A national network of funders supporting strategic, innovative, and effective solutions to homelessness

Census 2020 Resources

Census_2020_Resources.png

An accurate census count is essential to our efforts to prevent and end homelessness. The numbers from the 2020 Census will be used to determine funding and service levels for the next ten years. We know that along with individuals experiencing homelessness, racial minorities, immigrants, young people, and people in poverty are historically hard to count. The 2020 Census is already facing new challenges including budget constraints, online response, and scaled back door-to-door outreach and canvassing.

As a field, the homelessness sector has experience and expertise counting these individuals. As funders, we can support our grantees to help ensure a fair and accurate count. Additionally, funders across the country are coming together to support local planning, inform policy makers, and to educate nonprofits.

The links below are a culmination of resources provided by our partners and members. If you are interested in having additional conversations on how the 2020 Census will specifically impact our efforts, please reach out to Lauren Bennett at [email protected].

 

Upcoming Learning Opportunities

Visit our Programming Page to see upcoming learning opportunities, including co-sponsored webinars!

 

From Funders Together

Taking a Stand on the 2020 Census

Funders Together to End Homelessness, along with nearly thirty other philanthropy serving organizations (PSOs) and funders, contributed to an amicus curiae brief to contest the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The brief, submitted to the Supreme Court, provides concrete examples of how philanthropy relies on census data to support their missions, and, in turn, why the citizenship question is detrimental to efforts to effectively serve and invest in their communities. 

Webinar Recording: Philanthropy & the 2020 Census: What a Fair and Accurate Count Means for Ending Homelessness

In this webinar, we explored where current Census operations are, why philanthropy investing in housing and homelessness programs should care about the count, what some of the concerns and barriers are to counting people experiencing homelessness, and how funders can be an integral part in fair and accurate Census efforts in their community. We also heard from the Polk Bros. Foundation in Chicago on its role in the Illinois Count Me In 2020 campaign, how it supports efforts outside of funding, and the importance of bringing in funders from other sectors through mindful collaboration and coordination.

General Information

United State Census Bureau

 

From Our Partners

United Philanthropy Forum

Funders' Committee for Civic Participation

The Leadership Conference Education Fund

Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality

Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees

Brennan Center for Justice

National Conference of State Legislatures

National Community Action Partnership

 

From Our Members

Raikes Foundation: A Fair and Accurate census is Critical to the Future of Our Youth

Barr Foundation: How Is Philanthropy Responding to the Citizenship Question?

Polk Bros Foundation: A Call to Remove Citizenship Question from 2020 Census

Annie E. Casey Foundation: Census Campaign Materials- To elevate issue of young child undercount

 

 

webpage advocacy pinned advocacy

We joined Funders Together because we believe in the power of philanthropy to play a major role in ending homelessness, and we know we have much to learn from funders across the country.

-Christine Marge, Director of Housing and Financial Stability at United Way of Greater Los Angeles

I am thankful for the local partnerships here in the Pacific Northwest that we’ve been able to create and nurture thanks to the work of Funders Together. Having so many of the right players at the table makes our conversations – and all of our efforts – all the richer and more effective.

-David Wertheimer, Deputy Director at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Very often a lack of jobs and money is not the cause of poverty, but the symptom. The cause may lie deeper in our failure to give our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop their own capacities, in a lack of education and training, in a lack of medical care and housing, in a lack of decent communities in which to live and bring up their children.

-President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964 State of the Union Address

Funders Together has given me a platform to engage the other funders in my community. Our local funding community has improved greatly to support housing first models and align of resources towards ending homelessness.

-Leslie Strnisha, Vice President at Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland

Our family foundation convenes local funders and key community stakeholders around strategies to end homelessness in Houston. Funders Together members have been invaluable mentors to us in this effort, traveling to our community to share their expertise and examples of best practices from around the nation.

-Nancy Frees Fountain, Managing Director at The Frees Foundation


Sign in with Facebook, Twitter or email.
X

Become a Member

Only members have access to some of the resources we list on this page. Feel free to explore the Funder Toolkit and see what we have to offer, but you may not be able to access some of the resources without signing up for membership.

When you join Funders Together, you also gain access to: educational programming, national learning communities, funder-focused tools and resources, networking opportunities, and more. Read about membership here.

Read how funders can end homelessness.

Join Now
Already a member? Sign in.