2021 Virtual Funders Institute
September 28-30, 2021
Funders Together to End Homelessness held our annual Funders Institute on September 28-30, 2021. Over these three days, participants heard from leaders in the field, made new connections with funders from across the country, and found joy together. This year, we dove deep on what narrative change research is telling us, how philanthropy can fight against the criminalization of homelessness, and what's happening nationally to push for housing as a human right and housing justice.
General Resources
- Read a blog post recapping the event.
- See a list of Funders Institute speakers and their bios.
Tuesday, September 28
2:00 ET
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Opening and WelcomeAmanda Andere, CEO of Funders Together, kicked off the Funders Institute by sharing an update about Funders Together's new strategic direction and focus on housing justice and liberation. Resources
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2:30 ET |
Keynote: Fireside Chat with Clint Smith, Author of How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America and Martha Toll, author of Three Muses and Funders Together board memberFunders Together to End Homelessness had Clint Smith III as the keynote speaker for our 2021 Funders Institute. During this keynote fireside chat between Clint Smith and Martha Toll, participants listened and challenged their own understanding of our history, the stories we tell about it, and the spaces we move through every day. About Clint Smith Clint Smith III is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the narrative nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and the poetry collection Counting Descent, which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. As Martha Toll, author, Funders Together board member, and founding Executive Director of the Butler Family Fund, wrote in her Washington Post book review of How the Word Is Passed, Smith has “much to offer about teaching (and unlearning) history, the toxic effects of racism and public policy.” At a moment in time when people are deepening their awareness of structural racial inequities, it is critical to understand the legacy of slavery in our country and its ongoing consequences hidden in plain view. About Martha Toll Martha Anne Toll is the founding Executive Director at the Butler Family Fund and a board member at FTEH. She is now a full time writer. Her novel THREE MUSES, won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction and will be published a year from now, in September 2022. Under her leadership, the Butler Family Fund developed and expanded two major philanthropic programs with a deep commitment to racial equity: advocacy to end homelessness and to fight injustices in the criminal “justice” system. Martha now works fulltime as a writer. Her debut novel, Three Muses, is the 2020 winner of the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction and is forthcoming in Fall 2022. Martha regularly publishes book reviews and essays on NPR Books and in The Millions, as well as in the Washington Post, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She has served as a nominator for the annual NPR Book Concierge since 2017. Her personal essay, “Dayenu,” was selected for inclusion in the anthology Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19. Plenary Recording: Fireside Chat with Clint Smith
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3:00 ET
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Concurrent Breakout SessionsAfter our keynote, participants had the opportunity to join one four concurrent breakout sessions to dive deep on a specific issue related to homelessness, racial equity, and housing justice. |
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1A: The Intersection of Attacks on Critical Race Theory with Housing Justice GoalsAcross the country, there are vocal opponents of critical race theory (CRT) attempting to ban crucial racial analysis of systems and policies. For some, it may seem like these attacks on CRT are separate from the work of ending homelessness and that the best path forward is to pay little attention to this opposition. However, the disparities we see today are the result of the exclusion of people of color from opportunities for home ownership, wealth accumulation, and economic mobility and because of historical and persistent racial discrimination in employment, healthcare, education, and the criminal legal system. Philanthropy has as much a responsibility as anyone else to ensure that these attacks on CRT do not erode efforts toward racial and housing justice goals. Speakers
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1B: What Should Philanthropy Do to Fight the Criminalization of Homelessness?No one wants to see unsheltered homelessness in their community. However, the urgency to address unsheltered homelessness has meant that many groups are pushing “solutions” that harm people experiencing homelessness, violate their rights, and do little to address the root causes of homelessness. In this session, participants heard from local and national advocates about how they are pushing back against the criminalization of homelessness, resources that demonstrate the ineffectiveness of these laws, and how philanthropy can support local and national advocates in protecting the rights and safety of people experiencing homelessness. Speakers
Recording: What Should Philanthropy Do to Fight the Criminalization of Homelessness?
