U.S.

PROGRAMS
STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES FUND (SOF Program Code 21081)
Summary of Recommended Grants
Catch Up Docket
November 2010

Organization Requested Recommended Term

. '
150,000 2 years
175,000 2 years

Recommended: $ 325,000

Jl.'15·~ Cu1tur~/·;N~w•OrJ~;1ris
Sweet Home
New Orleans .. 250,000 $ 150,000 18 months
The Renaissance Project" 150,000 $ 150,000 18 months

Recommended: $ 300,000

(>ulf.9p~$t ij~j1iC>h .·.

The Gulf Coast Fund (Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors is fiscal
agent) $ 580,000 $ 580,000 1 year

Recommended: $ 580,000

New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance (Greater New Orleans

Foundation is fiscal agent)3 $ 900,000 $ 900,000 1 year
Nonprofit Finance Fund $ 1,300,000 $ 1,300,000 14 months

Recommended: $ 2,200,000

SOF TOTAL RECOMMENDED: $ 3,405,000

==============:=

1 This grant will be co-funded by the Strategic Opportunities Fund and Democracy and Power Fund as follows: SOF T21081 will contribute $150,000 and D&P T21091 will contribute $25,000
2 Thisgrant will be co-funded by the Strategic Opportunities Fund and Campaign for Black Male Achievement as follows: SOF T21081 will contribute $125,000 and CBMA T21098 will
contribute $25,000
grant will be co-funded by the Strategic Opportunities Fund and Transparency and Integrity Fund as follows: SOF T21081 will contribute $350,000 and TIF T21093 will contribute
3 This

$450,000 with an additional $100,000 contingent upon grantee raising a 10% match
MEMORANDUM

To: Aryeh Neier

From: Ann Beeson & Erlin Ibreck
Date: November 4, 2010
Re: Strategic Opportunities Fund
Catch up Docket November 2010 Recommendations

We look forward to discussing with you the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) docket
recommendations later this month. The seven write ups and docket sheet are attached.
Below is a summary of how these grants c01mect to SOF's priorities.

Research and Development (R & D)

In its primary role of providing discrete R & D capability that prioritizes strategy
development in select areas, SOF is currently serving as a learning laboratory for the
role that arts and culture play in advancing social change. In this docket we are
recommending three grants; one of which is for renewed support for Sweet Home New
Orleans/Renew Our Music Fund (SHNO). SHNO operates as an accessible
clearinghouse of resources for New Orleans' rich, historic, and neighborhood-based
music c01mnunity, as well as a repository of critical data documenting the conditions of
livelihood for thousands of individual artists. As SOF seeks to support arts and culture
organizations that advocate for change in the Gulf Coast region, SHNO is of particular
interest given its position as an intermediary with an artist population that represents and
comprises the cultural fabric of the city of New Orleans.

Drawing on the tradition of storytelling in African American communities, the

Renaissance Project places value on the life experiences of these community members
as stakeholders and recognizes that their stories can provide both a window into past and
present conditions as well as an organizing tool that provides the foundation for longer
and deeper engagement in civic and community life. A grant to the Renaissance Project
will support the engagement of young people and women through storytelling and
c01mnunity dialogue to document and deepen the collective understanding of race
relations in New Orleans. The proposed project will serve to infonn our evolving
understanding of the complex set of realities related to history, identity, and justice for
African Americans in New Orleans and the broader Gulf Coast region as U.S. Programs
expands its work in Louisiana. The Campaign for Black Male Achievement will co-fund
this project.

On the national front, First Peoples Fund and Seventh Generation Fund support the
preservation and advancement of American Indian Native art and cultural values and
practices as a means to begin reclaiming and redefining Native society at large. Through
its fellowship programs, networks and collaborative approach, First Peoples Fund has a
solid track record of establishing and maintaining strong ties within the Native
communities in which it works as well as providing effective training and support to
Native artists, helping them achieve career stability, economic success, and influential
positioning in their community. The Seventh Generation Fund (SGF) works at the
intersection of social justice advocacy, philanthropy, and grassroots Native co1mnunity
development. As a leading Indigenous organization focused on Native empowerment and
community sustainability, SGF has successfully leveraged millions of dollars in financial
support from mainstream philanthropy and individual donors for re-granting back into its
partner communities across the country. Like our other art and culture grants, we expect
these two grants will help to raise awareness of the power and potential for art as an
activism tool to advance a broad spectrum of social justice concerns and issues of specific
interest and relevance to U.S. Programs' priorities, including racial justice for historically
marginalized communities.

Gulf Coast Region

The Strategic Opportunities Fund has continued to shape discrete and targeted
grantmaking that advances U.S. Programs engagement in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast
region. The recent BP oil disaster presented new challenges to advocacy and grassroots
organizations in the Gulf South particularly for those on the front lines. A grant to the
Gulf Coast Fund will facilitate targeted re-granting and technical assistance for a cohort
ofleading grassroots organizations in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama that
have provided critical support to marginalized communities in the aftermath of the BP oil
drilling disaster; scale up the Fund's media and communications strategies; and convene
regional leaders, alongside DC-based advocacy organizations 0MB Watch and the
Project on Government Oversight, to develop plans for a Gulf Coast Citizens Advisory
Council (modeled on the council started after the Exxon Valdez oil disaster).

Together with the Transparency and Integrity Fund (TIF) we recommend renewed
funding for the New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance (NOCOG). NOCOG is
an initiative that brings together six community-based organizations to build a more
transparent and accountable city governance structure. In its first year of operation,
NOCOG and its member organizations advocated on open governance issues in a number
of different ways and in 2010-11 the Coalition will launch a multi-year campaign to bring
an open and participatory budget process to the city, working in tandem with OSF' s
criminal justice grantees. This campaign will mark a historic endeavor by advocates and
civic organizations in the City of New Orleans and signals a growing active and engaged
citizenry that is demanding a more transparent and accountable government.

Special Initiatives
On occasion, SOF will incorporate Special Initiatives that advance multiple agendas and
that are likely to have a significant impact on U.S. Programs' core issues. These
initiatives may emerge from R & D and rapid response projects and are usually one time
or time-limited grants.

The U.S. Programs' Technical Assistance Initiative (TAI) grew out of a U.S. Programs
Board discussion with advisors and staff about the long term economic challenges facing
the nonprofit sector and U.S. Programs in particular. The Nonprofit Finance Fund
(NFF) was subsequently selected to develop the initiative which will assist nonprofit
organizations struggling through the difficult and changed economic enviromnent to
develop the expertise to respond to current challenges creatively and effectively. The
provision ofre-granted funds will help in this endeavor.
,,

We look forward to discussing these recommendations with you when we meet and
please let us know if there is further infonnation we may provide in advance of the
docket meeting.
Grant ID 20030713

Name of Organization: First Peoples Fund

Tax Status: 50l(c)(3)

Purpose of Grant: To provide general support.

Grant Description: The grant is recommended as part of a research and development

initiative coordinated by the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) to
explore the roles that art and culture play in advancing social change.
First Peoples Fund is dedicated to the preservation, advancement, and
well-being of American Indian and Alaska Native arts and culture
through an approach that is deeply rooted in Indigenous values and
place-based practices. The Fund uses arts and culture to achieve social
change, reduce economic inequities, provide new opportunities,
empower leaders, and galvanize young people among one of North
America's most underserved populations. The Fund seeks to cultivate
and strengthen American Indian artist leadership, nurture the collective
spirit that allows communities to sustain themselves and their people,
develop successful artist entrepreneurs, and foster traditional arts and
cultural practices at the community level. First Peoples Fund has a solid
track record of providing effective training and support to Native artists,
helping them achieve career stability, economic success, and an
influential positioning in their community.

Previous OSI Support: NIA

Organization Budget: $650,000 (FYl 1)

Project Budget: NIA

Major Sources of Support: Bush Foundation $206,000

Ford Foundation $243,000
LINC $300,000
McKnight Foundation $45,000

Amount Requested: $150,000 over two years

Amount Recommended: $150,000 over two years

July 1st, 2010-June 30th, 2012

Description of Organization:

Founded in 1995, First Peoples Fund advances social justice for Indigenous communities by providing
grant support to artists who root their work in Indigenous cultural traditions and who are committed to
building community power as part of a sacred honor system. The Fund tends this honor system through
its grants to artists who uphold the traditions and life ways of their peoples; maintain direct ties to their
communities; and nurture youth creativity and leadership. Furthem10re, the Fund empowers these artists
to develop local networks, leverage additional resources, and access technical assistance.

First Peoples Fund (FPF) was established as a donor-advised fund of the Tides Foundation. Founder
Jennifer Easton realized that most traditional art forms were not available to the general public and that
1
many people viewed Native culture through a very narrow, Eurocentric lens. She sought to advance a
broad awareness of the varied and unique nature of Native art- unique to each tribal community from
which it emerges. Through supporting artistic practice, Easton believed FPF would help change the way
the larger population sees Native nations and understands cultural identity, leading to greater social and
economic equity for Indigenous communities.

FPF President Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota) joined the organization in 1999 and within two years
expanded the funding base from a single donor to a regional and national roster of foundation supporters
including the Ford, W.K. Kellogg, and Bush Foundations. In 2003, FPF obtained its own 50l(c)(3) status
and expanded its programs to three core areas focusing on community-building, leadership development,
and advancing economic equality in tribal communities - all through support for artists and their pursuit
of cultural practice.

