Asian American and Black and Indigenous communities. LUNAR is building infrastructure to launch a $20M, Feng and Wu share, “that will move integrated capital according to the principles of LUNAR’s Giving Circle at scale-community decision-making, reparations framework, and cross-racial solidarity funding.”

Watch the LUNAR update video here and learn more about the inaugural LUNAR Giving Circle here.