New Models to Fund Movements
Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Thursday, Jul. 14 2:00 PM (Eastern)
Ends: Thursday, Jul. 14 3:15 PM (Eastern)
The old funding models have stopped working well for 21st Century progressive movements, but the new ways are still being created. Join this session for an informative and dynamic discussion about some new models for funding movement-building work that are being implemented among progressive donor networks, individual small-dollar donors, and social-change organizations themselves. Funding of movements has changed dramatically in the last 40 years. Are our current models working to support real social change? What has worked and where are we failing? What new models can we lift up that free us to do the real work of organizing? Join us and help reinvent what it means to be a movement philanthropist.
Moderator
Jenifer Fernandez Ancona
Jenifer Fernandez Ancona is Vice President of Strategy & Member Engagement at Women Donors Network, and has a wide range of experience in communications, donor organizing, strategy development, grassroots organizing, and multi-racial coalition building. She was Director of Strategic Communications at Citizen Engagement Laboratory, where she helped to launch and grow progressive online organizing initiatives focused on communities of color, including Presente.org and ColorOfChange.org. Previously, Jenifer served as a Senior Advisor to Steve Phillips and Susan Sandler, as a consultant to the Democracy Alliance, as a top legislative aide in the California State Assembly, and as a news reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She serves on the Boards of Netroots Nation Education Foundation, CEL, and National People’s Action.
Panelists
Tram Nguyen
Tram Nguyen is an award-winning activist and community leader who helped found New Virginia Majority in 2007, where she currently serves as Co-Executive Director. She leads multi-racial, multi-issue campaigns using large-scale civic engagement, community organizing, advocacy, leadership development, and strategic communications. Her work on democracy, criminal justice, immigrants’ rights, climate change, and economic opportunity explore the intersections of social, racial, and economic justice.
Tram is a partner at Democracy Partners, a member of the National Advisory Council for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and a certificate faculty member at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Meyer Foundation and the State Power Fund. Tram is an alumna of Barnard College and a former Lead the Way Fellow of the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Sara Velten
Sara Velten has extensive experience working in the private sector, serving both as Commercial Director for Nano Products and as Public Relations Coordinator for BBVA Bancomer, the second largest financial group in Mexico. She is the co-founder of AHOrA, a Texas based Fundraising initiative focused on expanding educational opportunities for Hispanic youth and parents. Sara joined the LCF team in 2011 and now serves as the Foundation’s VP of Philanthropy. She is currently leading LCF’s fundraising and communication strategies geared at expanding LCF’s base of corporate and individual donors. Sara graduated with honors from Universidad Iberoamericana and received her Administration and Management Certificate from Harvard University. She is originally from Mexico, has lived in Switzerland, and now resides in San Mateo County with her husband and three beautiful children. Sara is a natural connector of people and ideas; not only in Spanish or English, but also in French. She is passionate about traveling with her children, cooking delicious meals with her husband, and helping the Latino community reach its full potential.
Howard Watts III
Howard Watts III is the Program Director for Movement 2016, a new platform to direct a portion of political spending to non-partisan movement-building groups across the country. Starting as a volunteer for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) in 2007, he worked his way to Field Director while completing a BA in Political Science at UNLV. Howard led successful electoral campaigns that registered over 10,000 voters and had GOTV conversations with over 50,000 people. He used those tactics to help advance corporate accountability on the state’s mining industry and pass a suite of fully LGBT-inclusive anti-discrimination laws, and used advocacy and direct action to support racial equity, economic justice, and voting rights. After the 2014 election, Howard left PLAN and began helping nonprofits fill strategic needs and complete special projects as an independent consultant. He helped launch Nevada’s State Voices table, and served on the board of Pushback Network.