Over the past 15 years, the Fund's work has evolved to hone a core strategy that uses arts and culture to
achieve social change, reduce economic inequities, provide new opportunities, empower leaders, and
galvanize young people among one of North America's most underserved populations. Today FPF is
dedicated to the preservation, advancement, and well-being of American Indian and Alaska Native arts
and culture, through an approach that is deeply rooted in Indigenous values and place-based practices.
The Fund seeks to cultivate and strengthen American Indian artist leadership, nurture the collective spirit
that allows communities to sustain themselves and their people, develop successful artist entrepreneurs,
and foster traditional arts and cultural practices at the community level.

The Fund's theoretical framework is uniquely modeled on the distinct cultural aspects of the Native
communities it serves, and is based on these core tenets:

Change occurs from the ground up. Native peoples hold the solutions to their own problems. The
seeds of a healthy and vibrant community sit within the ancestral memory and knowledge of tribal
peoples, and the Fund's role is to nurture change agents and organically catalyze a movement that fully
honors this intrinsic knowledge. Further, this movement can unleash and leverage the collectivist-oriented
energy within Native people. Models of reservation development are based on external sources and have
resulted in failure; they have mimicked the service-oriented models of religious and government
institutions that do not acknowledge local assets but instead perpetuate poverty and dependency.

Culture is the most critical asset, and asset-based organizing that focuses on cultural renewal is
essential for creating systemic change. For centmies, cultural assets have been inextlicably linked with
the well-being of Native peoples. Native artists carry and embody these assets not only in their creations,
but also in how they live their lives. As such, artists represent critical vehicles for community
revitalization and stronger tribal nations. In spite of centuries of government policies designed to
assimilate and terminate, Native language, art, and spirituality all have endured. Art is not a commodity
produced by a few; art is ingrained throughout Native lifestyles, spiritual beliefs, and social systems ..
Native arts and culture are fundamental to the societal fabric of reservation c01m1m11ities, and cultural
expression is a means to ensure cultural continuity and the very survival of Indigenous peoples.

Art and culture are essential elements of change that seeks to shift attitudes, behaviors, institutions,
and policies that limit equity and justice. First Peoples Fund honors artists who serve as culture-
bearers for their tribes and structures programs to foster artists' success in their critical community roles.
Through community-spirited actions, these artists bring their people into the full expression of their own
unique heritages, thereby playing a crucial role for social change. It is important to note that, in Native
communities, the notion of"change" (along with such concepts as commmuty organizing, movement
building, and leadership) is conceptualized in a distinct way. Rather than the individual-oriented
mainstream model, Native people espouse a collectivist worldview that defines leadership as the result of
the dynamic interplay of multiple actors. Change is a thereby complex process emerging from a common
focus on the collective good. This focus reinforces and catalyzes continuous success and sustainability.

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First Peoples Fund operates several core programs, including a place-based arts initiative in targeted
Native communities. Together, this work lifts up and sheds a spotlight on Native artists and culture
bearers as social change agents and amplifies the voices and knowledge of marginalized communities,
thereby breaking through both internalized and external racist stereotypes. In addition, these interrelated
programs promote art and culture as the center of viable models of economic empowerment and
sustainability in Indian Country. Core programs include:

Community Spirit Awards (CSA) - This national program provides valuable recognition and validation to
artists who are sustaining tribes' culture, language, spiritual ceremonies, songs and dances. The voices
and examples of CSA recipients serve to remind their fellow tribal citizens of their responsibilities to
restore and sustain culture on Indian reservations, which are some of America's most underrepresented
and economically poor communities. Bringing forward ancient Indigenous knowledge systems that are
still viable today, the CSA fellows are innovators and risk-takers who help make it possible for other
tribal citizens to reclaim culture, question longstanding inequalities, and engage in rebuilding tribal
nations. Nominated by community members and selected by an independent national Native panel, each
CSA fellow receives a $5,000 award. The program honors artists not for their individual achievement but
for how their work benefits the collective good. Over 12 years, FPF has recognized a total of 52
Community Spirit Awardees representing 38 tribal nations. These artists/culture-bearers form the "heart
and soul" of the organization.

Cultural Capital Program - First Peoples Fund further invests in community-spirited arts through
"cultural capital" grants that enable artists to conduct specific culturally focused projects in their
communities. Receiving a $5,000 grant, each fellow (five to seven annually) is an established artist who
designs a year-long community outreach initiative. These public works include commemorating histories
of tribal events; collective building of traditional canoes; creating community sculptures; protecting plant
species used in traditional basket making; and the teaching of such traditional skills as beadwork and
carving to younger generations. The community-based projects foster intergenerational understanding
while empowering Native youth to express themselves and take action to achieve social change. Projects
increase civic participation and support emerging cultural leaders.

First Peoples Community Arts Initiative - First Peoples Fund recognizes the transformative role that arts
play in the daily cultural lives of building resilient tribal communities as well as the need for institutional
support to strengthen and expand the role of arts within the broader community. The First Peoples
Community Arts Initiative develops networks of social service providers and economic development
players in place-based communities. Work with these networks includes improving the capacity of tribal
colleges to foster community-spirited artists and deliver curriculum that produces effective cultural and
business leaders in a modem world; conducting research regarding the role and impact of the cultural
sector on tribal economies; fostering community arts networks that bring together Native artists, tribal
colleges, economic development groups and youth-serving organizations to build stronger and resilient
communities that are interdependent.

Overall, First Peoples Fund is working toward positive, systemic social change that restores and nurtures
an Indigenous worldview. At the heart of this worldview is the belief that tribal, or collective, success is
defined not by individual material accumulation but instead by one's contribution to community well-
being. The Fund believes that restoring this Indigenous paradigm is essential to social justice, as it
requires a deliberate shift toward creating just and equitable relationships.

Description of Program for Which Funding Is Sought:

The proposal seeks general operating support.

Rationale for Recommendation:

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A central function of the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOP) is to conduct research and development
related to new areas ofleaming that address intersectional issues. This grant advances SOF's exploration
of the role that art and culture play in advancing social change. We hope to raise awareness of the power
and potential for art as an activism tool to advance a broad spectrum of social justice concerns and issues
of specific interest and relevance to U.S. Programs' priorities, including racial justice for historically
marginalized communities. The grant also advances the Equality and Opportunity Fund's goals of lifting
barriers that prevent people from participating fully in economic, social, and political life; challenging
structural racism; and supporting proactive efforts to demonstrate the shared stake all members of society
have in racial equity and inclusion.

In grassroots Native communities, reclaiming culture is an essential element of advocacy. Cultural loss
and instilled cultural shame is at the root of much of the negative indicators that face Native communities.
Poverty, family dysfunction, chemical dependency, and poor socioeconomic outcomes all reflect multi-
generational trauma resulting from a history of violent colonization and institutional racism. As a result of
forced assimilation and imposed dependency, Native society is replete with institutions that mirror
colonial structures. For example, tribal government is based on the American system that uses majority
rule - a competitive paradigm with "winners" and "losers" - rather than the consensus decision-making
used by tribes successfully in the past. In this context, rebuilding culturally based models centered on
artistic expression is a means to begin reclaiming and redefining Native society at large. At the same time,
such transformative change can infom1 social justice efforts in broader movements across America.

Through its fellowship programs, networks and collaborative approach, First Peoples Fund has an abiding
ability to establish and maintain strong ties within the Native communities in which it works. The Fund
has worked with nearly 150 artists and culture-bearers, supporting their leadership roles in their
communities. Art and culture represent an undervalued yet critical path towards stronger tribal nations,
and FPF has demonstrated the potential for all aitist-fellows to advance these community-focused goals.
The fellowship experience taps into deeply held values whereby fellows identify themselves first as
contributors to their community rather than as individuals simply seeking more resources.

FPF's advocacy on behalf of culture-bearers as well as the organization's experience, partnerships and
vision have contributed greatly to positive social change. The Fund has a solid track record of providing
effective training and support to Native aitists, helping them achieve career stability, economic success,
and an influential positioning in their community. It is typical for artists initially to not see themselves as
leaders. Like many Native people - indeed, like many disenfranchised or marginalized people - artists
require validation of their self-worth. Acknowledgement by FPF often leads an artist to an awakening.
"Doing" culture helps program participants begin to understand the complex ways in which art and
culture are part of a holistic expression of many different threads across sectors and societal boundaries.
Furthermore, practicing culture reinforces traditional values, norms, and beliefs, resulting in greater
collective well-being. These outcomes further reinforce the importance placed on the roles of traditional
culture, relationships, and interconnectivity within a society as fundamental bases from which to generate
a continuous cycle of success and sustainability.

With support from the Strategic Oppo1tunities Fund over the next two years, First Peoples Fund will build
the capacity of aitists-as-change-agents across Indigenous communities and com1ect these communities to
non-Native artists, organizers, and advocates who are advancing racial and economic justice across the
country. The Strategic Opportunities Fund therefore recommends a grant in the amount of $150,000 over
two years for general support of First Peoples Fund.

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Grant ID 20030718

Name of Organization: Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development

Tax Status: 50l(c)(3)

Purpose of Grant: To provide general support.

