Philanthropy and Social Movements

By Students from Harvard Kennedy School

On Philanthropy and Social Movements, we examine the history and future of philanthropy’s relationship with radical social movements. We meet the funders and activists interrogating power, transformin... more

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FAQs about Philanthropy and Social Movements:

How many episodes does Philanthropy and Social Movements have?

The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.

Philanthropy and Social Movements episodes:

June 10, 2020 Episode 10: Funding Indigenous Resistance
Indigenous organizers are at the forefront of revolutionary movements for sovereignty, environmental justice and land rights, movements that confront our largely ignored history of Native genocide and broken treaty promises. Yet, foundations, many who claim to support marginalized and underrepresented communities, spend just 0.4% of their annual funding on Native communities. Native causes are overlooked and underfunded by philanthropy.
In this podcast, we hear from Indigenous organizer and tribal attorney, Tara Houska, and two social justice funders, Edgar Villanueva and Jason Franklin. We explore the tensions that arise when Indigenous activists seek grants to support their radical work and encounter funders that are hesitant to fund direct action, largely uneducated about Indigenous history, disconnected from struggles at the frontline, and financially linked to the industries that profit on the devastation of Native lands.
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45min
June 09, 2020Episode 9: Individual Scholarships
About This Episode
What happens when social movement activists receive leadership fellowships? In this podcast, three Harvard Kennedy School graduate fellows discuss philanthropic scholarships and fellowships given to “change agents.” They review the major foundations who are funding fellowships, examine the history of how this type of giving came about, think aloud some critiques and alternatives, then chat about their personal connections to this topic.
Hosts
Becky Mer
is a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Master in Public Policy candidate at Harvard Kennedy School, and she has previously worked in criminal justice reform in the United States and abroad.
Inayat Sabhikhi
is a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Master in Public Administration candidate at Harvard Kennedy School. She is associated with the Right to Information and Right to Food movements in India. Talk to her about gully rap and Zadie Smith.
Samer Hjouj
is a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Master in Public Policy candidate at Harvard Kennedy School, and he has previously worked in education in Palestine.

Learn More
Videos
- Rockefeller Fellowship on Social Innovation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t6JyGoDnzQ
- Open Society Foundation for South Africa Commemorative Scholarship and Fellowship Awards 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyTHhShfjA
- Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=43&v=qqH3Cib-Y5Q&feature=emb_logo
- 2019 Obama Foundation Fellows:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxPYxQ0KNkY
- Emerson Collective Dial Fellows:
- https://www.emersoncollective.com/organizations/emerson-collective-dial-fellowship/
- Harvard Lecture by Condoleeza Rice:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLYCE4NU9Hw
- Professor Randall Westbrook on W.E.B. Du Bois’ Talented Tenth:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wollGiMRCIE
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnACmH2ueSU
Books
- Capitalism: A Ghost Story by Arundhati Roy (2014)
- International Scholarships in Higher Education: Pathways to Social Change edited by Joan Dassin, Robin Marsh, and Matt Mawer (2017)
- The Lucky Few and the Worthy Many: Scholarship Competitions and the World’s Future Leaders edited by Warren F. Ilchman, Alice S. Ilchman, and Mary H. Tolar (2004)
- The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (2007)
- Top Down: The Ford Foundation, Black Power, and the Reinvention of Racial Liberalism by Karen Ferguson (2013)
Articles
- Beilke, Jayne R. (1997) “The Changing Emphasis...
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20min
June 08, 2020 Episode 8: Tech Philanthropy
About This Episode
Lowell, MA; Hershey, PA, and… the Bay Area? Company towns don’t look like they used to, and tech hot spots are the company towns for today’s digital age. Heavyweights in philanthropy look a little different these days, too: tech phenoms unafraid of risk and hungry to problem solve, at times to a fault. Taking a historical lens to American company towns, we consider whether tech philanthropists can adopt and scale the blueprint a foundation used to innovatively revitalize a rural company town. From urban housing shortages to COVID-19, philanthropy’s human stakes have never been higher. In this podcast, we examine how the tech industry can get better at doing good.
Hosts
Amaya Bravo-France, MUP2020
is an urban planner focusing on housing and neighborhood development, and has worked on environmental and housing issues at nonprofit organizations in California.
Evita Chavez, MUP2 2020
comes to Harvard after working as a Legislative Assistant in the California State Senate, where she staffed the state’s groundbreaking accessory dwelling unit law in 2016 and advised on various housing legislation for Senator Bob Wieckowski.
Sophie Dover, MPA 2020
split her early career between both U.S. coasts in roles which spanned technology, communications, government, and the arts. She is a concurrent Dartmouth MBA.
John Joanino, MPP 2021
began his career in tech philanthropy managing charitable crowdfunding partnerships with celebrities at Omaze.com and most recently led digital communications at a racial equity policy advocacy organization in Los Angeles, California.

