Last spring, a group of Black women activists released a report on the escalation of physical, digital and psychological violence against women of color working toward social justice. Their stories speak to a strategy of intimidation being used to silence Black, Brown, Indigenous and other progressive voices by far-right groups, threatening both democracy and the health of our movements.

Beyond the report's findings, it's clear that those engaged in movement work—especially women of color—are experiencing burnout from the stress of having to relentlessly advocate for dignity and rights that should be universal. When we speak with frontline leaders, one of the things we hear most is that they need resources to care for their people in the face of enduring and escalating racism and sexism.

Philanthropic practices that focus on programmatic impact and outcomes often overlook the needs of people doing the work, without whom no impact can be made. In 2020, our nonprofit fund, which focuses on the intersection of climate, racial and gender justice, started a learning journey to understand these issues and identify ways funders can meaningfully address them.

Healing justice and holistic security is a cultural and political framework and set of practices around intergenerational trauma with roots in the U.S. South. It centers on the idea that tending to and preventing trauma and other harms must happen simultaneously with systems change work, rather than waiting until a campaign is over or liberation is won. It also recognizes that care at the individual level is not enough to address systemic harm and that people need tools and practices for care at the collective/community level as well.

Funders don’t need to create or impose something new to support grantees with healing justice and holistic security. Rather, they can find ways to resource and expand access to tools and practices organizations and communities are already using and benefiting from.

  • Shift the idea of what is fundable. 
  • Understand that the work is not always visible. 
  • Support is needed at multiple levels. 
  • Short grant cycles, inconsistent funding and unmet commitments exacerbate stress and increase burnout. 

Read the full article about leaders of color by Melanie Allen at Forbes.