Grant Description: The grant is recommended as part of a research and development

initiative coordinated by the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) to
explore the roles that art and culture play in advancing social change.
The Seventh Generation Fund (SGF) is a leading Indigenous social
change organization with a mission to promote Native arts and cultural
expression as a strategy for promoting intergenerational leadership and
community sustainability. Programs draw upon traditional knowledge to
develop culturally-based creative practices that advance social justice for
Indigenous communities. SGF offers direct grant support to Native
community-based organizations, as well as technical assistance and
network-building opportunities.

Previous OSI Support: NIA

Organization Budget: $1,263,600

Project Budget: NIA

Sources of Support: The California Endowment $100,000

Cedar Tree Foundation $300,000
Ford Foundation $900,000 (3 yrs)
Margaret A. Cargill Foundation $50,000

Amount Requested: $175,000 over two years

Amount Recommended: $175,000 over two years

($150,000 from Strategic Opportunities Fund T21081; $25,000 from
Democracy & Power Fund T21091)

July 1si, 2010 - June 3ot11, 2012

Description of Organization:

The Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development (SGF) is a leading Indigenous social change
organization with a mission to promote Native arts and cultural expression as a strategy for maintaining
traditional wisdom, promoting intergenerational leadership, and sustaining communities. Founded in
1977, Seventh Generation Fund emerged as Indigenous leaders - including elders, young people, and
community activists - responded to the call from their communities for cultural revitalization and
culturally appropriate sustainability strategies.

The organization derives its name from a precept of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois
Confederacy) which calls upon leaders to consider the impact of their actions on the seventh generation to
come. Today, SGF programs draw upon traditional knowledge to develop culturally-based creative
practices that advance social justice for grassroots Indigenous communities through grantmaking,
training, and technical assistance across a range of issue areas and with a core focus on the roles that arts
and culture play in resiliency and social change.
1
Seventh Generation Fund emerged from an urgent call to consciousness by grassroots Native
communities at a time when Native communities had been literally devastated by poverty, violence,
community fragmentation, disengagement with traditional ways of living, and the exploitation of tribal
homelands. The synergy of the social, cultural, and political movements of the 1960s and 1970s that gave
rise to significant change throughout the world and across the United States took a distinctly Indigenous
form in Indian Country. Rather than orienting to an individual rights perspective, the focus shifted to the
critical needs and aspirations of whole tribal communities seeking to rebuild empowered, healthy, and
culturally vibrant tribal nations that re-aligned with traditional cultures and paradigms rather than
embracing government policies on assimilation.

The organization's founders were grassroots leaders who represented a diverse range of Native nations
and included chiefs, clan-mothers, young people, and tribal philosophers. At the same time, artists,
activists, cultural leaders, and experts in community organizing, traditional economics, and leadership
development were drawn toward the notion of establishing an organization to serve Native peoples. Their
collective vision of these early stakeholders led them to develop culturally relevant strategies for
identifying and directing resources, advocacy, and support to frontline tribal communities striving to
recover and retain traditional relationships to land, community, and traditional knowledge. Today, SGF is
the oldest Native public foundation in North America dedicated to supporting grassroots development.

Seventh Generation Fund serves Indigenous communities across the United States through dynamic,
integrated programs that include grantmaking, leadership development, fiscal management, media
training, peer learning opportunities, and program-related technical assistance. Over time this has proven
to be an effective delivery model for supporting low-resourced, often geographically remote and
disenfranchised communities. Using these strategies, SGF promotes Indigenous art and cultural
expression as an integrated approach to addressing core issue areas. These include:

► Intergenerational Leadership: Promoting culturally-relevant and community-based training that

strengthens, upholds, and honors Indigenous tribal identities, protocols, and core values for all
generations.

► Sustainable Commmuties: Advancing community development and cohesion through grassroots

organizing, traditional agricultural practices, cultural healing, and strategies for well-being that
preserve, nurture and restore traditional ways of life.

► Women's Leadership: Promoting and honoring the leadership role of Indigenous women by
supporting women-led projects that advance particular concerns and build the capacity of Indigenous
women and girls of all ages in and beyond their own communities.

► Environmental Health and Justice: Reinforcing traditional stewardship relationships to the land and
suppo1iing community-based effo1is to revitalize traditional spiritual practices and ways of life to
protect and preserve traditional sacred sites.

Throughout its work across issues, Seventh Generation Fund develops the leaderslup of established and
emerging Indigenous artists and culture-bearers, including traditional storytellers; artisans, such as basket-
weavers, potters, and carvers; performing artists working in Hip-Hop, theater, poetry, and other
expressive fonns; and digital media-makers. With more than three decades of experience, SGF recognizes
that nurturing and developing strategic mis and culture projects that grow from the grassroots is the best
way to aclueve sustainable, meaiungful change in ham1ony with tribal traditions and Indigenous
landscapes.

Description of Program for Which Funding Is Sought:

The proposal seeks general operating support.

2
Rationale for Recommendation:

A central function of the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) is to conduct research and development
related to new areas oflearning that address intersectional issues. This grant advances SOF's exploration
of the roles that art and culture play in advancing social change. We hope to raise awareness of the power
and potential for art as an activism tool to advance a broad spectrum of social justice concerns and issues
of specific interest and relevance to U.S. Programs' priorities, including racial justice for historically
marginalized communities. The grant also advances the Democracy and Power Fund's goals of building a
healthy, long-lasting, and dynamic social justice ecosystem through the development of a leadership
pipeline that supports multiple layers of social justice leadership. Furthermore, the grant advances the
Equality and Opportunity Fund's goals of lifting barriers that prevent people from participating fully in
economic, social, and political life; challenging structural racism; and supporting proactive efforts to
demonstrate the shared stake all members of society have in racial equity and inclusion.

The Seventh Generation Fund works at the intersection of social justice advocacy, philanthropy, and
grassroots Native community development. As a leading Indigenous organization focused on Native
empowerment and community sustainability, SGF has successfully leveraged millions of dollars in
financial support from mainstream philanthropy and individual donors for re-granting back into its partner
communities across the country. SGF offers direct grant support to Native community-based
organizations, as well as technical assistance and network-building opportunities. The organization
believes that Indigenous peoples know and understand most completely the challenges they face within
their communities; that local leaders across generations are best positioned to solve these issues; and that
Indigenous art and culture can provide powerful and intersectional approaches to addressing entrenched
social problems.

Executive Director Tia Oros (Zuni Pueblo) describes as the organization's most significant
accomplishment its role in providing relatively small but essential grant and program support to emerging
Native arts and culture initiatives that would otherwise lack access to resources. SGF grants, technical
assistance, and specialized training go directly to support Indigenous initiatives and communities that
often struggle in isolation. Over the past 33 years, the organization has served to incubate more than one
hundred vital and unique community projects that advance the power of Indigenous art and culture to
contribute to community sustainability and growth. SGF enables projects like this to build their own
capacity before going independent, often providing initial or even sole support of these grassroots projects
in their fom1ative stages.

Seventh Generation Fund's long-range goal is to rebuild vibrant, culturally sustainable, and spiritually whole
Indigenous communities. For Indigenous artists, tradition bearers, and next generation leaders, cultural
practice is a core strategy to ensure sustainability, build resiliency, and achieve social advancement. As a
bridge-builder between philanthropy, civil society, tribal nations, social justice advocates, and the Native
and non-Native art worlds, SGF is uniquely situated to serve its mission as a change catalyst and anchor
of support for the work of culture-bearing. In this regard, SGF is a leader in the growing field of art and
social justice and stands to serve as a critical partner to the Open Society Institute and its U.S. Programs
in advancing this work. The Strategic Opportunities Fund, in collaboration with the Democracy & Power
Fund, therefore recommends a grant in the amount of $175,000 over two years for general support of the
Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development.

3
Grant ID 20030710

Name of Organization: Sweet Home New Orleans and Renew Our Music Fund, Inc.

Tax Status: 50l(c)(3)

Purpose of Grant: To provide general operating support.

Grant Description: The grant is recommended as part of a research and development

initiative coordinated by the Strategic Oppo_rtunities Fund (SOF) to
explore the roles that art and culture play in advancing social change.
The mission of Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO) is to support the
individuals and organizations that perpetuate New Orleans' unique
musical and cultural traditions. Sweet Home New Orleans helps
musicians and culture bearers to stabilize their lives financially, develop
professionally, and participate in the cultural revitalization of the city.
Founded in 2005, SHNO began disbursing emergency aid to New
Orleans' musicians immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Today
their programs have evolved to include in-depth services such as job
creation and legal assistance, as well as advancing policies that promote
the social function of music and culture. As such, Sweet Home New
Orleans has emerged from the aftermath of the flood as the leading
service provider and advocacy organization for the city's cultural
community. This renewal general operating support grant is being
recommended in the amount of $250,000 over two years.

Previous OSI Support: $25,000- Strategic Opportunities Fund (2009)

Organization Budget: $708,000

Proiect Budget: NIA

Maior Sources of Support: Ford Foundation $77,000

Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation $94,000
Surdna Foundation $100,000

Amount Requested: $250,000 over two years

Amount Recommended: $150,000 over 18 months

January 1, 2011 -June 30, 2012

Description of Organization:

Founded in 2005 as the New Orleans Musicians Heritage Relief Fund, Sweet Home New Orleans
(SHNO) began disbursing emergency aid to New Orleans' musicians immediately following Hurricane
Katrina. SHNO's mission is to support the individuals and organizations that perpetuate New Orleans'
unique musical and cultural traditions. The organization helps New Orleans-based musicians, Mardi Gras
Indians, and Social Aid & Pleasure Club members to establish sustainable lives in their local
neighborhoods and to serve as an artistic force for the city's ongoing revitalization. Initially, SHNO's
work focused on streamlining resource allocation. Today their programs have evolved to include in-depth
services such as job creation and legal assistance. SHNO has emerged from the aftermath of the flood as
the leading local service provider to the city's cultural community.

