Giving Compass' Take:

• Mary Hooks, co-director of Southerners on New Ground and a leader of the National Bail Out, discusses visionary organizing and how funders can support movements. 

• Are you ready to act to support grassroots movements? 

• Read about funding bold leaders to make an impact. 

Tell us more about visionary organizing. How do you think it’s different than traditional organizing or policy advocacy? Are the outcomes different? 

Visionary organizing has more to do with creating the space inside of organizations to be willing to take risk than having a grand vision of the future.  It’s about being able to see possibilities where it looks bleak and taking collective risk to make the impossible, possible.   What is different is what it does to our hearts and minds.  It opens up more space to be collectively vulnerable, to experiment, and to hope.  When we engage in that type of organizing, we may not get the policies, but our lives will never be the same.

What should funders be doing to support the growth of organizations and movements right now? 

Listening and taking action.  Over the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity and responsibility to navigate spaces where funders are convened.   There are at a minimum three basic things that I have heard over and over again:

  • Provide General operating support and grants
  • Reduce the amount of time necessary to apply for and report on grants
  • Reparations

Read the full article about visionary organizing by Mary Hooks at Funders for Justice.