"Be a good troublemaker. Use your big mouth for good."
On the opening day of Foundations on the Hill (FOTH), a national convening of the philanthropic serving organizations put on by the United Philanthropy Forum, Keynote Speaker Nicole Austin-Hillery – President and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation – uttered these words as she described her advocacy journey and the need for the sector to mobilize around policy efforts. Her remarks outlined the importance of investing in organizing, power-building, lobbying, and ensuring that funders are on a united front when it comes to systems change.
These themes resonated deeply with SoCal Grantmakers' (SCG) mission of taking bold action through fostering an inclusive community of funders and partners. SCG's Public Policy & Government Relations team participates in the annual FOTH event alongside a delegation representing funders and staff in the Philanthropy California alliance. Together, our delegation carried out Austin-Hillery's call to action throughout our time in D.C. as we held countless meetings with legislators and federal agencies.
This year, in particular, the SCG team was thrilled to bring our recently revamped public policy action plan to D.C. and to showcase our vision for how philanthropy can advance equity and racial justice and achieve systems change. We leaned on our new policy priorities to engage in conversations around issues such as climate and disaster resilience, nonprofit sustainability and infrastructure, democracy and civic engagement, and housing and unhoused communities — with particular emphasis on perspectives from rural areas like the Inland Empire and the Central Valley.
Implementing the SCG Public Policy Action Plan
Our delegation eagerly met with five federal agencies and eighteen legislators representing regions across California, where we discussed the various opportunities for philanthropy to be a vehicle of connection for community organizations and government partnerships. During this week, it was important to demonstrate our sector's commitment to building public-private relationships and connecting with government policymakers in the Southern California region, statewide, and federally. This strategy is one of the ways we are working towards a multiracial democracy — by helping community members elevate the issues important to them directly to Congress members.
When we met with Congresswoman Linda Sanchez's office, her staff immediately welcomed us and recalled our recent co-produced event, Demystifying Public and Private Grants, in which Congresswoman Sanchez facilitated a conversation between California Community Foundation, BCM Foundation, and many of our members. This familiarity allowed us to have even more in-depth discussions about how to continue collaborating in the future.
The mutualistic dynamic captures SCG's role of connecting and being an intermediary for community and government entities by reemphasizing the importance of local work and how it connects federally. We want our members to know that their voices can reach elected officials. We know that fostering these relationships is critical to our civic engagement efforts.
Additionally, we demonstrated California philanthropy's impact through programs like our Veteran Funders Groups and Philanthropy California's technical assistance training series. We were joined by members Dr. Gabino Aguirre, Co-Chair of the Isabella Project from the Ventura County Community Foundation, and Anna Hasselblad, Senior Director of Policy at United Ways of California, who spoke about specific priorities like access to early education and how government partnerships could expand capacity for distribution of resources in Southern California. We also had representation from statewide partners like Laura Seaman, Chief Executive Officer of League of California Community Foundations, and Kaying Hang, Senior Vice President of Programs and Partnerships from Sierra Health Foundation, bringing in diverse perspectives from their networks and highlighting policy initiatives like the Justice40 framework.
Hearing our members and funders advocate for their work in advancing critical policy areas reminded our team of the incredible privilege and impact that SCG has in uplifting the work of grassroots organizations and community members. It reinforced that we can continue to make policies actionable through measures like funder briefings, listening sessions, advocating for legislation, capacity building, and so much more.
Front row: Kaying Hang (Sierra Health Foundation); Lily Bui, Matthew Vang, Emily Michels, and Karla Mercado (Southern California Grantmakers); Katie Oran (Northern California Grantmakers). Back row: Dr. Gabino Aguirre (Ventura County Community Foundation), Elena Perez (Magic Cabinet), Laura Seaman (League of California Community Foundations), Meghan Thomas (Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties) Anna Hasselblad (United Ways of California), Victoria Rodarte, and Kirin Kumar (Northern California Grantmakers).
Bringing Our Work Back to California
Making connections with government officials and convening funders to have a "seat at the table" by attending events like FOTH is just one of the many strategies that SCG leverages to help philanthropy realize transformational change. You can find more resources and materials from The United Philanthropy Forum here and the materials we developed for FOTH here. We encourage funders to continue taking bold actions that advance long-term solutions and lasting change for historically excluded and marginalized communities. We invite you to review the call to actions from our 2024 Public Policy Conference in April where we explored these initiatives and policies that outlast administrative changes and economic shifts.
What's Ahead in 2024
As the year progresses, SCG is ramping up our policy work so that members feel equipped with tools to navigate our ever-changing democracy and evolving sector. Aside from our public policy conference in April, we plan to continue tracking relevant statewide, federal, and local legislation like identifying a package of voting rights bills that will have a positive impact on access, monitoring changes to DAF regulations, and keeping an eye on the status of the LA City independent redistricting ballot measure. As we approach election time, we are developing programming related to democracy work and how philanthropy can support civic engagement in its many forms.
We invite you to review our refreshed public policy agenda, visit our brand new Advocacy Hub housing all of the legislation and initiatives we are engaged in, and subscribe to our Quarterly Policy Roundup to keep up-to-date with all of our efforts. Together, we can build a more equitable and thriving region and state.
If you are interested in learning more about SCG's policy work, please reach out to Emily Michels, Manager, Public Policy & Government Relations, at emily@socalgrantmakers.org or Matthew Vang, Coordinator, Public Policy & Government Relations, at matthew@socalgrantmakers.org.