i

PioneersBY HEATHER Mc LEOD GRANT

in JustBUILDINGice NETWORKS AND MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE PUBLISHED BY LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

BUILDING NETWORKS AND MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

BY HEATHER Mc LEOD GRANT

PUBLISHED BY LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

Pioneers In Justice Building Networks and Movements for Social Change

By Heather McLeod Grant with Amanda Bower & Jenny Johnston

Published by Levi Strauss Foundation © Copyright 2014

Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 (International)

you are free to: share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

under the following terms: attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. no additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally re- strict others from doing anything the license permits.

notices: You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation. No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material. 4 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...... 10

CHAPTER 2 THE PATH TO SOCIAL JUSTICE 2 .0 ...... 18

CHAPTER 3 EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA ...... 32

CHAPTER 4 DEVELOPING NEW LEADERSHIP...... 54

CHAPTER 5 CATALYZING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE...... 76

CHAPTER 6 BUILDING NETWORKS...... 94

CHAPTER 7 SPARKING MOVEMENTS...... 114

CHAPTER 8 LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD ...... 138

CREDITS BEHIND THE BOOK...... 154 6 A LETTER FROM LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION 7

dear reader,

We like to believe that the Levi Strauss Foundation has been engaged in pioneering work since its founding in the 1950s—and this has involved taking some risks. Most recently, we’ve spent the past few years investing in next-generation Bay Area social justice leaders, creating an initiative called Pioneers in Justice to support these leaders as they work to use social media more effectively, transform their organizations, create peer networks, and build “social justice 2.0” movements. The investment we’ve made in this program has been substantial—both in terms of financial support and the leveraging of our other resources, such as space, staff time, and partnerships. But our learning has been equally significant. In mid-2013, at the midpoint of this five-year program, we decided it was time to pause, take stock, and capture and share our emerging lessons with the larger social justice and philanthropic fields. It is our hope that our experimentation with a new kind of social justice grantmaking will be of interest to other foundations seeking to explore this new frontier. We commissioned social impact expert and author, heather mcleod grant, to help us with this task, and she quickly involved several colleagues in the research, writing, editing, and design of this re- port (see bios on p. 154). The authors had full access to program documentation, staff, partners, and of course our grantees—the “Pioneers”—and their organizations. They conducted research in the sum- mer and fall of 2013. The end result of their efforts is the report you are holding in your hands—part narrative, and part analysis, by design. While we fact-checked and approved the final manuscript, and provided input throughout, the authors retained editorial independence, and the opinions expressed herein represent their own points of view. As a result of the past few years of running this program, and this interlude of reflection, we have learned a tremendous amount about how to invest in and support leadership networks as a tool for transformative social change. This kind of work is messy. It involves embracing both complexity and emergence, and it doesn’t lend itself to linear logic models, anticipated outcomes, or overly nar- row metrics. But when it works—as we believe this program is beginning to demonstrate—it holds enormous potential for increasing our social impact on multiple levels of the larger systems we seek to transform. We invite you to read this report and embark on a journey with us and with the Pioneers—exploring how this program came into being, who these unique and inspirational leaders are, and what we have all learned together along the way. We welcome your feedback and would love to hear back from you. with regards,

Daniel Jae-Won Lee executive director Levi Strauss Foundation "OUR FOUNDER WAS A PIONEER, AND WE LIKE TO THINK OF OURSELVES AS PIONEERS AT THE FOUNDATION." BOB HAAS, PRESIDENT OF LSF SINCE 1990 AND THE GREAT-GREAT-GRANDNEPHEW OF LEVI STRAUSS (PICTURED, RIGHT) "OUR FOUNDER WAS A PIONEER, AND WE LIKE TO THINK OF OURSELVES AS PIONEERS AT THE FOUNDATION." 1 Introduction Bob Haas, president, Levi Strauss Foundation 13

ASK ANYONE AT THE LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION (LSF) TO DESCRIBE THEIR FOUNDER and the company that stands behind their name, annually in 15 countries. The foundation has also and one word will come to mind: pioneering. funded numerous anti-poverty programs de- In 1853, a Bavarian immigrant named Levi signed to help families and individuals build their Strauss opened a wholesale dry goods company assets and plan for a better future. in San Francisco. Twenty years later, his company “Our founder was a pioneer, and we like to revolutionized the clothing industry by intro- think of ourselves as pioneers at the foundation,” ducing the world’s first blue jeans. But Strauss says Bob Haas, president of lsf since 1990 and wasn’t just known for his jeans—he was also the great-great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss. known for his bold, generous, and vocal support “We’re willing to step out and take risks on be- of social causes and people in need. Today, Levi half of what we believe is the right thing to do.” Strauss & Co. still aligns itself with its founder’s In 2009, Haas and the leaders of lsf decided deepest values—empathy, originality, integrity, to embark on a new type of risk-taking. For and courage—viewing its signature product not decades, the foundation had operated like many merely as an item of clothing but as a “symbol of traditional grantmakers, with most of its impact freedom and self-expression in the face of adver- coming from grants given to nonprofits. Now, the sity, challenge, and social change.” foundation aspired to drive systemic change in So it is no surprise that the foundation that new ways—not just among its constituents, but bears Strauss’s name would also take on a across the field of philanthropy itself. It wanted mission—“to drive pioneering social change that to develop a signature “hometown” strategy that brings our values to life in communities around would use all the tools at its disposal to help local the world”—that is bold and progressive. social justice organizations advance and acceler- For more than 60 years, lsf has been deeply ate their work. involved in promoting the rights and well-being A number of factors influenced this thinking. of the low-income and marginalized around the First, the San Francisco-based lsf had increased world. lsf was the first U.S. corporate foundation its global grantmaking significantly in the last 15 to address the hiv/aids epidemic, contributing years, at times eclipsing its domestic grants—but approximately $45 million to hiv/aids advocacy now it wanted to bolster its presence closer to organizations in more than 40 countries over the home.1 Second, while the foundation already had last three decades. Its efforts to advance the rights credibility as a social justice grantmaker—in of workers in the apparel and textile industries 2009, lsf was one of only four corporate founda- continue to reach approximately 300,000 people tions to make it onto a list of the top 50 U.S. social

1 The Levi Strauss Foundation’s giving has a 60:40 global to U.S. ratio. 14

justice funders—its leadership felt that there was methods, the boards of five prominent, local so- even more to do. Third, many at the foundation cial justice nonprofits had hired new executive di- wanted to test new approaches that might help to rectors—all of them “Generation Xers”2—whom amplify lsf’s impact and reach. “We didn’t want they hoped could lead their organizations into the to just give money,” says Haas. “We wanted to do twenty-first century (see full bios on p. 154): something that would move the dial.” Still, the foundation wasn’t yet sure what that aa In 2006, Chinese for Affirmative Action hired “something” would look like. So lsf’s board then 33-year-old vincent pan, the cofound- formed a committee to develop a vision for a new er of Heads Up, a $1.6 million AmeriCorps kind of San Francisco-based social justice strategy. tutoring program in low-income schools; As it happened, their timing couldn’t have been Pan had also helped the William J. Clinton better. Because at that very moment, something Foundation establish hiv/aids programs for else was happening in the Bay Area that would help children in China. clarify the foundation’s path forward. aa In 2008, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights hired lateefah simon, then 32 years Legacy Organizations Meet old. Simon had become executive direc- Gen-X Leadership tor of the Bay Area-based Center for Young Women’s Development at just 19, making her one of the youngest ever leaders of a nonprofit. Given its progressive culture, the San Francisco Bay Area is home to many leading social justice aa In 2008, Asian Americans Advancing Justice- nonprofits that have been around for decades. Asian Law Caucus,3 the nation’s oldest organi- Around the time lsf was contemplating its zation advocating for the civil and legal rights next steps, a number of these legacy organiza- of Asians and Pacific Islanders, hiredtiti liu, tions were undergoing a significant transition. then 35 years old, who had led human rights While their traditional ways of operating were initiatives for the Ford Foundation in China. still effective, the digital age had ushered in new tools and approaches that many had not yet fully aa In 2009, Equal Rights Advocates hired embraced—and weren’t sure how to embrace. arcelia hurtado, then 38, a former public Recognizing that they needed to update their defender who had made her reputation by

2 Members of the Baby Boomer generation were born during the post- World War II “baby boom” spanning from 1946 to 1964. Members of Generation X, or Gen X, were born after the boom, from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Millennials, also known as Generation Y, were born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. 15