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1C: National Efforts to Push for Housing as a Human RightHousing is a basic human need. We know that safe, accessible, and affordable housing results in positive health, education, and economic outcomes, and we know that housing ends homelessness. So, what will it take to help others believe that housing is a human right and to change policy to guarantee housing for all? In this breakout session, we’ll hear from a national advocacy organization and a national grassroots organizer about their advocacy efforts, values, and ideas for how philanthropy can support their work. Speakers
Recording: National Efforts to Push for Housing as a Human Right
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1D: Organizing Against Anti-Transgender Policies in the Fight for Housing JusticeThe National Center for Transgender Equality reports that one in five transgender people in the United States has been discriminated against when seeking a home, and more than one in ten have been evicted from their homes, because of their gender identity. With a lack of legal protections from gender identity discrimination on both the state and local levels, evictions and homelessness of transgender people will continue to persist. In this session, we will hear from national and grassroots organizers about the advocacy opportunities at the intersection of anti-transgender policies and housing and homelessness. Speakers
Recording: Organizing Against Anti-Transgender Policies in the Fight for Housing Justice
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4:00 ET
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Closing |
Wednesday, September 29
2:00 ET
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Welcome and NetworkingSeveral of past participants requested more informal networking time. We opened up day 2 by having people meet new faces and share the following:
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3:00 ET |
Funder Pop-Up TalksThese short talks, also known as “pop-ups” from when speakers used to “pop up” from their table and share during our in-person events, were an opportunity for participants to hear about work that other funders are working on or thinking about. Recording: 2021 Funders Institute Short Talks
Pop-Up: Reflections About the Equitable Evaluation Framework and HomelessnessFrom February through June 2021, HealthSpark Foundation and twenty other foundations participated in a six-month journey of self-reflection and situational assessment to unpack Equitable Evaluation Principles and explore current internal evaluation practices and orthodoxies. In this pop-up, Chinwe Onykere, Director of Equity and Inclusion at HealthSpark Foundation, will offer her reflections about what she learned and how it intersects with their foundation's work in ending homelessness. Read Funders Together's reflections from this learning cohort.
Pop-Up: Lessons Learned from Our Affordable Housing InitiativeIn their report, Moving the Needle: A Reflection on Five Years of Investment in Oregon’s Affordable Housing Landscape, Meyer Memorial Trust staff reflects back on the challenges, setbacks, clear “wins” and lessons learned from designing and implementing a strategic philanthropic initiative. In addition to robust and lively discussions among the team about what they take forward from this work, they reached out to dozens of key partners in nonprofits, other funders, and the government to get more perspective on how their Affordable Housing Initiative was received.
Pop-Up: Lessons Learned from Administering Federal Resources and Preventing EvictionsSince April 2020, United Way of King County, in partnership with the City of Seattle and King County, has provided rent assistance to more than 10,000 households impacted by the COVID-19 health crisis. In this pop-up, Lauren McGown, Associate Vice President for Ending Homelessness & Poverty at United Way King County, will discuss how they administered their recent federal funds on eviction prevention and worked with local landlords to reduce the amount owed. In addition, she will discuss how they are supporting and working with a group of BIPOC community leaders who’ve formed the Equitable Recovery & Reconciliation Alliance (ERRA), which is intended to provide BIPOC community voices to lead the systemic changes needed to address economic recovery and redress systemic racism.
Pop-Up: Faith Communities for Just Reentry Campaign's Policy PlatformFifteen to twenty thousand New Yorkers are caught each year in the cycle of homelessness and incarceration. Four in every five are people of color. During the COVID-19 pandemic, over 2,500 people have been released, many without identification, critical medication, or coronavirus testing. Trinity Church Wall Street will share the policy platform central to their Faith Communities for Just Reentry Campaign. Together, we can help our justice-involved neighbors find and sustain a place they can call home.
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4:00 ET
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ClosingWe asked participants to think about answers to the following two questions in preparation for Day 3:
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5:00 ET |
Virtual ReceptionWe held an optional virtual networking reception for participants. |
Thursday, September 30
2:00 ET
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Welcome and OpeningWe set the stage for the day's deep dive into homelessness narrative change by encouraging participants to reflect in advance about how holding power and the ability to control the narrative are connected, examples of messaging campaigns outside of homelessness and housing that have been successful, and what messages related to homelessness you are hearing in your community. |
2:10 ET
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Narrative Change Research: What is it Telling Us?No one likes seeing homelessness in their community, but building the public will to address homelessness requires effectively framing the issue in a way that speaks to people’s values and the possibility of success. We also need to consider how we approach narrative change and shift our own thinking in order to be most effective and speak to people's values. With the right tools, we can do a better job crafting narratives that bring people together and create champions for our cause. During this plenary session, participants will hear findings from two narrative change research projects and how philanthropy can support the field in using the research to build public will. Speakers
Recording: Narrative Change Research: What is it Telling Us?
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3:15 ET |
Breakout ConversationsAfter the plenary, participants had an opportunity in breakout rooms to ask follow up questions and discuss and strategize what needs to happen next. How can philanthropy help support a repository of research that the homelessness field can easily access? How should philanthropy be using this research in their own policy and advocacy efforts? What work is still needed to shift the narrative around homelessness? |
4:00 ET |
ClosingKatie Hong, Director of Special Initiatives at the Raikes Foundation and Board Chair of Funders Together to End Homelessness, shared closing reflections. |
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