1
New Orleans' rich musical traditions and unique cultural heritage are the roots of the city's identity and
are driving forces behind its economy. The culture bearers of New Orleans practice symbolically
functional art that unites and strengthens communities. Over successive generations, local artists were
marginalized by the mainstream music industry, often earning less for their intellectual property than
those cutting the record deals. They learned to cope with limited opportunities for earning a living and
restricted access to basic services while transmitting their art forms to family and friends within their
neighborhoods - so that communities became conduits for sharing knowledge, documenting history,
schooling next generation artists, and sustaining culture even within an unfriendly economic system.

In the wake of the hurricane and flood devastation of 2005, many of these neighborhood communities no
longer exist or have been fragmented almost beyond recognition. Thousands of artists/practitioners in
New Orleans lack the personal resources to rebuild their houses and re-establish their lives in the post-
Katrina local economy, and struggle to access public assistance. SHNO approaches its work with two
central intentions: to aid individuals and their families in rebuilding their lives; and to engage these same
individuals as leaders and agents of change in the metro area's overall and ongoing recovery.

SHNO practices a multi-pronged program strategy that includes:

• An intentionally designed Case Management System, through which culturally sensitive social
workers and counselors assess the needs of the city's tradition bearers. SHNO case workers document
this information in a customized database, accessible online to a network of nonprofit service
providers, and use the data to advocate on behalf of clients for resources ranging from health care to
housing.
• Distribution of funds for client's immediate and urgent needs as appropriate, responding to time-
sensitive needs such as car repairs or funeral expenses in a matter of days. (All payments are issued to
third-party vendors, and not to clients themselves.) To support clients in gaining long-term stability,
SHNO case managers also provide numerous in-kind services such as housing identification and
conduct one-to-one financial management sessions with their clients.
• An Economic Development program that creates jobs for artists in local venues, partnering with
presenters of live music to pay artists a fair wage. SHNO also provides pro bono legal services related
to intellectual property and covers repair and replacement costs for flood-damaged instruments. In
August 2010, SHNO published its third annual State of the New Orleans Music Community Report,
establishing itself as the authoritative source for demographic and economic data on local tradition
bearers.
• The Community Revitalization program, which promotes the role of indigenous culture in bringing
people together and advocates for the restoration of critical neighborhood-based lines of cultural
transmission. Through the provision of funding and capacity-building support to grassroots cultural
education programs, SHNO restores the critical neighborhood-based lines of cultural transmission
from elder to child that were damaged by the floods.

Since 2005, SHNO has served more than 4,000 members of New Orleans' cultural community. Clients
reside within the Greater New Orleans area and are predominantly African-American (79%) and male
(72%). The median annual household income of a SHNO constituent is below $18,000 per year. Seventy-
six percent of SHNO clients were born in the city. Most of these individuals rent their homes and live
throughout the New Orleans metro area, though most have been unable to return to their pre-Katrina
neighborhoods. Overall, a typical SHNO client is over 50 years old and is struggling to make ends meet.

SHNO increases local artists' access to basic services, generates more opportunities for clients to realize
revenue from their art, and invests in the role of tradition bearers as neighborhood-based educators and
organizers, transfornung the work and cultural practices of these individuals into mechanisms for
advancing social justice. At the same time, the organization serves a critical role in its own right as a
leading advocacy organization, particularly through its work to document the experiences of aiiists and
culture bearers and to educate regional and national audiences about the ways in which musicians, Mardi

2
Gras Indians, and Club members are essential change agents in the context of the region's long-term
recovery.

Description of Program for Which Funding Is Sought:

The proposal seeks general operating support.

Rationale for Recommendation:

A central function of the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) is to conduct research and development
related to new areas oflearning that address intersectional issues. This grant expands SOF's exploration
of the roles that art and culture play in advancing social change. We hope to raise awareness of the power
and potential for art as an activism tool to advance a broad spectrum of social justice concerns and issues
of specific interest and relevance to U.S. Programs' priorities, including racial justice for historically
marginalized communities. In addition, U.S. Programs has identified Louisiana as a priority state for the
State Strategies Initiative, which aims to integrate and expand our investments.

Sweet Home New Orleans operates as an accessible clearinghouse of resources for New Orleans' rich,
historic, and neighborhood-based music community, as well as a repository of critical data documenting
the conditions oflivelihood for thousands of individual artists. Since the flood of 2005, SHNO has
disbursed more than 3 million in direct financial assistance to more than 4,000 artists and culture bearers.
At the same time, the organization promotes cultural continuity by empowering artists to serve as agents
of change in the ongoing post-Katrina recovery efforts. SHNO is uniquely positioned to do its multi-
leveled work because of its established and culturally sensitive case management system, as well as years
of direct aid to the music community. SHNO's commitment over time has served to establish a high level
of trust on the part oflocal tradition bearers.

SHNO's work around documentation and dissemination has been highly successful. The 2010 State of
New Orleans Music Community Report (referenced above) details the dire economic conditions faced by
New Orleans artists even prior to the current recession: performance opportunities had decreased by 40%
and wages had dropped by nearly 20% from pre-Katrina levels, even as the cost of living in New Orleans
had increased since the hurricanes and flood by 110%. Government entities such as Louisiana Economic
Development (LED) have already begun referencing SHNO's research in their discussions of government
investments in the music industry. Other public offices - from the Louisiana Department of Culture,
Recreation, and Tourism at the state level to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau at the local
level-have expressed interest in the organization's ongoing research. The 2010 report builds upon a
2008 report and contributes to a data set that has eluded researchers for the more than 100 year history of
the indigenous New Orleans music community.

This year marks a moment of transition for SHNO as New Orleans commemorates the fifth anniversary of
Hurricane Katrina and as the organization brings on a new Executive Director. As SOF seeks to support
arts and culture organizations that advocate for change in the Gulf Coast region. SHNO is of particular
interest given its position as an intermediary with an artist population that represents and in fact comprises
the cultural fabric of the city of New Orleans. The Strategic Opportunities Fund is therefore pleased to
recommend a grant in the amount of $150,000 over 18 months to Sweet Home New Orleans for general
operating support.

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Grant ID 20030722

Name of Organization: The Renaissance Project

Tax Status: 50l(c)(3)

Purpose of Grant: To provide project support for the implementation of Healing a City
Through Stories and Breaking Silence, two complementary racial
healing initiatives developed by The Renaissance Project and building
upon the work of Students at the Center, one of the organization's core
programs.

Grant Description: The grant is recommended as part of a research and development

initiative coordinated by the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) to
explore the roles that art and culture play in advancing social change.
The mission of the Renaissance Project is to alleviate poverty and
improve the quality oflife in New Orleans' low-income African
American communities by implementing programs and fostering
partnerships in the areas of the arts, education, economic development,
and food access. The proposal seeks support to engage young people and
women through storytelling and community dialogue to document and
deepen the collective understanding of race relations in New Orleans.
SOF recommends a grant to support this project in the amount of
$150,000 over 18 months.

Previous OSI Support: As fiscal agent for Students at the Center:

$195,000 - Youth Initiatives Program/Youth Media (2000- 2002)
$75,000- Strategic Opportunities Fund/Rapid Response (2005)
$35,000 - Strategic Opportunities Fund/Katrina Media (2006)

Organization Budget: $465,182 (FYl0)

Project Budget: $327,588 (over two years)

Major Sources of Support: Ford Foundation $47,859

Second Harvest (regrant) $26,504
W.K. Kellogg Foundation $90,000

Amount Requested: $150,000 over 18 months

Amount Recommended: $150,000 over 18 months

($125,000 from Strategic Opportunities Fund T21081; $25,000 from the
Can1paign for Black Male Achievement T21098)

November 18\ 2010-April 30th, 2012

Description of Organization:

The mission of the Renaissance Project is to alleviate poverty and improve the quality oflife in New
Orleans' low-income African American communities by implementing programs and fostering
partnerships related to the arts, education, economic development, and food access. Primary activities
include Students at the Center, a public school-based creative writing and digital media program; and a
program that operates mobile produce markets at social service agencies and public housing facilities.

1
Rooted in New Orleans' Ninth Ward since its inception in 2001, The Renaissance Project
("Renaissance") is directed by Founder and Executive Director Greta Gladney. During the five years
since Hurricane Katrina, the organization's scope of work has expanded from its original focus on the
Lower Ninth Ward to include activities based in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Wards as well as the
Central City neighborhood, with programs reaching residents across Orleans Parish. Renaissance achieves
its mission by launching initiatives, supporting existing programs through fiscal sponsorship and
partnerships, and assisting community members to organize and implement their own projects.

Description of Program for Which Funding Is Sought:

The Renaissance Project seeks support to engage African American young people and women through
storytelling and community dialogue to document and deepen the collective understanding of race
relations in New Orleans. SOF recommends a grant to support this project in the amount of $150,000 over
18 months.