"WE DIDN'T WANT TO JUST GIVE MONEY. WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING THAT WOULD MOVE THE DIAL." BOB HAAS, PRESIDENT, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

working to secure the rights of working class based Rosenberg Foundation and a prominent fig- and marginalized people. ure in Bay Area social justice, had noticed the wave of new hiring and quickly recognized it as a critical aa In 2009, the American Civil Liberties Union inflection point for local advocacy groups—a of Northern California hired then 35-year-old “changing of the guard.” So he invited these five abdi soltani, the former head of Cali- new leaders to lunch to get to know them better. fornians for Justice who had led numerous “The idea was not to have any formal agenda, but high-profile social justice campaigns related to create a sounding board, a place where they to statewide policy and ballot initiatives. could kick ideas around with their peers,” Silard says. At that first lunch, the group talked about These five leaders came from a range of relationship building and staff and board issues. personal and professional backgrounds, with dif- At the end, Silard asked if they wanted to continue ferent ethnicities and leadership styles. But they meeting: he offered to be present, or just foot the also had a lot in common: all of them wanted to bill for lunch. Either way, he sensed that it was help their nonprofits adapt to a rapidly chang- important for these young leaders facing daunt- ing world; all of them were devoted to making a ing challenges to have the time and space to talk difference; and all of them had a similar mandate. together and learn from one another. They were charged with evaluating the state of In the fall of 2009, around the time that these their field, formulating a vision for their orga- lunch meetings started, Merle Lawrence, senior nization’s future, and then executing on it—in manager at the Levi Strauss Foundation, and CJ short, helping to transform the nonprofits they Callen, a consultant to lsf, were busy interviewing had inherited. “key informants” in the social justice sector, gather- Very quickly, each learned that change would ing information about how the foundation might re- not come easy. Soon, they began reaching out tool its strategy to effect greater change in the field. to one another and talking about their shared Among the leaders they interviewed were former challenges. “The irony was that we were leading lsf grantee Lateefah Simon and the new executive organizations that are supposed to achieve social director of the aclu of Northern California, Abdi change, and that were so resistant to change Soltani, who told them of the lunches. themselves,” says Advancing Justice’s Titi Liu. Lawrence and Callen interviewed the pair in “All of us saw that and were trying to push it.” September, floating the nascent idea of an lsf- Tim Silard, president of the San Francisco- funded program that would convene a network of

3 In June 2013, Asian Law Caucus affiliated with three other progressive Asian and Pacific Islander social justice organizations under the new umbrella name Asian Americans Advancing Justice. ALC now goes by the name Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus. We refer to it throughout by its new name, often abbreviating it to “Advanc- ing Justice.” 16

"THE IRONY WAS THAT WE WERE LEADING ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL CHANGE, AND THAT WERE SO RESISTANT TO CHANGE THEMSELVES." TITI LIU, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ADVANCING JUSTICE

young social justice leaders and help build their and their organizations with the technical skills capabilities to use social media and collaborative to use social media to full effect,” says Jennifer action to advance their missions and movements. Haas, lsf trustee. “We also wanted to help them Soltani’s reaction? “I already have a network, a harness the power of collaboration and their ‘crew’ of people under 40: Lateefah, Titi, Vin, Ar- people-to-people networks as a way to maximize celia, and me,” he told them.4 Astutely, Lawrence their impact.” sensed an opportunity and asked what this co- While no one was clear yet exactly what the hort needed to amplify its work. Over the course program would look like, which specific individu- of that initial conversation, the main themes of als should be in it, or how it might evolve as the a new program emerged—one that would both leaders and lsf learned along the way, the lsf match the needs of these new executive directors board recognized the plan as a significant op- and engage lsf in cutting-edge work. portunity for the foundation to shift into deeper The young leaders’ wish list resembled that grantee engagement. And funding a broad plat- of many legacy nonprofits across the country. form that focused on leadership development and They requested “time and space” to figure out coalition building was just the sort of high-risk, how they wanted to lead and how they might col- high-reward strategy that the lsf board had in laborate with one another. They also wanted to mind. Plus, with its strong nonprofit infrastruc- find ways to empower their constituents to speak ture, San Francisco would be “an ideal laboratory for themselves while broadening and diversify- for testing new approaches to increasing the ing their aging membership base. Lastly, these effectiveness of the field.”5 leaders wanted to address what Simon called the As for the name of the initiative? Naturally, “crisis of translating social justice work” into so- it incorporated one of the foundation’s favorite cial media in order to influence public perception. words: Pioneers in Justice. In November 2009, after several interim com- mittee meetings and lots of iteration on the idea, Lawrence and lsf executive director Daniel Lee "Pioneers in Justice" Is Born presented their initial vision to the full lsf board. They recommended that the foundation support a group of young leaders looking to shape the next Between the spring and fall of 2010, lsf refined its wave of social justice work for bedrock civil rights definition of who should be in the program, decid- organizations. “We wanted to help equip them ing to focus exclusively on San Francisco-based

4 Notes by Merle Lawrence from an LSF meeting held September 24, 5 CJ Callen, “A Social Justice Response in Challenging Times: 2009. A Leadership Role for the Levi Strauss Foundation in Strategic Hometown Giving,” the Levi Strauss Foundation, 2009. 17

organizations and ultimately on the leaders who rather commit to working with the cohort to were already part of the nascent cohort that Tim structure the emergent initiative as it evolved. Silard had convened. They extended invitations to The young leaders listened to everything the five individuals identified above: Vincent Pan, Lawrence said—and were thoughtful, chal- Lateefah Simon, Titi Liu, Arcelia Hurtado, and lenging, and positive in response.7 Abdi Soltani Abdi Soltani. (The cohort would change during suggested lsf “consider expanding its defini- the course of the program, with a few members tion of ‘social media’ to include new and ethnic leaving and a few new members being added. For media” because “Twitter is the wrong way to a full list of participants over time, see the Pioneer reach women in the rural Central Valley.” Arcelia biographies beginning on page 154.) Hurtado liked the cross-sector emphasis. “We lsf senior manager Merle Lawrence, who talk about cross-sector alliance building but we retired in 2013, attended one of Silard’s lunches don’t have time to create it,” she says. “We need and laid out the program to four of the five young to force ourselves to think through what we want executive directors (Pan was not present) to to change, proactively.” Lateefah Simon liked the gauge their reaction and gather their input. The fact that the capacity building grants were con- program aimed to spark change on several dif- nected to developing new tools and approaches ferent levels, by strengthening their leadership, for operating in the 21st century world of social helping their organizations transform, and giv- justice: “That will help me convince my board ing them the time and space—and the funding— why I am devoting time to this.” to experiment with new ways of spreading their In November 2010, the lsf board met the five reach and building social movements. Pioneers for the first time, learning more about Recognizing that this kind of change would their backgrounds, their stories, and their pas- take time and commitment, the board initially sion for driving change in their organizations and approved the initiative to run for three years in the world. Based on what they heard, the board and agreed that the lsf staff should be highly unanimously approved to extend the initiative involved and hands-on.6 In fact, the Levi Strauss to five years in order to give the cohort more time Foundation explicitly did not want to run the to bring about the kinds of transformation they program like a traditional grantmaker. Instead, wanted. it wanted the relationship between itself and lsf’s bold attempt to equip the next genera- the program’s grantees to be a partnership. lsf tion of social justice leaders with new tools, strat- would not dictate the terms and conditions, but egies, and ways of working had begun.

6  Lawrence herself would end up devoting about 80 percent of her time to the program.

7 Notes by Merle Lawrence, March 23, 2010. 2 The Path to Social Justice 2.0 LSF executive director Daniel Lee (far left) and members of the Pioneers in Justice cohort (from left to right): Kimberly Thomas Rapp, Abdi Soltani, Arcelia Hurtado, Vincent Pan, and Hyeon-Ju Rho. 21

THE SOCIAL JUSTICE SECTOR IS AT A CRITICAL INFLECTION POINT, a moment in which many of its fundamental as- sumptions and old ways of operating are being challenged. Leadership is transferring from Baby Boomers to a new cadre of ethnically diverse Gen Xers—like the Pioneers—with deep connections to their communities and new perspectives on how to lead the field to greater impact. Meanwhile, there is a growing recognition that new tactics, tools, and strategies are needed to strengthen a sector that is still largely invested in “analog” and “siloed” ways of working—especially at a time when loosely orga- nized groups of individuals (think “Occupiers” and the “dreamer” undocumented youth movement) can wield just as much influence as large, legacy nonprofits. But before getting into how the field is chang- ing—and how the Pioneers’ journey is actually a story about the transformation of the larger sector— it makes sense to first understand what social justice philanthropy is, and how the Levi Strauss Founda- tion’s Pioneers in Justice (pij) program differs from more traditional grantmaking approaches.

