Supporting Organizing Work Connecticut

SOW-CT is a philanthropic effort to develop a shared strategy and pool resources across grantmakers in order to strengthen the organizing capacity of grassroots groups across Connecticut.

Over the past several years, there has been growing interest among Connecticut's philanthropic community in supporting organizing as a strategy to advance community change and promote equity and justice, both in specific localities and around issue areas including education, health care, criminal justice and immigration. SOW-CT’s work grows out of the recognition that strong, effective organizing work – in any region and on any issue area—requires capacity and infrastructure for the organizing field that cuts across the boundaries of specific constituencies, geographic regions and issue silos. While individual foundations may have limitations and barriers that prevent them from addressing these intersectional, statewide needs, there is the potential to address them collectively and collaboratively.

CCP is proud to partner with SOW-CT as its fiscal sponsor.

Values

1. We value community organizing that centers and is led by people most impacted by injustice and inequity as a critical and necessary strategy for advancing justice and equity in Connecticut.

2. We believe our work must center racial justice and justice for other marginalized communities.

3. We believe that as funders we must recognize and challenge the power dynamics that often present obstacles to effective collaborative work between funders and organizers.

4. We value working in partnership with community organizers to ensure that our efforts are meaningfully informed by, and responsive to, those that are doing organizing work in real time.

5. We are committed to collectively supporting strategies that leverage resources in an effort to tackle challenges that cut across issue silos and geographic boundaries in our state.

6. We believe in expanding resources available for community organizing; our work together aims to bring additional resources to the collective table, rather than replacing or reallocating the funding SOW members are already providing to organizing groups.

Members

• Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

• Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut

• Connecticut Community Foundation

• Connecticut Health Foundation

• Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation

• Fairfield County's Community Foundation

• Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

• The Leever Foundation

• Melville Charitable Trust

• Nellie Mae Education Foundation

• Perrin Family Foundation

• The Fund For Greater Hartford

• The Tow Foundation

• Universal Healthcare Foundation

• William Casper Graustein Memorial Fund

Co-chairs and Staff
Alexis Bivens SOW-CT Managing Director Connecticut Council for Philanthropy	Malwin Davila Malwin Davila Program Officer William Casper Graustein Memorial Fund

For more information, contact Alexis Bivens at sowct@ctphilanthropy.org.

SOW-CT Publications

SOW-CT's report, Supporting Organizing Work in Connecticut: Insights from Organizers, is focused primarily on gaps, barriers, and potential solutions to consider when seeking opportunities to support the field of organizing. Data and information were gathered from a survey and interviews, as well a from SOW-CT's August 2019 convening of funders and organizers.