The first project, Healing a City Through Stories, involves cross-cultural, multiple stakeholder
engagement around the issue of equity in education. Throughout the course of this project, students,
retired teachers, community members, SAC staff, and current teachers in both direct-run and charter
schools of New Orleans Public Schools and the Recovery School District will work together towards
defining a shared vision for quality public education. Participants ages 16-60 from multiple racial and
ethnic backgrounds will bring their experiences and concerns to the table to envision together a local
system of schools that will serve all students fairly and equitably, regardless of ability or socioeconomic
condition. A core outcome of the Healing a City project will be a curriculum for humanities classrooms in
disadvantaged public schools through which students will learn and practice oral history methods in order
to create their own research-based texts about the history of race relations and campaigns for racial equity
in New Orleans schools.

Students at the Center has facilitated youth-centered and youth-led writing and digital media activities in
public schools in New Orleans since 1996, first in an unincorporated capacity and, from 2001, as a
program of Renaissance. With SAC students and staff as key participants in Healing a City, the project
will build upon the SAC program's core strengths as an exemplary youth engagement endeavor. SAC will
build on its longstanding partnerships with community-based organizations such as United Teachers of
New Orleans (UTNO), Crescent City Peace Alliance, retired teachers' groups, and faith-based groups
such as Christian Unity Baptist Church, St. James AME Methodist Church, and the Yes We Care
coalition. In phase one of the project, SAC students will work with representatives of these organizations
to gather their stories, focusing on the history of black teachers fighting for equal pay and for social
justice, from the pre-Civil War era to the present. Students will create an anthology, videos, and a
website based on this research and will present their findings through public exhibitions and story-telling
sessions at local community centers.

The project will serve the young people in New Orleans public schools by connecting new teachers to
native-born veteran educators, community organizations, local histories, and community-based curricula
that can inforn1 their pedagogies and transform their approaches to community-building in the classroom.
Drawing on the young people's research, project staff will design and implement a year-long teacher-
enrichment and training program through UTNO and SAC that provides new teachers in at least 10
schools with culturally sensitive, community-based curricula presented through community-based
education workshops. Incorporating content both from the students' multi-media oral history projects and
Students at the Center's program's lesson planning methodology, the workshops will enable new teachers
to create similar community-based curricula for use in their own classes. The workshops will also include
community dialogue sessions in which new teachers, veteran teachers, and community leaders come
together to discuss race relations among staff and students in New Orleans public schools.

The second project to be supported through this grant is African American Women: Breaking Silence to
Heal Ourselves and Our Communities, convening African American women through web-based dialogue
2
and quarterly meetings to discuss the state of African American communities in New Orleans through the
lens of their experience of race and gender-based discrimination in personal and professional contexts. In
Breaking Silence, the model of dialogue and storytelling serves as a framework for engaging a cohort of
New Orleans-based African American women on a diverse set of topics and themes relevant to their daily
lives. The framework from this project will be published and shared as a model for engaging African
American women in telling their stories in other communities and other contexts.

The process of Breaking Silence will be documented via web dialogue, video interviews of participants,
surveys of community members, and transcripts of quarterly meetings. In this way, both the process itself
and the project's outcomes will be made accessible to the public through performances, film screenings,
panel discussions, reading groups, presentations, and web-based publication of reconciliation narratives.
Overall, these two projects will provide critical content for understanding race relations in New Orleans
and in the specific arenas of education and employment. The issues facing the African American young
people and adults engaged through the projects will illustrate the barriers faced by many other
communities in the United States as participants seek to deepen the conversation around racial healing in
this country.

Rationale for Recommendation:

A central function of the Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) is to conduct research and development
related to new areas of learning that address intersectional issues. This grant expands SOF's exploration
of the roles that art and culture - in this case, storytelling - play in advancing social change. We hope to
raise awareness of the power and potential for art as an activism tool to advance a broad spectrum of
social justice concerns and issues of specific interest and relevance to U.S. Programs' priorities, including
racial justice for historically marginalized communities. In addition, U.S. Programs has identified
Louisiana as a priority state for the State Strategies Initiative, which aims to integrate and expand our
investments. The Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA) is providing co-funding for this grant
to support a portion of the Students at the Center/Healing a City project, in acknowledgement of its
commitment to supporting organizations and strategies that empower communities to share their stories
and narratives through the use of art, culture, film, and social media tools and to counter negative
perceptions and stereotypes of Black men and boys.

The Renaissance Project's work is rooted in a belief in the intrinsic worth of all people and the
fundamental right of each individual to be informed and to participate as a stakeholder in decision-making
processes around issues that directly impact his or her life. Drawing on the tradition of storytelling in
African American communities, the organization seeks to value the life experiences of these community
members as stakeholders and understands that their stories provide both a window into the past and
present conditions as well as an organizing tool in work to advance reconciliation and racial justice.
Informed by the work of its colleague organization Junebug Productions (a new grantee of the Strategic
Opportunities Fund and the Campaign for Black Male Achievement), The Renaissance Project
acknowledges the intelligence, creativity and potential power of exploited people to build healthy and just
societies and understands that telling one's own story can provide the foundation for longer and deeper
engagement in civic and community life. Students at the Center, highly regarded as a former grantee of
the Open Society Institute through the Youth Initiatives Katrina Media Fellowship programs, has long
employed Junebug's story circle methodology, which draws upon participants' experiences rather than
their opinions or ideas. Storytelling engages the listener's whole person, resulting in a deeper
understanding by the audience of the storyteller's perspective or situation.

The proposed project will serve to inform our evolving understanding of the complex set of realities
related to history, identity and justice for African Americans in New Orleans and the broader Gulf Coast
region as U.S. Programs expands its work in Louisiana. Too often policy is created and implemented
without a deep understanding of the histories, experiences, and interests of those most affected by the
issues at hand, and without representation of voices from these communities. While the scope of work
3
proposed here does not seek to engage directly in policy generation, The Renaissance Project's
documentation of racial justice narratives through the Healing a City and Breaking Silence initiatives will
inform future work of partner advocacy organizations such as the Louisiana Justice Institute. The work of
Healing a City will also contribute directly to the training of new teachers in New Orleans public schools.

As a note of interest, The Renaissance Project is one of only four Louisiana organizations to be funded
through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's America's Healing initiative, a multi-year national effort to
advance racialjsutice across the United States. The RFP for this initiative was one of the most
competitive national funding efforts in recent years. Through the Renaissance Project, the Students at the
Center program has also received support from U.S. Programs over a number of years, first as a grantee
of the Youth Initiatives/Youth Media program and later as an SOF grantee for post-Katrina rapid response
support and as a member of the Katrina Media Fellowship cohort. In this regard, the proposed project
presents us with a timely opportunity to support and deepen the work of a former and well regarded U.S.
Programs grantee in a priority geographic region for the Open Society Institute.

The Strategic Opportunities Fund, in collaboration with the Campaign for Black Male Achievement,
recommends a grant in the amount of $150,000 over 18 months to The Renaissance Project to support the
proposed scope of work.

4
Grant ID 20030758

Name of Organization: Gulf Coast Fund (Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RP A) is fiscal
agent)

Tax Status: Other

Purpose of Grant: To support the Gulf Coast Fund in strengthening community

organizations and networks in the Gulf Coast region and advancing open
and transparent decision-making processes led by those most affected by
the hurricanes of2005 and 2008 and the drilling disaster of 2010.

Grant Description: The grant is recommended in alignment with U.S. Programs' vision to
expand its investments in a small set of states that offer the greatest
opportunities for and challenges to the advancement of open society,
beginning in Louisiana and Texas. The grant will provide support for the
Gulf Coast Fund, which was established in the wake of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita to serve as a collaborative grantmaking entity and to
support community, state, and regional efforts that engage, empower,
and benefit displaced and returning residents throughout the Gulf Coast.
The Fund seeks support to: facilitate targeted regranting and technical
assistance for a cohort of leading grassroots organizations in Texas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama that have provided critical support
to marginalized communities in the aftermath of the BP oil drilling
disaster; scale up the Fund's media and communications strategies; and
convene regional leaders, alongside DC-based advocacy organizations
0MB Watch and the Project on Government Oversight, to develop plans
for a Gulf Coast Citizens Advisory Council.

Previous OSI Support: $100,000 to RPA from USP/Progressive Infrastructure (2008)

Organization Budget: $56,001,731 (FYlO)

Proiect Budget: $1,714,572 (FYlO)

Major Sources of Support: Ford Foundation $500,000

Starry Night Fund (Tides Foundation) $200,000
Surdna Foundation $100,000
Wallace Global Fund $75,000

Amount Requested: $580,000 over one year

Amount Recommended: $580,000 over one year

December 1st, 2010-November 30 th , 2011

Description of Organization:

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) is a nonprofit organization that advises on and manages more
than $200 million in annual giving. Headquartered in New York City, it traces its antecedents to John D.
Rockefeller Sr., who in 1891 began to professionally manage his philanthropy "as if it were a business."
With thoughtful and effective philanthropy as its one and only mission, RPA has grown into one of the
world's largest philanthropic service organizations, having overseen more than $3 billion to date in
grantmaking across the globe from four regional offices in the United States.
1
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors provides research and counsel on charitable giving, develops
philanthropic programs, and offers complete program, administrative, and management services for
foundations and trusts. RPA serves as the fiscal sponsor for the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal
and Ecological Health, on whose behalf this grant is recommended.