Defining Social Justice Philanthropy

Through pij, the Levi Strauss Foundation (lsf) is not just experimenting with a new way to fund social justice nonprofits. It is also hoping to create 22

a new model for what philanthropic support of aa Employs a combination of tactics (policy the field might look like. “To me, the term ‘social advocacy, grassroots organizing, litigation, justice philanthropy’ is shorthand for responding and communications) that together are to multiple trends simultaneously affecting the more likely to yield results sector,” says lsf president Bob Haas. And, Haas aa Strengthens and empowers populations to adds, it requires moving beyond the basic award- advocate on their own behalf ing of grants. In this sense, it’s not that different from what some call “strategic philanthropy.” According to these definitions, social justice According to a white paper commissioned by philanthropy stands at the leading edge of where lsf to help inform the program, “Social justice the larger field is headed, with a greater focus on philanthropy encourages a foundation to use root causes, systems-level change, community all the leadership tools at its disposal—that empowerment, boundary crossing, and the use is, acting as convener, organizer, relationship of multiple tools and tactics. The Levi Strauss broker, constituency builder, listener, policy pro- Foundation’s Pioneers in Justice program is moter, and knowledge disseminator. It creates anchored in the belief that the larger social justice a platform for a more honest exchange between field is moving—and must move—in this new foundations and practitioners and aligns with and bolder direction. “There is always a need to what many consider ‘high-touch’ and ‘strategic’ change with the times to have impact,” says lsf grantmaking.” More specifically, social justice trustee Jennifer Haas. philanthropy: Because there is no clear roadmap for how to help social justice organizations move from a aa Focuses on the root causes of inequality “1.0” model to a more “2.0” world (there are few aa Strives for lasting systemic and structural existing case studies or best practices showing change the way), lsf’s work with the Pioneers has been aa Aims to bridge divisive differences (race, breaking new ground. To be sure, many 1.0 social class, language, region, generation) toward justice leaders have long acted in 2.0 ways, and a vision of the common good some of the characteristics of social justice 2.0 aa Emphasizes grantmaking practices that are not new. What’s different is that the tools for foster nonprofit success, including multiyear spreading and scaling social justice movements commitments and building leadership are far more advanced than they’ve ever been capacity before. In that respect, the Pioneers are on the 23

WHAT IS SOCIAL JUSTICE 2.0?

>SOCIAL JUSTICE 1.0 >SOCIAL JUSTICE 2.0

LEADERSHIP CENTERED ON A SHARED LEADERSHIP WITH SINGLE CHARISMATIC LEADER (OFTEN DEEP ROOTS THE ORGANIZATION'S FOUNDER)

FOCUS ON OUTREACH AND FOCUS ON BUILDING GRASSROOTS EDUCATION POWER

RELIANCE ON ONE-WAY COMMUNICATION RELIANCE ON DIALOGUE

COLLABORATION AS THE EXCEPTION COLLABORATION AS THE RULE

THE "GRASSROOTS" (COMMUNITY THE "GRASSROOTS" CONNECTED MOBILIZATION) DISCONNECTED FROM TO THE "TREETOPS" THE "TREETOPS" (TRADITIONAL POLICY ADVOCACY)

LOOKING INWARD FOR INSPIRATION LOOKING OUTWARD FOR INSPIRATION AND PARTNERSHIPS AND PARTNERSHIPS 24

"OUR SENSE OF PURPOSE WAS TO BE THE FIRST MOVERS IN HELPING TAKE THESE ORGANIZATIONS TO A 2.0 LEVEL. WE WANTED TO FIRE ON EVERY CYLINDER AND TRY EVERYTHING WE COULD." DANIEL LEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

frontier of helping organizations that have not 2.0 level,” says lsf’s executive director Daniel been systematically working in these new ways to Lee. “We wanted to fire on every cylinder and try embrace practices and tactics that hold the prom- everything we could.” ise to greatly boost their reach and effectiveness. Whenever the Pioneers and lsf describe the unpredictable journey of this work, they regular- ly use the words “messy” and “risky.” In August Pioneers Program 2010, when pij officially kicked off, each of the five Building Blocks organizations and leaders were at different points in their journey toward social justice 2.0. They knew that some would get further than others, From the start, lsf envisioned the program as faster, and failures could and would occur. But one that would be co-created with the Pioneers, throughout the process, the Pioneers have been starting from a place of empathy and inquiry. honest about their challenges and frustrations “This work is animated by really basic questions: and embraced their setbacks, allowing all of them What do you all need? What would you like to to learn valuable lessons as a result. try?” explains Linda Wood, senior director at the Despite the innovative and experimental Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and an advisor to nature of the pij program, lsf knew it had to cre- the lsf staff as they developed the pij program. ate some sort of handrails or “container” for the She also notes how distinct this approach is for work to happen. They deliberately designed the most funders: “It takes a really humble funder to program around several building blocks, without help leaders and their organizations learn what overly prescribing how each one would evolve: they need to learn through experiments and through one another.” 1 bimonthly, half-day forums dedi- It was clear to lsf from the beginning that cated to peer-to-peer learning, case studies, this was not the kind of grantmaking that would and training. These were opportunities for have a tangible list of deliverables with fixed the Pioneers to share their experiences, learn timelines. Nor would the pij program easily lend together, and support one another. lsf was itself to traditional impact assessment. Rather, it both the organizer and a participant in these would be emergent and filled with experimenta- sessions, often bringing in leading experts tion. “Our sense of purpose was to be the first on networks, social media, and more to help movers in helping take these organizations to a the Pioneers move from theory to action. (See 25

PROGRAM FOCUS (YEAR BY YEAR) DANIEL LEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

YEAR 1: YEAR 2: YEARS 4 & 5: LAYING THE GROUNDWORK, PLACING SMALL BETS ASPIRATIONS INCLUDE: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Rebuilding relationships Elevating the Pioneers'’ Building relationships in the new cohort (after voices within social and capacity executive director exits and movements job changes, new Pioneers Exploring and learning Implementing, executing, entered the group) about social media evaluating, and adjusting and new forms of Running experiments in new their social media and collaboration ways of working movement building strategies, with a constant Building capacity to Putting intensive social eye toward adapting to get the cohort to baseline media training and learning changing conditions and competencies (one-on-one into practice new opportunities as they technical assistance from emerge ZeroDivide, and ZeroDivide- led social media/technology YEAR 3: Supporting 2 .0 collabor- training workshops) ations and social media/ TAKING ACTION technology gains to achieve Growing both the confi- sustainability dence and visions of the Sharing lessons learned Pioneers and LSF staff and best practices with Evolution of the Pioneers' funders and social justice hometown strategies: using organizations their positioning in San Fran- cisco to affect statewide and national issues Building the capacity of Pioneers’staff to support social media work 26

sidebar, p. 30, for a list of dates and topics.) some are still finding their way on execution. (For a more thorough accounting of outcomes 2 capacity building grants to help the from this program, see Chapter 8.) Pioneers create the requisite technology in- There is still more work to be done on coali- frastructure, strategies, and communications tion-building and collaboration, and on elevating skills needed to integrate social media more the Pioneers’ individual voices within the social deeply into their organizations. lsf’s techni- movements they are helping to catalyze and sus- cal partner, ZeroDivide (see p. 46 for details), tain. So far, only three organizations have been provided social media training for both the awarded funding for larger collaboration initia- Pioneers and their staff, helping them build a tives—but that may change in the program’s sustainable, integrated social media practice final two years, as they pursue new pathways for within their organizations. coalition building.