Learn More
America’s Company Towns-Smithsonian Magazine
Blue Sky Center (New Cuyama, CA)
Partnership for the Bay’s Future (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
PICO California

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28min
June 07, 2020 Episode 7: Untying Knots
Hundreds of years of racist federal and institutional policies have denied wealth to Black, Indigenous and communities of color. Two organizations in Boston are shifting the narrative around local funding and reimagining equitable community-driven change. In this episode of Untying Knots, we look at the ongoing process to transform financial inequity through anti racist funding. We speak with key leaders at the Boston Ujima Project and Haymarket People’s Fund to grasp how they envision and work to sustain internal and external accountable social change.
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41min
June 06, 2020Episode 6: Giving Black
About This Episode
Our guest, Dr. Irvin Leon Scott is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Scott served as the deputy director for K-12 education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he led the investment of $300 million in initiatives focused on transforming recruitment and development of teachers.
Scott, an experienced educator takes us through his 20+ year journey as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, chief academic officer and deputy director at the Gates Foundation.
HostsHassan Brown
is a Doctor of Education Leadership Candidate at Harvard Graduate School of Education
Jamaji Nwanaji-Enwerem, PhD
is an MD/MPP candidate at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Onyema Nwanaji-Enwerem
is an MD/ MPP candidate at Duke University School of Medicine and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Learn More
LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. SCOTT:
- https://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/irvin-scott
- https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/16/08/new-faculty-spotlight-irvin-scott
FOR MORE STORIES ON BLACK GIVING:
- https://cep.org/african-american-foundation-ceos-a-look-at-the-leadership-of-the-largest-foundations/
- http://abfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ABFE-The-Exit-Interview.pdf
- https://ssir.org/articles/entry/hacking_the_bias_in_big_bets
- https://www.buildingmovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ED.CEO_Race_to_Lead_Brief_.pdf
- https://www.philanthropy.com/interactives/20190709_LeadersOfColor
- https://theconversation.com/400-years-of-black-giving-from-the-days-of-slavery-to-the-2019-morehouse-graduation-121402
- http://www.philanthropic-giving.com/profiles/oprah-winfrey/
- https://ipromise.school/#slide-1
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2018/07/30/lebron-james-promise-school-akron-ohio/862159002/
- https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rihanna-jay-z-donate-to-covid-19-relief-975676/
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30min
June 05, 2020 Episode 5: Finding the Third Way
In late 2017, Mississippi’s capital school district, Jackson Public Schools (JPS), was at risk of being taken over by the state. As the second largest school district in the state, the prospect of JPS being absorbed into the state’s Achievement School District was concerning for the community, City, and State, especially considering Jackson’s fraught racial history with education. All sides sought alternatives, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation helped to find a third way, by advocating for and allocating $3 million to form the Better Together Commission (BTC) – a community centric approach to school improvement. This podcast examines how JPS was almost taken over, what that meant in the context of JPS’s past, and highlights the role of the community, W.K. Kellogg and the other stakeholders in the BTC.
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34min
June 04, 2020 Episode 4: Shelter In Power
The COVID-19 public health crisis has revealed and exacerbated massive vulnerabilities and inequalities in the United States. In the absence of federal leadership, local communities across the country are developing their own responses and fighting back against xenophobia and racist violence. How do communities build power for the post-pandemic future?
Andrew Fan and Sydney Fang explore how Bay Area-based Asian American organizations have been nimble and responsive to the emergent needs of vulnerable Asian Americans during this time through mutual aid and policy advocacy strategies that promote solidarity against forms of white supremacist violence, including worker exploitation, evictions, and discrimination against people with disabilities.
Guests:
Alvina Wong
Organizing and Campaigns Director at Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
Ken Wang
Policy and Compliance Counsel at Chinese Progressive Association (CPA)
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36min
June 03, 2020 Episode 3: Faint of He(Art)
A podcast about the role of arts and philanthropy in moments of crisis. Together with community artists, scholars, and funders we consider key questions: what value does society place on the arts during crises, and how does this shape philanthropic responses? What lessons about resilience, funding, and survival does the arts community teach the philanthropic sector, and us all, as we imagine and create “new normals” post COVID-19?
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27min
June 02, 2020 Episode 2: Philanthropy and Black Maternal Mortality
Our podcast discusses the role of philanthropy in responding to black maternal and infant mortality. We interviewed Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, Founder and President of the National Birth Equity Collaborative. In the interview, we discuss what motivated her to start an organization dedicated to addressing this challenge, whether or not philanthropy can close this gap, and the importance of imagination for creating a just world. At the end of the podcast, Dr. Joia gives us her thoughts on philanthropy in the age COVID-19. To learn more about Dr. Joia Crear-Perry and the National Birth Equity Collaborative, visit birthequity.org.
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25min
June 01, 2020 Episode 1: Radical Redistribution
In 2018, Americans gave away $428 billion dollars, with 30% of it coming from the top half of the 1% of earners. More than $142 billion went to causes dictated by only a small number of Americans–a power that some consider undemocratic in a democracy. Now, envision a world with philanthropy that is structured radically differently – or perhaps doesn’t exist at all. The question stands: how can we disrupt hierarchies that currently exist and who is already doing so? What successful practices can we lift up? Where should the field of philanthropy go from here?
In this podcast, we explore these questions with Gara LaMarche, President of the Democracy Alliance and long-time advisor to and critic of traditional philanthropy, and Holly Fetter, a member of Resource Generation, an organization of young people with access to wealth who are pushing for those with wealth and class privilege to be more accountable to communities experiencing oppression and inequality.
This podcast was brought to you by Liz Weingartner, Karl Kumodzi, Sophie Dover, and Barbara Bush.
The music was created by Charles Copley.
An enormous thank you to Gara LaMarche and Holly Fetter for their participation and to Professor Megan Ming Francis for her thought-provoking scholarship and class.
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37min

FAQs about Philanthropy and Social Movements:

How many episodes does Philanthropy and Social Movements have?

The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.