Description of Program for Which Funding Is Sought:

The Gulf Coast Fund is a community-led philanthropic _initiative based in the Gulf South. In addition to
grant support, the Fund provides programs to support a civil society infrastructure that works
collaboratively and strategically for community betterment. The Gulf Coast Fund convenes organizations
both locally and regionally to foster relationships, build networks, and provide programs and technical
assistance that respond to the self-identified needs of marginalized communities.

Formed by a collaboration of funders in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, the Fund is committed to
supporting work that focuses on social and economic justice and seeks to rebuild civil society capacity in
the region. At its core is an Advisory Group of two dozen leading policy advocates, community activists,
and grassroots organizers from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas representing a broad swath of
constituencies, geographies, and issue areas. The Advisors play a central role in informing the Fund's
grantmaking priorities and policies and in directing the Fund's resources. Since 2005, the Gulf Coast
Fund has distributed approximately $3,000,000 in small grants to over 175 grassroots organizations in the
region, in addition to strengthening networks and relationships between community leaders and building
the capacity of civil society to respond to ongoing challenges

The Fund supports grassroots and advocacy organizations that are led by and address the needs of
historically disenfranchised communities in the region - including African American and new immigrant
communities - and organizations that engage in work that encompasses community organizing, civic
engagement, voting rights, labor rights, housing, health care, youth engagement, education, and other
critical social issues. In recent months the Fund has been heavily engaged in responding to the BP oil
drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This disaster has struck at the heart of the communities the Gulf
Coast Fund supports, and encompasses the issue areas addressed by the Fund, requiring no institutional
shift to make it a priority.

Key recent accomplishments include:

• Ongoing grantmaking through formal cycle, discretionary, special project, and emergency grants,
including seven rounds of rapid response grantmaking in the wake of the BP oil drilling disaster.
• Annual regional convening for all Gulf Coast Fund grantees, most recently held in July 2010 in
partnership with the Sustainable Communities Network.
• Technical assistance through activities such as digital storytelling workshops with the Bridge the
Gulf Project and StoryCorps and leadership development work with the Gulf Coast Fellowship.
• Convenings for grantees and local funding institutions such as the Community Foundation of
South Alabama, which in early 2010, following several successful meetings with Fund grantees,
created a new Social Impact Fund designed specifically to support local social justice initiatives.
• Cultivating relationships between Fund grantees and local and national government agencies. The
Fund acts as a formal community liaison to the national commission on the BP drilling disaster.

The Gulf Coast Fund seeks support from the Open Society Institute for three areas of work:

Targeted Regranting and Technical Assistance The Fund seeks to increase grantmaking and
programming for a cohort of organizations that are leading advocacy and organizing work in the region's
most marginalized communities both in the near term as they respond to the BP oil drilling disaster, and
in the longer term through core work that advances racial equity and inclusion, immigrant justice, and
government transparency and accountability. In the context of the oil drilling disaster, many GCF
2
grantees - including Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation, Bayou Interfaith
Shared Community Organizing (BISCO), Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, and South Bay
Community Alliance - have served as anchor organizations providing critical support within their
communities across coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, filling wide gaps between inadequate
responses on behalf of both BP and the federal government. Through grants and targeted technical
assistance to these grantees, the Fund will strengthen and amplify local organizing and social justice
concerns and support the expression of community-level regional voices that can inform and affect local,
regional, and national policy. Calling upon the expertise and knowledge base of its 175 grantee partners,
the Fund will identify seven to ten organizations that have been at the forefront of the regional response to
the BP oil drilling disaster; demonstrate leadership within the region through their broader, ongoing work
to advance racial and economic justice; and incorporate citizen engagement and organizing as a part of
their work. Each organization would receive $30,000 to $40,000 in operational support, grants of
significant size to these organizations.

Media and Communications Strategy The Fund proposes to strengthen media and communications work
in the region by developing a comprehensive, long-term media outreach and public education strategy
that further builds capacity for grantees. Key goals of this initiative are to establish the Gulf Coast Fund
and its grantee network as leading voices on issues related to the region, including policy efforts to
address racial and economic injustices. As it amplifies the voices of Gulf Coast organizations and
activists, the Fund aims to create a groundswell of support for the broad aims of its network of grantees
and partners. Activities will include an ongoing series of media and communications workshops and
trainings led by experienced media strategists including: the Bridge the Gulf Project, comprised of Gulf
Coast media artists and trainers; StoryCorps, renowned for its audio and digital storytelling; and social
media strategists who specialize in the promotion of advocacy organizations and campaigns.

Campaign to Promote a Gulf Coast Citizens Advisory Council The ongoing BP oil disaster in the Gulf of
Mexico has underscored the drastic need for increased accountability from the oil industry and the
government agencies charged with its oversight. Corruption, lax enforcement, and protection of special
interests have inhibited an adequate response. Citizen oversight is essential to ensure that BP and
responsible parties are held accountable and oil industry practices are improved. Informed by the
experiences of communities in Alaska affected by the Exxon-Valdez Spill, Gulf Coast groups are calling
for the formation of a Citizens Advisory Council. The Gulf Coast Recovery Plan prepared by U.S.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus echoes the recommendation for strong citizen engagement in the
recovery and restoration process. To this end, the Gulf Coast Fund has begun conversations with a
coalition of organizations to promote a Citizens Advisory Council campaign for the Gulf Coast. This
coalition includes the Alliance Institute, a new nonprofit training institute, and the Gulf Restoration
Network, a Gulf-wide member organization (both based in New Orleans); as well as DC-based
organizations 0MB Watch and the Project on Government Oversight (grantees of both the Transparency
and Integrity Fund and the National Security and Human Rights Campaign).

Rationale for Recommendation

The grant builds upon SOF's discrete and targeted grantmaking to advance U.S. Programs engagement in
Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. It likewise advances U.S. Programs' vision to expand its
investments in a small set of states that offer the greatest opportunities for and challenges to the
advancement of open society, beginning in Louisiana and Texas. The grant extends our ability as a
national funder to make small capacity-building grants to leading grassroots advocacy organizations.

With a commitment to empowering the region's historically disenfranchised communities and a focus that
encompasses social and economic justice, the Gulf Coast Fund is consistently identified by grassroots
organizations and national funding partners as one of the most effective philanthropic entities in the
region. The contributions that the Fund has made in the areas of movement-building and networking are
as important as the Fund's financial support to non-profits. Their goal now is to move beyond the
traditional model of technical assistance, in which a single group receives funding to work one-on-one
3
with a consultant or trainer. Rather, the Fund seeks to advance a strategy that simultaneously builds skills
and capacity while strengthening relationships and networks and forming new connections and
collaborations. This strategy of increasing capacity and building movement hand-in-hand is an effective
way to strengthen the advocacy sector in the Gulf Coast region, where work tends to be deeply rooted in
relationships and collaboration.

In addition to supporting grassroots leadership, the Fund seeks to highlight the need for and impact of
philanthropic investment opportunities in the South, and to raise within the national dialogue a message
that many of the most important struggles for the future of democracy are taking place within the region.
The Gulf Coast region has long been underserved by the national philanthropy sector. The capacity of the
non-profit sector in the region does not match that in other parts of the country. While many community-
based organizations are doing effective advocacy, organizing, and policy work and achieving great
results, they lack the technical expertise or staff capacity to successfully compete for grants from
traditional sources. Subsequently numerous Gulf Coast organizations operate with relatively small
budgets, and foundations that typically make large grants find it challenging to do the due diligence
required for grants to small organizations and conversely find it hard to identify groups in the region
capable of receiving and effectively utilizing grants of significant size. It can therefore be difficult for
foundations not based in the region to identify organizations that are considered the most effective and
accountable to local constituencies.

In this case, the Gulf Coast Fund will increase OSI's capacity to reach organizations working on the
frontlines of response to the BP oil drilling disaster. This most recent disaster was in many ways a test of
the network the Fund has built over the past five years. The Fund's near-instant mobilization of dozens of
community leaders and organizations from across the entire region to determine the most immediate
needs would not have been possible without the relationships cultivated and strengthened by the Fund.
The unique role of the Fund, its reputation and trust among communities in the region, and its
unparalleled relationships and analysis has been acknowledged both by leaders on the ground and at the
highest levels of government in the months since the disaster. It is strongly positioned to lead a
collaborative campaign by regional and national partners to develop a Citizens Advisory Council. U.S.
Programs grantees 0MB Watch and the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) have expressed great
interest in the campaign and enthusiastic support of the Gulf Coast Fund's leadership of this initiative.

For the proposed regranting initiative, organizations would be identified within one month of receipt of
this grant and funds would be distributed no more than two weeks later. This timeline reflects the Gulf
Coast Fund's ability to operate nimbly and effectively and further highlights its unique position as a
network hub for advocates and grassroots organizers whose work is deeply rooted within the region. Gulf
Coast Fund staff will consult OSF throughout the regranting process to ensure that organizations of
particular interest to U.S. Programs are considered in this effort, with fmal grant awards to be determined
by the Fund's Advisors. In this regard the regranting program will enable OSI to extend its own network
of connections as U.S. Programs moves forward with its State Strategies Initiative to develop deeper
levels of engagement in Louisiana and Texas.

The Gulf Coast Fund is dedicated to addressing the underlying causes that have contributed to the severe
impacts of recent regional disasters and to creating a just and sustainable future for Gulf Coast
communities. Each of the three proposed areas of work will address this overarching goal and will
strengthen the capacity of economically disadvantaged and historically disenfranchised communities of
the Gulf Coast states. The Strategic Opportunities Fund recommends a grant in the amount of $580,000
over one year to support the three areas of work outlined in the Gulf Coast Fund's request.