3 collaboration grants to support project-based work and “experimental” col- A New Model for laborations that reached across sector, field, is- Social Change sue, and constituency, using networks of both trusted and “unlikely” allies to drive change. In the first two and a half years of the five-year The early bimonthly forums focused on the program, lsf invested close to $2.9 million in tools and strategies of social media and storytell- 44 grants, including $1.72 million for capacity ing, then shifted over time to include the human building and $580,000 for collaborative projects. dynamics of networking, collaboration, and lead- lsf is a modestly resourced foundation, with ing organizational change. It’s not surprising, an annual budget ranging from $7 million to $8 then, that three years into the program, the Pio- million; the pij program represented 18 percent neers have made greatest headway on establish- of its giving and 80 percent of one staff member’s ing sophisticated social media communications time (with two other staffers also contribut- at their organizations. In addition to setting up ing). The program was therefore a significant the “plumbing” for digital communications, all investment for the foundation—but its staff and have now infused into their organization’s cul- leadership believed that the investment needed ture the need for strategic storytelling, although to be substantial because of the complexity of 27

A NEW MODEL FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Social Media

Leader

Collaboration Organization

Network

Movement

The Levi Strauss Foundation's theory of change can be visualized as four concentric circles, with the leaders at the center, then their organizations, then their networks, and finally the broader movements they are helping to spark . The goal of the program is to help transform each of these circles, with social media and collaboration acting as a driving force that can increase the speed and scope of the changes taking place in all circles in the system—not in a linear fashion but in each circle simultaneously . 28

the program and the ambitiousness of its desired way nonprofits work outcomes. aa Helping organizations adapt more quickly Indeed, the Pioneers in Justice program aims through the catalytic effect of new tools to do much more than help a handful of emerging social justice leaders in San Francisco, though 2 Developing New Leadership that is its critical, core piece. Its larger goal is to aa Managing leadership transitions test out a theory of change that has the potential aa Sharing leadership at the top and with the to impact the entire field of social justice—and board how foundations might best support their work. aa Becoming 2.0 leaders and developing new The Levi Strauss Foundation’s theory of ways of working change can be visualized as four concentric cir- cles, with the leaders at the center, then their or- 3 Catalyzing Organizational Change ganizations, then their networks, and finally the aa Creating an outward-looking organization broader movements they are helping to spark. that embraces collaboration The goal of the program is to help transform each aa Letting go of organizational ego in service of of these circles, with social media and collabora- a larger cause tion acting as a driving force that can increase the aa Ensuring staff and board are aligned around speed and scope of the changes taking place in all more “networked” approaches circles in the system—not in a linear fashion but aa Nurturing new leaders and distributing lead- in each circle simultaneously. ership across the organization Over the next five chapters, we will examine the progress made and lessons learned so far by the 4 Building Networks Pioneers in each of these areas: social media and aa Facilitating collaboration between and across collaboration, leadership, organizational change, organizations network building, and sparking movements. aa Working at the “intersections” and collabo- rating across issue areas 1 Embracing Social Media aa Transitioning to being more networked aa Building new organizational capabilities nonprofits around the use of new technologies and media aa Understanding how social media can break 5 Sparking Movements down silos and boundaries and change the aa Catalyzing broader, more effective social 29

justice movements aa Engaging new voices and constituents aa Building on social justice values of the past but using new tools to accelerate change 30

BIMONTHLY PIONEERS IN JUSTICE FORUMS: Topics & Speakers

AUGUST 2010 OCTOBER 2010 MARCH 2011 JULY 2011 KICKOFF AND SOCIAL MEDIA SOCIAL MEDIA: SOCIAL MEDIA “LIVING SOCIAL MEDIA AND VOICE THEORY TO ACTION CASE STUDIES GUEST SPEAKERS: GUEST SPEAKERS: GUEST SPEAKERS: GUEST SPEAKER: Tessie Guillermo Kevin Weston Laura Efurd Beth Kanter EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NEW AMERICA MEDIA ZERODIVIDE COFOUNDER OF ZOETICA ZERODIVIDE AND COAUTHOR OF THE Wellington Bowler Amro Radwan NETWORKED NONPROFIT Laura Efurd INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY CHIEF STRATEGY AND DOCUMENTARIAN AND ZERODIVIDE INNOVATION OFFICER FILMMAKER ZERODIVIDE Sherbeam Wright PRINCIPAL SEPTEMBER 2011 Amro Radwan ANDA COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY DECEMBER 2010 NONPROFIT ZERODIVIDE BRANDING AND 2.0 COLLABORATION Kevin Weston ORGANIZATIONAL DIRECTOR OF NEW MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA JUNE 2011 AND YOUTH COMMUNICATIONS PRESENTATION BY ADVANCING IDENTITY NEW AMERICA MEDIA JUSTICE STAFF NETWORK THEORY AND GROUP MAPPING GUEST SPEAKERS: Jacinda Abcarian Christopher Stone EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GUEST SPEAKERS: FACULTY DIRECTOR AT YOUTH RADIO JANUARY 2011 Heather McLeod Grant HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL'S Ken Ikeda OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOUNDER HAUSER CENTER FOR MCLEOD-GRANT ADVISORS NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COLLABORATION AND AND GUGGENHEIM PROFESSOR BAY AREA VIDEO COALITION ISSUE MAPPING (BAVC) Noah Flower OF THE PRACTICE OF NO GUEST SPEAKERS CONSULTANT CRIMINAL JUSTICE MONITOR INSTITUTE Johanna Chao Kreilick MANAGER, JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS THE HAUSER CENTER FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS 31

JANUARY 2012 SEPTEMBER 2012 MARCH 2013 Jan Masaoka CEO YEAR 1 REFLECTION SOCIAL MEDIA TAKING STOCK AND CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION AND YEAR 2 GOALS AND TECHNICAL LOOKING AHEAD OF NONPROFITS ASSESSMENT: GUEST SPEAKER: PHASE 2 GUEST SPEAKER: Laura Efurd Laura Efurd ZERODIVIDE GUEST SPEAKERS: ZERODIVIDE SEPTEMBER 2013 Laura Efurd CAPTURING AND ZERODIVIDE SHARING LESSONS MAY 2013 MAY 2012 Amro Radwan LEARNED ZERODIVIDE CAPTURING AND 2.0 COLLABORATION: SHARING LESSONS GUEST SPEAKERS: MOVING TO ACTION Sherbeam Wright LEARNED Heather McLeod Grant Peer learning session led by ANDA COMMUNICATIONS MCLEOD-GRANT ADVISORS Pioneers Vincent Pan, discussing his work on Asian GUEST SPEAKERS: Americans for Civil Rights Amanda Bower and Equality (AACRE), and Heather McLeod Grant MCLEOD-GRANT ADVISORS Abdi Soltani, talking about JANUARY 2013 MCLEOD-GRANT ADVISORS immigrant rights and criminal justice projects COMPREHENSIVE Amanda Bower IMMIGRATION STORYTELLER AND NOVEMBER 2013 REFORM COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT ONLINE ORGANIZING JULY 2012 GUEST SPEAKERS: MCLEOD-GRANT ADVISORS AND MOBILIZATION 2.0 COLLABORATION: Cathy Cha GUEST SPEAKER: MOVING TO ACTION SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER Peer learning session focusing FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS JULY 2013 Ian Inaba on Advancing Justice's work AND INTEGRATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR on the TRUST Act and ERA's Women's Reentry Project EVELYN & WALTER HAAS, BOARDS AND AND COFOUNDER JR . FUND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT LAB Marielena Hincapie CHANGE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW GUEST SPEAKERS: CENTER Tessie Guillermo ZERODIVIDE 3 Embracing Social Media Protesters with ASPIRE,34 a youth activist group supported by Pioneer organization Advancing Justice, block the path of a bus filled with individuals about to be deported.

