Meeting the Moment: A North Star Fund Podcast

Development Director Kofo Anifalaje interviews North Star Fund donor-advised fund holder Sarah Frank. Sarah has had a donor-advised fund (DAF) through North Star Fund for several years.  Sarah made some donations during the pandemic that are unique to her situation, but has great insight to share for any donors interested in supporting community organizing.Kofo and Sarah talk about ways to be a responsible and accountable donor in these demanding times. Their conversation talks about how to move money with intention, including when to use a DAF and balancing it out with other forms of giving. 

In this episode, our deputy director Elz Cuya Jones talks with Nat Chioke Williams about our long shared history of challenging philanthropy to move money—in particular to Black-led movements. Elz and Nat talk frankly about the challenges we face working within the philanthropy system, and as leaders of institutions calling for a different type of commitment.

Our Hudson Valley Program Coordinator Gabriela Quintanilla interviews the Underground Center, one of our grantees doing some less conventional organizing. The Underground Center empowers people to create economic and social power through mutual aid efforts and interconnectedness with the land. And they do it with an awareness of the long, unsustainable relationship between New York City and the Hudson Valley. 

In this episode, we meet Jillian White, North Star Fund's donor organizer, who is also a longtime activist and community organizer. Jillian interviews 2020 Giving Project alum Marissa Finn Hersh. Jillian and Marissa have a lively conversation about raising money, giving money, power and how all these dynamics—and more—intersect when we're trying to move money into social justice movements.

In this episode, our program associate Leyana Dessauer interviews two members of our Community Funding Committee (CFC) who talk about their experiences as organizers and grantmakers over the first 18 months of the pandemic. These two grantmakers, Leah Obias and Rob Robinson, bring decades of organizing experience, and they also bring valuable insights from their national and international experience. They're a great example of how the type of hyperlocal organizing we focus on doesn't actually mean small. When you connect hyperlocal work across issue areas, borders and geography, its impact is big. Give a listen to how these two fascinating New Yorkers are meeting the moment. 

In this episode, our communications director Kathleen Pequeño interviews Jose Hamza Saldaña, the current director of the Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign and a formerly incarcerated New Yorker. RAPP has maintained a steady pace of campaigns in the pandemic, adapting and pivoting to keep defending the human rights of incarcerated New Yorkers. Jose shares RAPP's approach of not excluding anyone from their campaigns and talks about their actions to keep the pressure on state government in the face of the pandemic and our state's ongoing prison crisis.