4
Grant ID 20030759

Name of Organization: New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance (Greater New

Orleans Foundation is fiscal agent)

Tax Status: Other

Purpose of Grant: To support the New Orleans Coalition on Open

Governance

Grant Description: This renewal grant would provide project support for the
New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance, an initiative
that brings together six community-based organizations to
build a more transparent and accountable city governance
structure. In 2010-11 the Coalition will launch a multi-year
campaign to bring an open and participatory budget process
to the city, working in tandem with OSF's criminal justice
grantees. The Coalition will also develop a model citizen
participation project to showcase the potential of the city's
recently created community engagement
system. Remaining funds will support a leadership training
program on issues of open government and provide
capacity-building technical assistance for the people and
groups involved in the Coalition. The grant would advance
U.S. Program's State Strategies Initiative, which is building
the capacity to address OSF issues in Louisiana and Texas.

Previous OSI Support: $789,489 from Strategic Opportunities Fund and

Transparency & Integrity Fund (2009-10)

Organization Budget: $2,858,029

Project Budget: $1,045,801

Major Sources of Support: Neighborworks $47,000

Amount Requested: $988,801 over one year

Amount Recommended: $900,000 over one year ($800,000 outright, $100,000 contingent)
($550,000 Transparency & Integrity Fund, Tl :21093)
($350,000 Strategic Opportunities Fund, Tl: 21081)

Term: 1 year (November 1, 2010- October 31, 2011)

Description of Organization
The Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF) is a community foundation committed to
creating a resilient, sustainable, vibrant community in which individuals and families
flourish and in which the special character of the New Orleans region and its people is
preserved, celebrated, and allowed to flourish. GNOF, based in New Orleans, plays the
role of community leader and convener, a champion of civil society, and a supporter of
effective nonprofit leaders and organizations. GNOF serves as a philanthropic partner to
local, state, and national donors. In 2008, GNOF provided grants totaling more than $16
million to nonprofits throughout the region. The Greater New Orleans Foundation would
serve as the fiscal sponsor for pass-through grants to five of the six organizations that
make up the New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance (NOCOG).

Description of Program for Which Funding Is Sought

The New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance is a set of community-based nonprofit

organizations that share a commitment to working collaboratively to build more
transparent and accountable city governance structures. 1 NOCOG was created as part of
an OSF-supported planning process to develop a stronger transparency advocacy
infrastructure in the city of New Orleans. Six organizations currently constitute
NOCOG: the Tulane Loyola Public Law Center, the Committee for a Better New
Orleans, the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, the Neighborhoods
Partnership Network, Puentes, and the New Orleans Lens.2

NOCOG's long-term goals are:

• To support the creation of the structures and a culture of openness and
transparency, thereby transforming the relationship between governance entities
and the public;
• To mobilize institutions, communities of place and interest, and individuals to
advocate for decision-making, public policy, and legislation that is transparent
and accountable;
• To make public information more widely accessible and provide analyses that
support advocacy;
• To equip New Orleans to contribute to national initiatives to increase
transparency and openness, and strengthen democracy.

In its first year of operation, NOCOG and its member organizations have advocated on
open governance issues in a number of different ways. Last fall and this spring, NOCOG
conducted focus groups around the city to obtain a stronger understanding of the
concerns and needs of city residents as they relate to government transparency and
accountability. After the election of a new Mayor in April, NOCOG presented its
findings to the incoming administration. NOCOG members played a significant role in
the Mayoral transition process, including: co-chairing the Information Technology

1 NOCOG has specifically chosen to use the term "governance" rather than "government" to reflect the fact
that New Orleans is not governed by a unitary city government, but by an overlapping set of governance
institutions (including levee boards, community institutions, etc.).
2 The Lens is funded through a separate grant and fiscal sponsor, approved for two years in the September

2010 docket.

2
transition team to assess the state of data systems in city government and make
recommendations for hiring a Chief lnfonnation officer; serving on the transition team on
contract reform (which recommended more open and transparent procurement practices);
and serving on the search committee for a new Chief of Police.

The Coalition has also been active in two major initiatives. The first involved the
adoption of a Citizen Participation Process as part of the city's new Master Plan, a project
NOCOG partners have long worked towards through public education and engagement
efforts. Over the past few months, NOCOG has partnered with many of OSF's Criminal
Justice Fund grantees to challenge the Orleans Parish Sherriffs plan to build a 5,000 bed
jail. NOCOG's participation focused on assuring that the planning process would meet
existing transparency standards and that people in the city would have the information
and opportunities needed to have a voice in this major policy decision. NOCOG
published a special issue of the widely-read Neighborhoods Partnership Network
publication, The Trumpet, to air many viewpoints on the jail plan. NOCOG also
pressured the Mayor to assure that the task force formed to consider jail plans would be
subject to open meetings laws.

For the coming year, NOCOG members have laid out a clear set of programmatic
activities to advance the goals of open, accountable, and responsive government for the
city. First, NOCOG will embark on a multi-year campaign to secure an open and
participatory budget process for the city. Currently, the city's budget is detennined in a
rushed, closed-door process at the end of each year. Many sectors of city government -
particularly criminal justice agencies - provide little more than a "back of the envelope"
figure in requesting their allocations. The process allows little opportunity for the public
to question budget priorities, much less advocate for different distributions. The goal will
be to open the process to public view, demand accountability for budget planning and
allocations, and engage the public in discussions about how public funds should be spent.

NOCOG will engage the public and build support for an open budget process,
collaborating particularly with criminal justice reform advocates to demand greater
openness and accountability in setting public safety budgets. NOCOG hopes a successful
campaign to educate and engage New Orleanians about criminal justice spending will
provide a template for engaging other communities of interest in the longer effort for
open budgeting. To achieve this goal, the coalition will use the evolving Citizen
Participation Process to engage cmmnunity members in discussions about criminal justice
spending and policies. NOCOG will also begin a series of trainings for city employees
on public records and open meetings laws, to assure that those in government are aware
of their obligations and duties to the public in providing information on city spending and
budgeting.

NOCOG members will also work to implement a Citizen Participation Process pilot
program in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. The purpose of the CPP is to
give citizens throughout the city equitable and meaningful input into city government
policy-setting and decision-making, and to provide government with a mechanism for
communicating with citizens. To that end, therpilot program will focus on organizing

3
neighborhood associations into a more formal structure for disseminating information on
the development of new policies, gathering community input on development and other
projects, and engaging neighborhood residents in budget processes. NOCOG hopes to
use the Gentilly project to field test various approaches to organizing and sustaining the
CPP system at the neighborhood level before working to create a city-wide CPP system.

NOCOG will create and run a leadership training program for community residents. The
goal of the program is to create a cohort of community leaders who understand and are
committed to transparency and accountabililty issues, who are familiar with public
records and open meetings laws and how to make use of them, and who can act as
advocates on issues related to open governance going forward. In addition, NOCOG
members will receive capacity-building training to improve important organizational
skills including organizational management and development, strategic communications,
fundraising, and coalition building.

Rationale for Recommendation

The Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) and the Transparency and Integrity Fund (TIF)
jointly recommend a grant of $900,000 over one year. The grant would advance U.S.
Program's State Strategies Initiative, which is building the capacity to address OSF issues
in Louisiana and Texas. This grant builds on SOF's initial research and development that
explored new opportunities for U.S. Programs' engagement in the Gulf Region.
Subsequently SOF's commitment was to support the launch and pilot phase of the
initiative and this will therefore be the final grant from SOF.

New Orleans has a storied history of government waste, fraud and abuse, along with
unresponsive, unaccountable governance - a situation long accepted as inevitable by
local residents. Since Hurricane Katrina, however, the city has experienced a rebirth of
civic concern and engagement, fueled by the sense that even persistent problems require
attention if the city is to recover and thrive. Advocates on issues ranging from education
to criminal justice to municipal contracting and budgeting have found that their separate
efforts are hampered by a common problem: lack of government transparency. The
development ofNOCOG is the first attempt in memory by a broad-based coalition to
address problems of transparency and accountability in city government.

The last year has provided opportunities and challenges for NOCOG. Most notable was
the election of a new mayor, Mitch Landrieu, this past February. Like many of his
predecessors, Landrieu ran on a platform that included cleaning up city government.
Landrieu's commitment to that cause has been questioned at times in the months since-
particularly in relation to the process for selecting a new Police Chief - but overall
NOCOG members are pleased that they now have a city leader who they can work with
rather than against and who is making good on promises to make government more open
and responsive. With significant input and/or pressure from NOCOG members, Landrieu
has refonned city procurement practices as well as acceded to demands that plans for a
new city jail be open to significant public input. At the same time, a change in leadership
does not mean the instant transformation oLcity government. NOCOG is therefore

4
planning advocacy work that engages city leaders, public employees, and residents in a
variety of ways.

In its plans for the coming year, NOCOG is taking on the budget process and the
implementation of the Citizen Participation Process to capitalize on opportunities created
by a relatively friendly administration while recognizing that change will come over
many years and requires smart, incremental steps. In allying with the criminal justice
reform community, NOCOG will have politically savvy partners eager to see changes in
how public safety funding is allocated. The alliance will also help further strengthen the
community of OSF-supported efforts in New Orleans, advancing two goals
simultaneously.