NEED A PHOTO HERE 35

IN AUGUST 2010, AT THE VERY FIRST PIONEERS IN JUSTICE FORUM, ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING Justice-Asian Law Caucus executive director Titi with social justice and civil rights have really Liu learned something revelatory: every day, more been the slowest and most resistant to adapt,” young people type search terms into YouTube than says Tessie Guillermo, executive director of Ze- Google. In fact, YouTube reaches more adults ages roDivide, the San Francisco-based nonprofit that 18 to 34 than any cable network and has more than 1 served as the Levi Strauss Foundation’s technical billion unique visitors each month. partner for the pij program. When starting the pij program, none of the For decades, Guillermo says, legacy civil rights Pioneers needed convincing that technology and organizations excelled with a decidedly analog the online social networking it enables are chang- way of working: boots on the ground, building ing the way people work, connect, and commu- movements. And despite what they knew about the nicate. Having seen the way that social media fu- power of social media, some Pioneers worried that eled Barack Obama’s 2008 fundraising campaign entering the brave new world of instant, two-way and helped scale the Arab Spring in real time, it communication might alienate their traditional was clear that social media could do more than Baby Boomer base. Yet social media isn’t just an- deliver shareable pictures of cute kittens. But the other communications tool—and in social justice fact that the written word had been displaced by 2.0, not embracing it is not an option. video for millions of young Americans—the new “With the advent of television, social justice generation that the social justice Pioneers are groups didn’t suddenly reinvent themselves to trying to engage—was a surprise. get on TV, but they did see how TV was changing It was also a little scary. At the beginning of the way they could change the world,” says Pio- the pij program, most of the five participating neer Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese Pioneer organizations did not have a robust, for Affirmative Actioncaa ( ). The same is true dynamic website, let alone social media capabili- now, he says. “Social media is fundamentally ties or a YouTube channel. A few had Facebook changing how people interact with the world— pages or Twitter feeds, none of which were well and that has tremendous implications for all subscribed. Only one had a full-time communica- social justice groups.” tions person on staff. Today, social media empowers people in ways All five organizations, and their leaders, had that were never before possible—and presents some serious catching up to do. social justice organizations with an opportunity “We have done this work for many years now, to advance their work with unprecedented speed and the longstanding organizations involved and scale. “We’re not going to be doing this cutting 36

edge, innovative work by sending faxes back and and resources. Yet from the outset, there were forth to each other,” says Kate Kendell, executive strong similarities among the organizations in director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights terms of their basic needs. Seeing these simi- (nclr) and an informal advisor to the Pioneers on larities, ZeroDivide identified a set of broad, the effective use of social media. “The social justice sequenced technology and social media goals for landscape has become much more collaborative and each year of the pij program. interconnected because social media has broken down the walls. You can now access any organiza- aa YEAR 1 tion online; you can figure out who the main players Help the Pioneer organizations establish are on an issue by doing a Google search; and you the basic infrastructure, policies, and staff can follow the most important human interest capacity for social media work. Each organi- stories on your Facebook feed.” zation first needed the basic technology to do social media work, like functioning computers and stable internet connections. At the outset Social Media of the pij program, only seven of the Lawyers’ Assessments Committee for Civil Rights’ 22 computers were up to date, and its broadband connection was expensive and limited. Meanwhile, some At the outset of the pij program, lsf’s techni- organizations had policies in place that actu- cal partner, ZeroDivide, conducted extensive ally inhibited their ability to use social media assessments of each organization’s technology to full effect. For example, the American resources and social media capabilities. Based on Civil Liberties Union’s (aclu) national policy those findings, lsf then awarded annual capacity originally dictated that the aclu-Northern building grants to help each organization acquire California could link only to other aclu sites, the specific tools and skills that it needed. Not which limited its ability to engage with social surprisingly, the Pioneer organizations started at media. ZeroDivide also urged each organiza- different places, with different levels of capac- tion to establish a clear social media strategy ity, experience, and organizational “buy in” for and policy for staff to follow. boosting their social media presence. Through- out the program, all have progressed at different aa YEAR 2 paces according to their organization’s priorities Enable the Pioneers and their organizations 37

"WHAT FOUNDATIONS REALLY HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IS THE TRIAL AND ERROR ASPECT OF THIS.“PARTICULARLY AROUND SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS, THERE IS A NEED TO ITERATE." TESSIE GUILLERMO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ZERODIVIDE

to move from awareness to practice in their aa YEARS 4 & 5 social media use. ZeroDivide spent a lot of Establish processes and internal capac- time training the Pioneer organizations’ staff ity to ensure social media and technology to view social media as an integral part of their sustainability. In the program’s final two work. This required a significant cultural shift years, the Pioneers will work toward further within most of the organizations, especially integrating their technology and social media those staffed by lawyers concerned with client plans into their overall organizational strate- confidentiality and privacy issues. The com- gies. They will also experiment with more munications staff of each nonprofit also received sophisticated analytics, adding a new layer storytelling training, which emphasized the of understanding to how their constituents importance of using aspirational language and are interacting with their websites and social telling real people’s stories to “show, not tell” media campaigns—and how they might use the need for social change; they also learned that data to better identify and engage their that photographs and video were far more likely target audiences. Each organization will also to be shared and “liked” on social media. As a aim to establish formal processes for review- result, each organization began to experiment ing the rich data that these analytics yield and with employing these strategies. integrating lessons learned into new cam- paign development. aa YEAR 3 Create measurement tools for understand- ing what is and is not working. Measuring A mid-program assessment, conducted by the impact of social media on an organiza- ZeroDivide in August 2013, found that each orga- tion’s reach and effectiveness is difficult at nization had by that time developed the tools and best. But at this stage, the Pioneer organiza- abilities to work more efficiently both with and tions began tracking and measuring their through social media. “The Pioneers of today are social media effectiveness through new not the Pioneers of 2010,” wrote ZeroDivide in tools and metrics suggested by ZeroDivide. its assessment. “The organizations have a greater Some of them also established “targets” confidence and more strategic outlook in regards around things like updates to Facebook and to how social media can be leveraged to ‘move the what types of information to share and how needle,’ both internally and externally.” frequently. The Pioneers as individuals have also in- 38 39

"THE WARRIOR"

ARCELIA HURTADO POLICY ADVISOR, NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS (NCLR) creased their online presence, and a broad cohort of staff at each nonprofit has been empowered to BORN: use social media to advance their organization’s June 1971 mission and values. Their use of social media has ALMA MATER: become far more strategic as well, both in terms UC Berkeley of content and analysis. And yes, they have all set PREVIOUS ROLES: up a YouTube channel. Deputy director, NCLR; ex- But these changes have come more slowly ecutive director, Equal Rights than ZeroDivide, lsf, and the Pioneers had ini- Advocates; trial and appellate tially hoped. Despite capacity-building grants of lawyer almost $1 million spread across the whole cohort, BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: none of the Pioneers’ social media campaigns has How uncertain the outcomes “gone viral”—which had been their initial ex- are when you undertake 2 .0 collaboration approaches . You pectation. The problem, they learned, was more have to have a great deal of with the expectation than the results. “We’ve faith (1) that your hard work had many sober conversations in the program and efforts will achieve a about our sense of progress and results in social tangible outcome that furthers media,” says the aclu-Northern California’s social change and (2) that your alliances will be long-lasting . Abdi Soltani. “Beth Kanter has a great metaphor Neither one of these things of crawling, walking, and then running, and that is guaranteed, which can be reset the idea for us that everything was going to difficult when you have limited instantly go viral. You have to do things incre- time and energy and are trying mentally; social media is not a silver bullet.” to justify spending it in this way . It is also very difficult to It also became clear to them that social justice explain what you are trying to issues simply don’t generate the same level of do to staff, funders, boards, buzz as, say, celebrity videos. Indeed, “going and constituents who may not viral” is the wrong benchmark for social justice all be on board with a social social media campaigns. Success actually looks justice 2 .0 way of working . more like making solid progress toward getting their message out to the right constituents; for the Pioneers, employing a social media strategy 40

is a “slow burn” requiring sustained commit- co-executive director Hyeon-Ju Rho. “But we do ment. Still, they have made—and will continue have a deep connection to a certain set of values to make—progress. For example, Advancing and community—and finding and developing the Justice has seen its media hits double every year intersection of those values with social media is since the start of the program, thanks to more worthwhile.” sophisticated and effective media tools and a The rest of this chapter explores some of the stronger social media presence. Pioneers’ first forays into using social media to The concept of crawling then walking applies scale their impact. to funders of this work as well. “What founda- tions really have to understand is the trial and error aspect of this,” says ZeroDivide’s Tessie From Faxes to Facebook Guillermo. “Particularly around social justice organizations, there is a need to iterate. For lsf to purposely say, ‘We’re going to take this slow In 2010, at the beginning of the Pioneers in and steady, and build the confidence of these Justice program, more than half of Equal Rights leaders, their management, and their boards’ is Advocates’ (era) computers were at the end of really brave and risk-taking. This isn’t just about their lifecycle. The organization had recently funding a couple of trainings for executive direc- declined a media interview over Skype because tors, or developing a single campaign. It takes none of its laptops had a camera. Additionally, building muscle.” its dsl speed was insufficient to push out video; The story of the Pioneers’ explorations in social there was no dvd burner for creating, copying, or media, then, is not one of cutting-edge online in- sharing video; and the organization’s website had novation. While social justice organizations born little functionality. Basically, they were starting into the “2.0” digital world—like Kiva, MomsRis- at zero. ing, and MoveOn.org—are driven almost entirely “I credit the funding from lsf with revolu- by their ability to spur online support and activism, tionizing era’s communications,” says Noreen the Pioneer organizations are creating social move- Farrell, era’s former legal director who became ments that have more of a balance between the executive director in 2012, after Arcelia Hurtado offline and the online, the physical and the virtual. moved to its sister organization, the National “We are not the organizations that lsf would have Center for Lesbian Rights. Still, there was much chosen to tell that story,” says Advancing Justice’s work to be done. In hindsight, Farrell says, 41

