Criminal justice reform is an area of philanthropy that has expanded dynamically during the past several years, attracting a wide range of donors funding several approaches. As Inside Philanthropy has reported, bail reform, policing reform and alternatives to incarceration are some of the notable strategies that have attracted a good deal of funder attention lately. There is another area, too, that’s important but flies somewhat under the radar: funding for leadership development among the formerly incarcerated, their families and others affected by mass incarceration.

Looking at decades past, the field of justice reform philanthropy has tended to center the ideas and solutions of attorneys and white professionals rather than people historically impacted and targeted by the legal system. But that has begun to shift as organizations that prioritize the strategies and perspectives of formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones — including the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted Peoples and Families Movement, Essie Justice Group, and Voice of the Experienced — have received attention from national funders such as Ford Foundation, Open Philanthropy and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

One of the newer justice reform funders recognizing the value of constituent leadership is Galaxy Gives, the philanthropic vehicle of former hedge funder and now cryptocurrency investor Mike Novogratz and his spouse Sukey. Galaxy Gives formed in 2017, and criminal justice reform has been its biggest spending bucket. To date, it’s given $100 million in grants, with about half going to justice reform organizations, and the rest allocated to sports-based youth development, leadership, democracy, and healing.

As Inside Philanthropy has previously noted, Galaxy Gives has earned a reputation for betting on bold, successful justice reform projects such as The Bail Project, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and the REFORM Alliance. One of Galaxy’s own initiatives is the Galaxy Leaders Fellowship, which provides a one-time, unrestricted award of $150,000 to an annual cohort of 10 fellows.

Read the full article about Galaxy Gives by Katharine Don at Medium.