How to Make an Impact on Criminal Justice Reform

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Chloe Cockburn: How to Make an Impact on Criminal Justice Reform Giving Compass

Giving Compass’ Take:

• This post from the Open Philanthropy Project explores several opportunities for donors, including a Bronx nonprofit that connects people to legal advice 24/7 and a New Orleans court watching program.

• How might these organizations empower those impacted by the criminal justice system? What are the biggest challenges in this particular area that are of greatest concern?

• Another donation outlet to consider: The Unlocked Futures Fund.

Good Call

What is it? Good Call is a nonprofit that runs a free 24/7 arrest hotline in the Bronx, allowing anyone to connect with a free lawyer right away if they or a loved one are arrested. There are over 14 million arrests in the US every year, concentrated in low-income communities. Good Call’s service helps prevent costly, unnecessary pretrial jail time by ensuring that people who are arrested and their families get legal advice as quickly as possible.

Why I suggest it: Spending even one night in jail can have significant detrimental effects — making it more likely that a person will plead guilty, and putting their housing, employment, parental status, and other key components of their lives in jeopardy.

Court Watch Nola

What is it: Court Watch Nola (CWN) is a New Orleans based court watching program that engages 100-200 volunteers on an annual basis (having trained over 1000 over the past 10 years) to witness court proceedings and take detailed notes on what they observe. CWN compiles data from these notes into reports issued regularly. In 2017, information gathered by CWN contributed to substantially increased scrutiny of the New Orleans District Attorney, Leon Cannizzaro, who was found to be issuing fake subpoenas and jailing sexual assault victims for refusing to testify.

Why support it: CWN believes, and I agree, that systemic change comes if directly-impacted people and the community at large are actively engaged in the process of legal education, direct observation and data collection. Court monitoring, observation and the collection of data can empower the people most affected by the criminal justice system to ultimately lead movements to improve the policies that affect their lives.

Read the full article on criminal justice reform by Chole Cockburn at Open Philanthropy Project.

Impact Philanthropy is a complex topic, and others found these selections from the Impact Giving archive from Giving Compass to be good resources.

This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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How to Put Your Money Where Your Feminism Is

Giving Compass' Take: • This Forbes post examines the difficulties many women-led venture capital funds have raising money and urges impact investors to pay more attention to them. • Want to see more gender equity? Consider the framework detailed here (via the Center of High Impact Philanthropy) for your portfolio: health, education, economic empowerment, personal safety and legal rights. • Learn more about investing in girls and women from Maverick Collective Co-founder Kate Roberts. While others may run from a problem, innovators approach it like what it is: an opportunity. Some problems may be so big and systemic that one innovator can’t fix them alone. These problems need an entire ecosystem built to address them... and money is a powerful tool for eliminating inequity. The Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP), a collaboration between the School of Social Policy & Practice and alumni of the Wharton School, developed A Comprehensive Framework for Improving the Lives of Women & Girls around five dimensions: health, education, economic empowerment, personal safety and legal rights. Donors can use this framework to understand how they can influence the outcomes they seek to achieve. A cross between philanthropy and angel investing is SheEO. Neither philanthropic or investment but worth mentioning are Kiva and Capital Sisters International. Funders provide money to women entrepreneurs and get their money back but without earning interest. People and institutions can use their investment portfolios not just to make a return on their investment but for social impact. While women are currently twice as likely as men to own impact investments (18% compared to 10% respectively), more than half of both men and women have an interest in social impact, according to 2017 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth. Among these social impact investments are opportunities to invest, using a gender lens, in public stocks and fixed income securities, such as bonds, and private equity and debt that align with your values and fit every portfolio size. Read the full article about investing in organizations promoting gender equality by Geri Stengel at Forbes.

Looking for a way to get involved?

A good way to complement your interest in Crime and Safety is to connect with others. Check out these events, galas, conferences or volunteering opportunities related to Crime and Safety.

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Are you ready to give?

If you are interested in Crime and Safety, please see these relevant Issue Funds, Charitable Organizations or Projects where you can get involved.