"I CREDIT THE FUNDING FROM LSF WITH REVOLUTIONIZING ERA'S COMMUNICATIONS." NOREEN FARRELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EQUAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES

ZeroDivide’s initial interviews with era staff tions—some of them small and state-based, were hilarious. “They asked, ’Do you know what others large and national—that let everyone feel Facebook is? Do you know what social media is?’ I they had an equal voice in the project. was looking at them like, ‘Well, kinda.’” In addition to its online education efforts Initially, the organization had reservations around the gender wage gap, the coalition also about whether social media could really help it reached out to all 50 U.S. governors to ask them change the world. But Farrell and others realized what they were doing in their states about the they had to invest in it, no matter the outcome. issue. On August 26, 2013, 10 weeks into the “This is how young women and men today are campaign, the coalition posted the governors’ re- speaking about gender justice,” she says. “We can sponses, calling out those who hadn’t participat- stick our heads in the sand, but we would be miss- ed. The campaign also sent messages to 186,000 ing an amazing opportunity to engage them and people on various social media platforms that to be informed by what they’re saying.” day—and the governors of Washington and Illi- pij funding helped era build a new tech- nois even joined a live tweet-chat. Farrell wrote a nology infrastructure and also paid for a new blog about the campaign for The Huffington Post, interactive website that Farrell says has “allowed which drove even more traffic to the era site. tremendous community building beyond our Looking back, Farrell says, “It’s inconceivable wildest dreams.” The organization now keeps that several years before, we were sitting there at its supporters updated in a more dynamic way the fax machine, faxing press releases. The public through its blog and celebrates loyal supporters had no direct access to what we were talking on its community page. about. Social media truly has had a transforma- era’s social media capacity has also allowed tive impact on this organization’s voice in the it to play a leadership role in a new national national discourse about women’s rights.” coalition of 15 women’s rights groups working to remove persistent obstacles to women’s economic security. In June 2013, the coalition launched Beyond Clicktivism its first campaign, “Equal Pay Today,” designed to galvanize online activism around the gender wage gap in the U.S. The campaign was the brain- On October 17, 2013, a group of about 60 young, child of era, which hosted its website and helped mostly undocumented Asians and Latinos milled broker agreements among coalition organiza- about in a park near the TransAmerica building 42

"THE VISIONARY"

VINCENT PAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHINESE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION in downtown San Francisco. Many were mem- (CAA) bers of aspire, a youth activist group supported by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian BORN: January 1973 Law Caucus. Soon, the text message they were waiting for arrived: a big white bus, loaded with ALMA MATER: shackled passengers—individuals in the process Harvard University of being deported—had just left the nearby De- PREVIOUS ROLES: partment of Homeland Security’s Detention and Consultant, William J . Clinton Removal Field Office. Foundation; cofounder and director, Heads Up; fellow, As the bus began to pull out, another, smaller Stanford University's Center group of activists approached the vehicle, wear- for Social Innovation, the Echo- ing neon yellow safety vests and waving their ing Green Foundation, and the arms in the air. On the ground in front of the bus, Stride Rite Foundation they laid down a long white banner that read “No BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: More Deportations.” Then they sat down on it. Finding language to describe Federal officials wearing bulletproof vests tried concepts that are still new backing up the bus, but the activists quickly ran and emerging in a manner that helps people understand what behind the vehicle, blocking it from both sides. we have been trying to do . In Singing “We Shall Not Be Moved,” they laid order to describe what social down another banner behind the bus that read: justice 2 .0 is, we need our own “Shut Down ice! (Immigration and Customs language . We struggle to help Enforcement) Keep Families Together.” some people understand what 2 .0 networks are and why they Then the bigger crowd of activists waiting are different and important . in the park descended on the area, peeling off Ultimately I am invested in outer layers of clothing to reveal T-shirts with getting to a place where we are the slogan “#notonemore.” They circled the bus, showing rather than telling, but chanting “Shut down ice!” over and over. More it is not easy to manage varied expectations while we work to banners were laid down on the street, includ- close the gap between concept ing one, with blood-red letters on black fabric, and practice . proclaiming “We Will No Longer Remain in the Shadows.” The crowd’s chant changed to a call- 43 44

and-response: “Undocumented”… “Unafraid.” (rifa). “The person who manages rifa follows As daylight waned, San Francisco police offi- me on Instagram,” Hosseini explains. “It’s an cers told the protesters blocking the bus that they example of what can happen when personal and needed to move, or face arrest. Advancing Justice professional lives converge on social media.” staff attorney Anoop Prasad consulted with While social media amplified the anti-depor- the young activists, and they decided to stand tation protest both before and after the event, firm. One by one, they were led away by federal Advancing Justice co-director Hyeon-Ju Rho agents—although they were ultimately neither argues that it was the event itself—a physical act arrested nor charged. The bus, with its passen- of defiance—that drove the online engagement. gers still shackled inside, drove away. “The dream movement has been facilitated by The Bay Area protest was part of a nationwide social media, increasing the ability to network, movement to pressure President Obama to halt share information, and mobilize outside of tradi- immigration deportations—and the activists tional organizational structures,” says Rho. But did their best to highlight both their cause and “the reason why this movement has been trans- their actions to the world. During the protest, the formative still goes back to the kind of personal coalition set up a live-stream that was pushed out sacrifice and personal courage that defined the through email blasts, press releases, Facebook, activism of a pre-social media era.” and Twitter (hash tag: #notonemore)—and Others have noted the same phenomenon: promptly captured the attention of traditional while online campaigns may get “likes” or lead media reporters, says Advancing Justice commu- to donations, the engagement they create is often nications director Mariam Hosseini. The protest only “as deep as the width of an iPad,” writes was covered by radio stations, English and ethnic Raj Jayadev, an organizer for the Albert Cobar- print media publications, and a dozen television rubias Justice Project. People see something news outlets, including two Spanish-language on their Facebook feed, “like” it, share it, and stations and The Filipino Channel. maybe donate to the cause—and then move on. The updates that Hosseini and others shared “The truth is, ever since the ’60s, social justice on their personal social media accounts also drew campaigns have tried to imitate the movement of attention. A photo that Hosseini took and posted that era,” Jayadev writes. “But despite using the on Instagram garnered 12,595 “likes” and 876 same chants, carrying similar banners, even voic- “shares” and was picked up by a leading national ing similar demands, most lacked the same level campaign, Reform Immigration for America of personal sacrifice, the key ingredient. Many 45

STATISTICS ON SMS AND MOBILE PHONES

91% 92%

AMERICANS WHO HAVE SMARTPHONE USERS A MOBILE PHONE WHO TEXT, SENDING AN AVERAGE OF 111 MESSAGES PER WEEK 80% 49% MOBILE PHONE OWNERS WHO TEXT, UP FROM 58% IN 2007 PEOPLE WHO USE SOCIAL MEDIA DAILY WHO WOULD RATHER RECEIVE A TEXT 4,000 THAN A CALL SMARTPHONE OWNERS AGES 18 TO 24 SEND AND RECEIVE 4,000 MESSAGES PER MONTH SOURCES: PEW RESEARCH CENTER, ACISION, EXPERIAN, PERFORMICS . 46

