Giving Compass' Take:

• Deepa Iyer shares questions that funders can use to guide their movement-building efforts toward transformational solidarity. 

• How can you shift your thinking and funding toward transformative solidarity? Who could you engage with to improve your solidarity efforts? 

• Read about three steps towards democratizing philanthropy. 

Transactional solidarity is more like being a spectator and a bystander or a mildly interested participant. Transformative solidarity requires us to challenge ourselves rather than stay in comfortable bubbles, to figure out what we are willing to risk, to deepen relationships rather than walk away when they become hard, to commit for the long-term, and to disrupt the status quo.

Our individual steps towards transformative solidarity can contribute to the large-scale mobilizations we see around the world today. Here are prompts you can utilize if you would like to deepen your own solidarity practice:

  1. Do I know enough about the cause/communities I want to support? How can I learn more?
  2. What relationships do I have with those engaged in the cause? How can I deepen these?
  3. What is my point of entry into the cause I’d like to support? What systems of power are being addressed – and what’s my own stake?
  4. Are there ways I can use my privileges to disrupt the status quo or to be in service to those who are leading the cause?
  5. How am I changing in terms of my understanding and orientation to power and to social change?

Read the full article about transformative solidarity by Deepa Iyer at Building Movement Project.