Because each cohort of incoming Fellows comes to the Foundation with an enviable track record of meaningful work experience, an eager and inquiring spirit, and the courage to question the status quo.

Because it allows me to repeatedly see our Foundation leaders at their best—opening up to the Fellows’ countless questions, continually opening doors that help Fellows build enduring professional networks, and gently explaining why we do what we do in the midst of a constantly changing world.

Because the Fellowship, as a locus for learning, provides an opportunity to explore issues, like class dynamics, that are often strangely silent in philanthropy.

Because the Fellowship alumni are energetic, creative leaders funneling resources, influencing policies, and running programs from reading and the arts to affordable housing and water systems.

Because the Fellowship opens the door, especially for people of color, to what has been the historically closed and elite—some would say elitist– circle of philanthropy.

Because working with Fellows allows me to guide, counsel, and cajole Fellows and then witness the blossoming of a wealth of talent, passion, and skills that lead to positions of greater influence, authority, and lives full of meaning.

Because our communities and neighborhoods all deserve to benefit from the richness of skilled, experienced, values-based leaders of color, our Multicultural Fellows.

Note: The deadline to apply for the fellowship is this coming Monday, March 11th.

The session, “Building Bridges, Building Power: Race, Immigration, and Faith-based community organizing in Post-Prop 30 California,” was hosted by Interfaith Funders and focused on the latest research, trends, and organizing strategies. (Download a copy of Building Bridges, Building Power: Developments in Institution-Based Community Organizing, a just-released report published by Interfaith Funders.) The San Francisco Foundation hosted the meeting; we are proud of our 20-year partnership with the faith-based community through our FAITHS program, which has built a network of over 600 bay area congregations and faith-based organizations.

Amidst the researchers, faith leaders, and organizers, Rev. Deborah Lee noted that immigration detention centers are quietly located in many communities where the surrounding neighborhoods have little or no knowledge of their presence. Rev. Lee, Director of the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, hosts a monthly vigil where a dedicated group of up to 100 community members bear witness to the activities at the immigration center located in Richmond, California.

Why does the faith community continue to focus on immigration? Because there are tragic implications of our immigration policy, such as dividing families via deportation and addressing these “is another step in the long history of humanization.”

“There is a deep generational struggle involving race and class,” says Dr. Manuel Pastor of the University of Southern California, pointing to California’s election results as an example of how younger voters and people of color are making their votes count.

Dr. Pastor, a national expert on equity issues and community-based advocacy, shared observations on “Big Changes in Organizing” that have occurred over the last twenty years, leading to the recent passage of California’s Proposition 30 that was largely driven by people of color and younger voters. He highlighted that:

1. Organizing strategies have shifted from interest-based to values-based. People share many values— think security, education, democracy. However, there are many ways to meet those values. For example, education can occur by resourcing the public school system or by removing your children from that system to a private school. By focusing on values, organizers can appeal to similarities in values rather than the interests that often separate us.
2. There has been a shift from focusing on issues to focusing on a vision. Whether it’s the DREAMERS or the push for marriage equality, focusing on the vision of what’s possible helps build momentum.
3. In the past, organizing strategies focused largely on identity, such as race; more recent strategies focus on a common frame, such as who we are as Californians.
4. Strategies have also shifted from focusing on what makes people angry to building on aspirations. Dr. Pastor observes that younger people are very hopeful and both younger folks and many people of color feel that government can help them reach their dreams, so an aspirational approach is a very effective organizing strategy.

Erika, a 14-year-old immigrant who is also a remarkably seasoned organizer with a PICO affiliate, drove home the message of the power of organizing: “When you go visit your representative and you can say that you turned out 60,000 votes, you’re no longer powerless.” Amen.

As California and the country brown, the need for civic engagement and leadership indigenous to the various racial ethnic communities increases; leadership and engagement within and across communities is the platform upon which our civil society, our very democracy, rests. One of the ways in which we at The San Francisco Foundation are—and have been—addressing this critical issue is through our Multicultural Fellowship Program. What now looks like a stroke of genius started as an experiment. The Fellowship program was established over 30 years ago partially to address the lack of diversity in philanthropy; today there are 70 alumni exercising leadership in various sectors.

The program focuses on becoming an effective grantmaker via hands-on experience; it also provides an array of training, networking, mentoring, career coaching, and opportunities to strengthen the Fellows’ professional networks. The direct, on-the-job approach is a stepping stone to the next career opportunity. “My success in managing the CHANGE Coalition is a direct result of my experience managing a coalition at The San Francisco Foundation,” explains Kathryn Alcántar, Environment Fellow, 2005 – 2007. “This experience taught me the skills to manage obstacles, deal with challenging conversations, and keep people excited and motivated to work with each other.”

And just as important, it provides the Fellows with the opportunity to explore the most pressing societal issues with their teams, with our Foundation leadership, and with their cohort, creating professional relationships that often endure for the rest of their careers. Jaime Cortez, Arts & Culture Fellow, 2006 – 2008 observes that “it is hard to overstate how important it has been to build this network of authentic relationships. This is how I learn of professional opportunities; this is how I learn of art opportunities (calls for entries, performances, panels, openings, lectures, etc.).”

Today, February 7, we will be welcoming about half of our alumni whose homecoming will allow them to catch-up with each others lives and continue to learn from each other. The agenda allows an opportunity for alumni to share effective strategies that lead to greater engagement and leadership opportunities within and across many racial and ethnic backgrounds. The topic is timely; the expertise is abundant; the passion unfailing. These are our Multicultural Fellows.

I took the opportunity to mention that I have been, for some years now, making sporadic efforts to start an ongoing conversation on class issues here at the Foundation. When I first arrived at the Foundation to run the Multicultural Fellowship Program (then 25-years old), I was surprised to find that there was no mention of class issues in the otherwise comprehensive curriculum that I inherited.

One of the book club members asked me: “So what do you hope to achieve by having a discussion on class issues at your Foundation?” To me, the case for talking about class seems patently obvious: grantmakers should have a basic understanding of the foundation’s role in society. As a community foundation, that includes awareness about our multiple roles in working with wealthy donors as well as the nonprofits that service and work with the most disenfranchised sectors in our region. So what I hope to achieve is an opportunity for emerging grantmakers to create a personal framework that defines the socio-political values underlying their work. To me, the question of “Why discuss class issues?” is akin to asking, “Why would you teach mathematicians about the number system?”

Yet it was also a great question. Discussions on class are remarkably absent from the philanthropic discourse nationally. Yes, we talk endlessly about serving the underserved, providing a safety net, increasing accessibility, decreasing disparities, etc, but these conversations are remarkably devoid of the class context within which we do this work. I wonder:  How can this be? To paraphrase Mike Royko, no self-respecting grantmaker should want to be wrapped in a cloak of ignorance.

But philanthropy is only reflective of American society; like star-struck lovers, we remain focused on the romantic vision of the American Dream, not wanting or willing to see that over the last 30+ years that Dream has increasingly become an empty fantasy for the majority of us (yes, that would be the 99%). It turns out that it’s not easy to have discussions on class issues, largely because we are so inexperienced in doing so. I am heartened, however, that here at The San Francisco Foundation, we are re-doubling our efforts to understand the economic impacts of our country’s political decisions and to work with community partners that also see and speak to how political action—or inaction– affect the communities we serve. I like to call it a class analysis.