The coalition's active members constitute a group of outstanding and dedicated local
advocates. David Marcello of the Tulane/Loyola Public Law Center is an experienced
and respected public interest attorney (who has received SOF support in the past).
Timmolyn Sams, Executive Director of the Neighborhoods Partnership Network, was
recently named one of the Utne Reader's "50 visionaries" for her neighborhood-based
organizing work since the storm. In 2011 the group will look to recruit a Vietnamese
community organization to bring a much needed perspective to the open governance
effort.

We wish to identify two grantmaking concerns. First, OSF is providing the lion's share of
funding for NOCOG. We have made clear that NOCOG must diversify its funding base.
In the past year, the group made good initial steps in that direction, supplementing our
initial grant with $300,000 in additional grant funds. To assure these efforts continue, we
are making $100,000 of the total grant a match, meaning that NOCOG must raise 10% of
its budget from other sources. We have informed the groups that in subsequent years, we
will require non-OSF funding to increase by 10% annually until OSF provides no more
than 40% ofNOCOG's total budget. Given the challenges of raising money in New
Orleans and the Gulfregion, this gradual increase seems reasonable. Second, NOCOG is
using the Greater New Orleans Foundation as a fiscal agent for this grant. We believe
there are benefits and drawbacks to this situation. However, on the whole we feel the
arrangement is justified in the current situation. Over the past year, staff have worked
closely with the NOCOG member organizations to attempt to locate an alternate fiscal
agent for the Coalition. Unfortunately, no local entity can offer the capacity and
experience that GNOF brings: providing financial, advisory, and fundraising support to
the groups in NOCOG. In the past year the Greater New Orleans Foundation has proven
to be a valuable resource for OSF staff to better understand local conditions and to
provide unvarnished feedback on NOCOG's progress. We will continue to work to find
another fiscal agent in 2011 or shift to making multiple grants to the constituent parts of
NOCOG.

5
Grant ID 20030755

Name of Organization: Nonprofit Finance Fund

Tax Status: 501(c) (3) public charity

Purpose of Grant: to support re-granting associated with U.S. Programs' Technical

Assistance Initiative

Grant Purpose: This grant supports re-granting associated with the U.S. Programs'
Technical Assistance Initiative (TAI). The TAI is a comprehensive U.S.
Programs initiative to strengthen field and grantee capacity in challenging
economic times. This initiative, initially proposed by the U.S. Programs
board seeks to support grantees that are critical to the fields in which U.S.
Programs invests to both weather the current economic crisis and adapt to
the changing economic climate, strengthening sustainability planning,
financial planning, management and fundraising so that they can continue
to make progress with their social justice work. The Nonprofit Finance
Fund was selected as the Technical Assistance Initiative (TAI) provider
through a competitive RFP process that took place in March 2010. With
this grant the Nonprofit Finance Fund will serve as an intermediary in the
re-granting of up to 40 general support grants to organizations that are
participating in the eighteen month TAI initiative. These funds will help
defray expenditures that will be incurred for staff and board members to
participate in the initiative.

Previous OSI Support: NIA

Organization Budget: $13,186,342 (2010)

Project Budget: $1,300,000

Major Sources of Support: NIA

Amount Requested: $1,300,000 over 14 months

Amount Recommended: $1,300,000 over 14 months

Term: November 1, 2010-December 31, 2011

Description of Organization:

Founded in 1980, the mission of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) is to create a strong, well-capitalized
and durable nonprofit sector that connects money to mission effectively, supporting the highest aspirations
and most generous impulses of people and communities. NFF has emerged as a leading Community
Development Financial Institution by serving the nonprofit field, including organizations that are engaged
in economic and community development, youth services, arts, education, advocacy, health and human
services, and other areas. More than a financial intermediary, NFF has evolved into a full-service
"investment bank" for the nonprofit sector. As such their target audience has also grown and evolved, with
their services directed to organizations most in need of financial expertise or financing support. NFF

1
_,~------t----.:.-.i.•--------lol,l;-l>.._11'._________,_____________._ _ _., .___~_,

focuses on needs that are poorly addressed by mainstream institutions. Nearly 100 percent of NFF's clients
are located in urban communities, ensuring their services both directly aid in stabilizing distressed
neighborhoods while simultaneously enhancing the ability of local organizations to address social needs.
They have worked with more than 4,500 organizations nationwide since 1980, with annual operating
budgets from $100,000 to $100 MM. This includes organizations receiving financing, technical assistance
services and customized consulting engagements, as well as participants in the growing number ofNFF-led
workshops, trainings and financial leadership clinics.

NFF's headquarters are in New York and their other offices are across the country in Newark, New Jersey;
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; Washington, DC; San Francisco
and Los Angeles, California. Their more than 80 staff aims to address the unique needs in both their
regional communities and their expanding national footprint. NFF's reach continues to move beyond these
direct geographies, with new initiatives recently established in the Southeast, the South, Hawaii, Chicago
and the Pacific Northwest.

In their consulting and advocacy work, NFF is leading efforts with funders, collaborative partners,
nonprofit leaders, and the private sector to provide tactical tools and guidance that strengthens financially-
based decision-making so that nonprofits can become stronger, better-capitalized organizations. NFF has
educated nonprofit executives and their boards about nonprofit business models, healthy growth and
capitalization. NFF regularly establishes funding partnerships to deliver broad-reaching technical services
to nonprofit clients, and they currently have active relationships with over 80 major funders across the
country including the Ford Foundation, WK Kellogg Foundation, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Description of Program for which Funding is Sought:

The U.S. Programs' Technical Assistance Initiative was developed in response to the distinct set of
challenges that the economic crisis has created, and continues to create, for non-profits that are above and
beyond the regular challenges that arise in a given program year. Many non-profits lack the internal
capacity and expertise to respond to these continuing challenges creatively and effectively - particularly in
the areas of sustainability planning, financial planning/management and fundraising. The goal of this
Technical Assistance Initiative (TAI) is to provide both individual and collective technical assistance
support and peer learning opportunities to support key fields/sub-fields of concern to U.S. Programs. The
initiative comprises two components. First U.S. Programs is retaining NFF as a consultant to provide a
range of assessment and financial planning services that address the aspects of financial health that drive
organizational sustainability.

In an effort to balance a broad reach across grantees and meaningful work with each participating
organization, NFF will carry out a combined set of services-- peer group learning cohorts and one-on-one
coaching and financial consulting services. U.S. Programs is engaging NFF as a consultant to develop and
implement this technical assistance initiative.

The second component of the initiative, and the subject of this grant recommendation, is the provision of
general support grants for organizations selected to participate in the initiative. NFF will serve an
intermediary role to support the full participation of staff and board members in this eighteen month long
initiative. NFF has found that there is greater opportunity for success when the technical assistance
combines flexible financial support together with the delivery of sustainability and financial planning
services so that groups do not experience further strain on their capacity. Through its consulting contract
NFF will lead the initiative with USP staff input and will work closely with staff as they develop criteria for
the selection of participants. General support grants will be awarded to selected participants following the
completion of Phase 1 ofNFF's engagement and are intended to cover any and all costs associated with
participation in the initiative. These costs will include any travel and expense associated with having two-
2
• c'

three staff attend one of the five financial clinics or any expense incurred in the follow-on strategic
financial coaching (such costs could include having staff or Board Members travel to participate in these
Coaching Sessions). NFF is prepared to mobilize staff from all of their regional offices to hold the financial
clinics in five geographically diverse areas of the country, with the intention of minimizing travel for
participating organizations.

Rationale for Recommendation:

This grant supports a re-granting component of the Technical Assistance Initiative that was developed
jointly with the Strategic Opportunities Fund and U.S. Programs Grantmaking Operations division and that
received U.S. Programs board approval in September 2009. On occasion, the Strategic Opportunities Fund
(SOF) undertakes special initiatives like this that address timely opportunities to impact a core U.S.
Programs concern.

The economic crisis has impacted many of our grantees that continue to experience funding cuts at the
programmatic and operational levels and they have had to adjust or scale back their programs, respond to
increased demand for services from their constituents, or make serious reductions in their staff and
operations. In light of this situation, U.S. Programs has committed to support a special Technical
Assistance Initiative that will, throughout 2011, seek to sustain and strengthen grantees in fields that we are
trying to advance, so that they can continue to make progress with their social justice work.

We expect that the emphasis of this Technical Assistance Initiative will be placed on supporting
organizations in key fields of concern to OSI, rather than focusing on an unrelated collection of individual
organizations. We foresee that this field strengthening approach will enable us to provide grantees with
individual and collective technical assistance support and peer learning opportunities in the areas of
financial planning/management and fundraising. We expect NFF in its consulting role to assist us
determine which fields we should prioritize and the number of grantees that this initiative will target.

In the last two years U.S. Programs engaged in several efforts to address the impact of the economic
downturn - some of which were field or grantee specific, and others more widely targeted to address
stressors that are driving more families and individuals into poverty. These efforts included the creation of
the Special Fund for Poverty Alleviation and the dedication of funds to ensure that federal stimulus
spending is transparent and that dollars flow equitably to communities most in need. This current initiative
and re-granting effort ain1s to support the longer term viability and sustainability of organizations that are
critical players in the fields that U.S. Programs supports. The Strategic Oppo1tunities Fund therefore
recommends a grant of $1.3 million to the Nonprofit Finance Fund for the Technical Assistance Initiative's
re-granting component.