Locked In for the Long Fight Ahead
A letter from Third Wave Fund's Co-Director MARS. Beard:
Dear community,
I’m writing to you from my home in Chicago, where the president is currently waging a war against the people of our city. In this moment, I’m called to share what’s happening on the ground, lift up the ways that Third Wave Fund is fueling resistance, and invite all of us to pitch in and match movement courage.
Over the past week, the deployment of federal agents terrorized our communities by tear-gassing our neighborhoods, sending Blackhawk helicopters and using military tactics to invade a predominantly Black apartment building. We witnessed an alderperson arrested in a hospital for asking for a judicial warrant, and we continue to witness families being separated while simply being out enjoying their day.
We entered this year knowing that we’d be in for a fight, understanding that it would take all of us to resist an unapologetically fascist and authoritarian political regime. And although the events I’m witnessing are unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime, I know that the legacy of fighting for liberation is long. There is no more “business as usual”; our collective resistance is more critical than ever before. Today, I’m reminded of Assata Shakur’s clear call to each of us that nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.
From putting our bodies on the line to protect our neighbors against ICE to organizing against the deployment of the national guard/ federal agents in our cities to speaking out against threats to nonprofits and philanthropic organizations, our movements continue to illustrate the fact that it will take all of us, resisting together to meet this moment and to move beyond it.
As a grassroots intermediary funding organization made up of Black, Latine, disabled, queer, non-binary, and trans folks, we are not only bearing witness to what’s happening in this moment, we are also deeply impacted by it. But let it be known that we will not succumb under the weight of authoritarian intimidation. We will not be moved to fear and silence.
Third Wave Fund is unwavering in our commitment to urgently move resources to the frontlines, with 40% of our grantee partners receiving rapid response funds. We remain locked in on long-term strategies to fund resistance at the grassroots, with over 60% of our grants going towards multi-year funding. And we stand boldly alongside our grantee partners who continue to create solutions that move us toward a more liberatory way of being by committing over 50% of our budget to grantmaking, and moving over $3.5 million to movements this year.
Now is the time for us to get deeply serious about what it means to dig our heels in even deeper – to roll up our sleeves and continue collectively building power by mobilizing our resources. So, here’s how you can tap in:
To folks with wealth: Match the tenacity of increasing attacks on our communities by increasing your dollars now. Third Wave Fund’s first Donor Organizing Officer, Nicole Myles once said: Write a check so big that your hands sweat. Commit to that level for multiple years. Leave contact information and be open to being asked for more.
To working-class folks: Individuals and institutions with wealth should be taking notes from the courage and resourcefulness of your giving! You are a leader in critical strategies for resourcing resistance with the least access and ability. Continue spearheading DIY efforts to raise funds for our communities and movements. Make a one-time or sustaining monthly gift to address the urgency of this moment and to resource our movements for the long haul.
To foundations: Release your endowments now. Commit to increasing your giving beyond the 5% legal minimum for foundations. Commit to that for at least five years. Get your CEOs and boards aligned. We’ve passed the rainy day — the storm is here, and if you don’t move money to movements now, we won’t have movements to move it to in the future.
In the words of Bernice Johnson Reagon, "There's a new world coming, everything’s gonna be turning over, where you gonna be standing when it come?”
With commitment to our co-liberation,
MARS.
