We’re excited to have supported the launch of the California Black Freedom Fund’s LEAD for Racial Justice Initiative alongside other funders and partners. The Legal Education, Advocacy, and Defense (LEAD) for Racial Justice Initiative aims to provide robust and relevant legal education, as well as accessible tools, to nonprofit organizations serving communities of color to help them fully understand the legal landscape and their ability to conduct and invest in vital racial justice work.

In a pair of interviews with Inside Philanthropy and Philanthropy News Digest, our own Cathy Cha discusses the state of collaboration and diversity in the philanthropic sector, our journey to 70 years as a foundation, the key issue areas we’re currently funding, and more.

At the Haas, Jr. Fund, we know that strong, compassionate and capable leaders are key to fulfilling the promise of these and other movements for change. That’s why we are so excited to see how the Fund’s longstanding work to strengthen nonprofit and movement leadership has blossomed to become an independent entity, The LeadersTrust.

Alongside other funders, we launched The LeadersTrust earlier this year—and now this new organization is welcoming its first executive director, Sidney Hargro. Sidney is a nationally known leader with a career-long commitment to advancing racial equity and social justice through smart and innovative philanthropy. He is the right person to move The LeadersTrust into high gear as it sets out to support more people and organizations to deliver on their goals for their communities and the world.

The Racial Equity to Accelerate Change (REACH) Fund awards $1.36 million in its second year of grantmaking. Launched in June 2019 by the Haas, Jr. Fund and other funders, the REACH Fund supports practitioners who are helping nonprofit organizations make racial equity a day-to-day priority in their work and operations.

Along with 11 funding partners, The Haas, Jr. Fund launches the REACH Fund to help make make racial equity a top priority for organizations and movements. The Fund awarded $1.2 million to eight inaugural grantees: organizations and practitioners providing racial equity learning and strategy consultative services to nonprofits.

Resource Leaders, a new fellowship is launched by the Rockwood Leadership Institute and the Haas, Jr. Fund, to support social justice leaders. Participating fellows will get the tools and support they need to see themselves as changemakers in their own right, equipped to mobilize the people and resources that organizations need to transform communities for the better.

Haas, Jr. Fund grantee and partner Fund the People publishes a comprehensive new toolkit for investing in the nonprofit workforce as a way to increase the sector’s impact. Linda Wood, senior director of the Haas Leadership Initiatives states, “This rich new resource is full of information that will help funders, nonprofits and others maximize their investments in talent and leadership.”

The 100-day mark of the Trump administration is a time of reflection for philanthropy and its partners in the work of advancing rights and creating opportunities for immigrants, LGBT people, and other communities. Haas, Jr. Fund Vice President of Programs Cathy Cha joins the dialogue with three colleagues in an article for the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The article follows up on a presentation the group made at a Northern California Grantmakers debate.  

The Fund launches research into key fundraising challenges facing nonprofits. Over the next year it publishes two new reports, Beyond Fundraising and Fundraising Bright Spots, as well as a series of blog posts focused on “learning out loud” about fundraising challenges and solutions in the sector.

The Fund partners with the Rockwood Leadership Institute to launch the Fellowship for a New California, a leadership development program to strengthen California’s immigrant rights movement and connect its leaders.

As a leading philanthropic supporter of executive coaching, the Fund creates a series of short videos that provide firsthand accounts about the impact of coaching in the nonprofit sector.

To combat the movement’s lack of diversity, the Fund helps launch the 21st Century Fellows Program, which provides leadership support to people-of-color managers at LGBT rights organizations.

The Fund introduces the Flexible Leadership Awards to help nonprofits and their leaders become even more effective. The program, which launches the following year, provides long-term leadership support to selected Fund grantees.