ABOUT ZERODIVIDE

ZeroDivide is a social impact consulting displays of civil disobedience had become politi- organization that began as a community cal theater—organization directors and even elected officials in a staged ‘arrest’ and out of jail foundation called the California Technology within an hour for the planned press conference.” Foundation; it has stayed true to its original The aspire protest was not imitation or politi- mission of improving the health, oppor- cal theater; the activists involved—most of them undocumented—faced a serious personal sacrifice tunities, and engagement of underserved in their own possible deportation. In social justice communities through the innovative use of 2.0, it’s the combination of real offline activism technology . The organization works as a and online broadcasting that can drive the greatest impact. Online platforms amplify the audience for thought partner and capacity builder with ’60s-style activists, and may help them raise money a range of clients, including foundations, and bring more like-minded people to the cause. government, and businesses, helping them But the transformative nature of their work lies in the power of putting their physical safety, liberty, design technology-infused strategies and and even lives on the line. projects to build strong community leaders and organizations . ZeroDivide brings a wide Pushing Power to the Edges range of expertise-in research, planning, program design, implementation, evaluation, cultural competency, and grants manage- On February 7, 2012, the Ninth District Court of Appeal in San Francisco was scheduled to hear ment-to its partnerships . The organization a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, which has 15 years of experience working with in- limited marriage to heterosexual couples. Shortly dividuals, youth, and families in low-income before the hearing began, the court announced that the proceedings would not be televised, contrary and culturally diverse communities and to initial expectations. Fortuitously, the American from other traditionally underserved groups . Civil Liberties Union-Northern California (aclu- nc) had already convinced several of its attorneys to live-tweet from the courtroom. Their tweets 47

offered a level of expert analysis—instantly deliv- Twitter training with a group of aclu-nc at- ered—that the aclu-nc’s communications staff torneys and program staff. All were in their 30s could not have provided. By the end of the day, the and 40s, but none considered themselves “digital nonprofit’s Twitter followers had doubled. natives.” After the training, Farmer assigned In fact, the organization’s communications each person a “Twitter buddy”—a member of department had invested enormous amounts of the organization’s five-person communications time and energy before the trial convincing its team more practiced in social media—so that attorneys that they should live-tweet, an idea that the group could learn the ins and outs of tweeting was initially met with skepticism. “We are a legal one-on-one, from how to use hash tags to remem- organization, so there was a lot of concern about bering to always include @acluNorCal in their ethics, accuracy, and approval,” says aclu-nc messages. communications director Rebecca Farmer. Today, members of the aclu-nc’s “Twitter “Social media is supposed to be rapid response, Corps” tweet regularly on their issue areas, both so you have to be nimble. You have to have people on the aclu-nc’s handle and on personal Twitter who know what the messaging is, and you have to accounts where their profile clearly states their em- be legally accurate.” ployer. “The aclu has gravitas, but their personal At the beginning of the Pioneers in Justice voices bring more engagement,” says Farmer. One program, the aclu-nc was the furthest along in its of her proudest moments was when the aclu-nc’s social media capacity among its peers, thanks to a free speech and privacy attorney live-tweeted at a strong national brand, appreciation of social media board supervisor’s meeting about a sheriff’s pro- by its leaders, and the large number of staff already posal to purchase and fly a drone in the Bay Area’s skilled in online platforms and tools. But the Alameda County. “She tweeted until her phone organization’s content experts—predominantly died,” Farmer says. The tweets were covered by attorneys—didn’t participate in its social media ef- bloggers and news media alike. forts. They either considered it a waste of their time Meanwhile, analyzing the metrics of social or were unsure of how to tweet or post to Facebook media engagement has been a powerful way for effectively. They saw social media as an “extra”— the aclu-nc communications team to both illus- not as something that needed to be integrated into trate impact to the broader organization and help the organization’s bedrock communications. them learn about what’s working and what’s not. With executive director Abdi Soltani’s back- ing, Farmer brought in ZeroDivide to conduct take, for example, the aclu-nc’s website. 48

Metrics made it clear that visitors found visual itself been a tool to show staff members that even posts that used a storytelling approach far more funders appreciate the value of social media. “It’s engaging than long, fact-filled treatises. “It was a not a kooky communications thing, it’s real,” says reality check about how people use our website,” Farmer. “And having an executive director who says Farmer. “Lawyers and policy people are understands why we keep talking about this, why deep in the details and want to provide all that it’s important, has really boosted what we are information. We have had to go back to them and able to do.” say, ‘We know you worked hard on that blog post, but it only got 15 or 30 views. That’s not enough for how much time you put into it.’” Online Fundraising The aclu-nc has now redesigned its website, moving from an extremely text-heavy design to one that that features fresh, relevant, and timely The Pioneers have also started exploring the new content that makes more use of photos and video. fundraising possibilities that social media en- More people in the organization are posting to ables—which have the potential to be extremely the site, so that a few people in the communica- valuable to small and medium-size nonprofits in tions department aren’t forming a bottleneck particular. Chinese for Affirmative Actioncaa ( ), by creating content for 65 people. “It’s changing for example, receives almost all of its $1.5 million the way we work and how our staff works,” says budget from progressive Bay Area donors and Farmer. very little from state or national foundations. Farmer also says it’s been particularly im- During the pij program, caa executive direc- portant to get staff to appreciate the importance tor Vincent Pan helped start Asian Americans for of telling stories that emphasize the human side Civil Rights and Equality (aacre)—a network of policy. “The way we do communications and comprising eight Asian American social justice media relations has changed so much over the last groups (described in more detail in Chapter 6). several years and has definitely been supported Most aacre members have significantly smaller by the Pioneers in Justice cohort and the lsf budgets than caa and are even more reliant on grants,” she says. “As newsrooms shrank, and at grassroots fundraising. the same time social media was exploding, we all Still, aacre’s member organizations are of a sudden had these new tools.” cautious about how and when they use social In fact, the Pioneers in Justice program has media for fundraising purposes. For example, 49

"THE TIME THAT YOU SPEND TWEETING MAY BE TIME THAT YOU DON'T SPEND TALKING TO REPORTERS. SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE HIGH RETURN, BUT IT CAN ALSO BE LOW RETURN, AND YOU NEVER FULLY KNOW UNTIL YOU DO IT." VINCENT PAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHINESE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

caa thought carefully about the timing of its Fellow aacre member Hyphen magazine raised fundraising linked to two recent campaigns— $6,000 through Crowdrise-via-Facebook to one centered on comprehensive immigration fund a project with photojournalist Mia Nakano, reform and the other on saving San Francisco’s documenting the faces and stories of queer and City College—“out of concern about appearing transgender Asian Americans. to be exploitative,” says caa associate director Fong acknowledges that none of the aacre John Fong. Yet caa received significant dona- member organizations have come close yet to tions from supporters in part because of its work fully realizing the fundraising potential of social on those two campaigns. media—but their capabilities are growing. Only In April 2013, aacre member organization three of the network’s seven members had active api Equality-Northern California launched a Facebook pages before joining aacre. Now they month-long fundraising campaign for its summer all do. In March 2014, AACRE launched a shared intern program, which in the past had been sup- website aimed at helping raise awareness of each ported through general funds. On top of email member organization and motivating the groups solicitations and phone banking, api Equality to create fresh content and cross-link posts to had former interns share their personal stories on mutually drive traffic. Social media will be Facebook and ask for donations. The campaign’s integrated into the website, so that each group’s $7,000 goal was modest, and so were its social Facebook and Twitter accounts experience a media efforts: just six Facebook posts in total. Yet boost in followers. even with such light social media engagement, api Equality exceeded its fundraising goal by more than $3,000 and increased its Facebook Challenges fans by 10 percent (to 1,200). Its Twitter account and email list subscriptions saw similar spikes. Another aacre member, apex Express— Despite the Pioneers’ successes using social which produces a weekly Asian and Pacific media to broadcast activist actions, engage Islander-focused radio show—successfully individual supporters, and raise funds, adopting crowd-sourced funding through the fundraising these tools has not been without significant chal- sites Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The organiza- lenges. For example, it remains hard for all of the tion raised almost $4,000 to send a correspon- Pioneers to find the right balance between social dent to the Philippines to conduct interviews. media and other forms of communication, and to 50

figure out how much time and effort to spend on Finally, the format of some social media social media versus doing other aspects of their platforms can limit how much nuance or detail work. “The time that you spend tweeting may be organizations can provide through their stories. time that you don’t spend talking to reporters,” Many Pioneer organizations are engaged in says caa’s Pan. “Social media can be high return, complex legal and advocacy work that cannot be but it can also be low return, and you never fully reduced to 140 characters or a breezy two-line know until you do it.” caption and call to action. However, those 140 In addition, says the aclu-nc’s Soltani, the characters can drive traffic to more comprehen- explosion of online news and opinion outlets sive content on the organization’s website. More- makes it more difficult to monitor issues—even over, an image posted to Facebook or Instagram issues that are in the organization’s sweet spot. can draw the attention of traditional media— “So many people now can communicate in so with no words necessary. When Advancing many different ways,” Soltani says. “We have to Justice posted an infographic about immigration keep up with so many more channels, not just reform on its Facebook page, it was blasted across opinion-leading newspapers and local TV. You social media, picked up and shared by Pulitzer can’t make a nice press list with 30 outlets—it’s Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker Jose infinite.” Antonio Vargas, and led to coverage by The Wall On the flip side, some of the audiences these Street Journal and CNN. organizations are trying to reach still have lim- ited access to technology. Facebook and Twitter can’t always reach women prisoners, immigrants with limited English, or low-income families with little to no access to technology in the home. While some will never be reached through social media—a lesson in and of itself—the Pioneers have tried to maximize their ability to “virtually” connect with these harder-to-access audiences through tools such as WeiBo (a Chinese hybrid of Twitter and Facebook) and Meltwater, which enables the tracking of foreign-language media stories. 51 52

EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA Key Takeaways

For social justice and legacy To do this, they first established nonprofits struggling with how 2 a clear social media policy to adapt to social media and use START WITH THE laying out professional and per- these new tools to drive greater RIGHT TECHNOLOGY sonal guidelines. ZeroDivide impact, there are a number of INFRASTRUCTURE. suggests that organizational lessons specific to technology Effective social media com- leaders spend half an hour on that the Pioneers have learned munications, especially those social media per day, once they in this process: using video, require having have set up the tools to enable basic technology infrastructure efficient social media monitor- in place. For the Pioneers, those ing and posting. 1 basics included broadband CRAWL, WALK, RUN- access; essential hardware AND GET HELP! (up-to-date computers with 4 One of the most important les- cameras, etc.); updated soft- REMAIN AGILE, AND sons the Pioneers learned was ware programs; applications to RESPOND QUICKLY. that adopting social media as help facilitate social media use; News today happens fast in a a tool, and using it effectively, collaborative content manage- 24/7 cycle; the Pioneers had to takes real time. As social media ment systems; and integration ensure that their teams were expert Beth Kanter says, orga- of their content with mobile equipped to respond quickly nizations need to crawl before phones. to breaking news events. “If they can walk, and walk before you’re not on it within the first they can run. Nonprofits should hour, it’s basically non-news,” take it one step at a time. It also 3 says caa communications helps to have the assistance of SET UP A SOCIAL director Susan Hsieh. For a technical consultant (in the MEDIA POLICY AND example, when the George Pioneers’ case, ZeroDivide). EMPOWER STAFF. Zimmerman verdict was For nonprofits just starting The Pioneers learned to identi- handed down on a Saturday, the down this path, it may make fy, train, and empower key staff Lawyers’ Committee for Civil sense to attend trainings or get to engage in social media on Rights communications direc- some capacity building help at behalf of the organization and tor Candace Francis was at the outset. on their own personal accounts. home, but she was ready to re- 53

spond with a short post, which quickly gained traction. As a 6 7 result, lccr legal director Oren TEST AND ITERATE BRIDGE ONLINE Sellstrom was invited to appear TO LEARN. "CLICKTIVISM" WITH on local public radio later that The Pioneers learned that OFFLINE ACTION. week to discuss the verdict. the best way to become more The Pioneers learned that the skilled at social media is to best social media campaigns try things out and learn. For bridge the online and offline 5 those seeking to emulate their worlds, and include a real call CREATE DATA-DRIVEN approach, questions to ask to action. Social change will FEEDBACK LOOPS. include: Have you chosen the not come about only through Sustained social media effort is right issue at the right time to “likes,” and “clicktivism” alone only possible when you feel that create impact? Are the right will never sway a legislator’s there’s a worthwhile return on people tweeting/posting? Are opinion as much as showing the investment, which requires they delivering a powerful, up in her office. “We’re on the tracking and measuring shareable message? Are they hook to produce legislative results. The good news is that using pictures, infographics, and policy outcomes,” says the this can be easier to do in the and video? Are the messages aclu-nc’s Soltani. “That hap- online world than offline, where going out at a time when your pens through very careful legal outcomes can be harder to mea- target audience is listening? work, careful communications sure. With the help of ZeroDi- work, and targeted persuasion vide, the Pioneers learned how on the right person at the right to use the appropriate analytic time.” Social media is just one tools to measure their social piece of the larger social justice media impact. For example, puzzle. they learned to look not only at how many followers they have online, but whether they have followers with influence. 4 Developing New Leadership Developing New Leadership Many of the Pioneers are finding new ways to engage Millennials- like those pictured here-in social justice work. 57

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LEAD SOCIAL JUSTICE 2 0. WORK AT THE multiple levels of self, organization, network, and movement? For the Pioneers, it has meant having the courage to embrace new ways of thinking, acting, and organizing. It has meant helping their nonprofits—and helping themselves—find their voice in a world full of noise. And it has meant leaving behind the model of the executive director as heroic leader who can be everything to everyone, and instead elevating the “we” above the “me.” Over the last three years, the Pioneers and the Levi Strauss Foundation (lsf) have worked hard to redefine what social justice leadership in a networked world can look like: dealing with executive transitions, experimenting with shared leadership models, changing job descriptions by sharing power with others, and grappling with how to maintain a sustainable balance when social media has accelerated the pace of change and blurred the lines between “work” and “life.” None of it has been easy: while their breakthroughs have been significant, so have their challenges. But any one of them will tell you that having the support of the other Pioneers in the cohort has made an enormous difference in their confidence and their ability to continue pushing their organizations and themselves into new territory. All of this, of course, is happening against a backdrop of a larger social sector in which leader- ship transitions are occurring at an increasingly rapid pace. As Baby Boomers retire, and as orga- 58 59

"THE EQUALIZER"

CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE-ASIAN LAW CAUCUS nizations are forced to navigate more turbulent waters—economic recession, disruptive technol- BORN: ogies, a world that is “always on”—many social August 1976 justice organizations find themselves learning ALMA MATER: how to operate in a new kind of landscape. In fact, Brown University the Pioneers have embodied the many leader- UCLA Law School ship challenges facing the sector, including the PREVIOUS ROLES: disruptions that executive transition can present Deputy director, Asian Americans to any nonprofit. Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus; advocacy director, Filipino Advocates for Justice; staff attorney, Positive Resource Moving On Center

BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: Part of the challenge in thinking/ “Can we chat?” acting social justice 2 .0 is that It was the email subject line that former it's like learning a new language . Levi Strauss Foundation senior manager Merle Unlike net natives who grew Lawrence had learned to dread. The first one up with the internet, I started using email in college . I had no came from Pioneer Titi Liu, who informed lsf in cellphone back then . While tech- mid-2011, only a year into the pij program, that she nology has vastly improved and would be leaving her position as executive direc- is more accessible than ever, the tor of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian social justice movement where Law Caucus to take a post in academia, which she I got my chops did not use these methods . So, for me, it is a mat- hoped would provide better work-life balance. The ter of daily practice and forming second email arrived just a few weeks later, from new habits . I'm much better now Lateefah Simon, who wanted to come early to the but I'm still learning, the same as next gathering so that she too could “chat.” She my organization . informed Lawrence that she planned to leave her job as executive director of the Lawyers’ Commit- tee for Civil Rights and return to graduate school. When Simon’s departure was announced to 60

LEANING IN-OR OPTING OUT?

When Titi Liu, Lateefah Simon, and ics ". Says Pan, who does not have her family against those of her job . Arcelia Hurtado simultaneously children: "Gender equity is an issue, She had hoped that taking on the announced they were leaving their both in terms of unequal responsi- deputy directorship at NCLR would executive directorships, then senior bilities at home and as a systemic be easier on her personal life, and manager Merle Lawrence, a Baby problem within professional sectors, allow her to spend more time with Boomer and veteran activist, looked including our own ". her two young sons . But one year at the other two Pioneers-both of Liu says that today's young in, her marriage hit a roadblock . them men-in dismay . "'No offence leaders are not willing to devote Hurtado switched down to part-time to anyone in this room," I said, 'but every waking minute to work, as hours to try to work on her relation- why is it always women who bear their predecessors often were . "My ship, with her executive director's this?'" she recalls saying . "Here we generation and the generation com- blessing, and took on a new role as are, these progressive social justice ing behind us, we think more about NCLR's policy advisor . Unfortunately, leaders who all believe in gender how to achieve balance," she says . her marriage did not last . But while equality, but at the end of the day, "Work is more demanding now, and making the difficult decision to it's the elephant in the room ". the cycle is much shorter ". end the relationship allowed her to All three departing Pioneers Hurtado adds that being both a refocus on work, she says, "I don't were mothers (or mothers-to- woman and a person of color adds want to get sucked into a job that's be), and all three said that their further complexity to holding down 80 hours a week again ". decision to leave was informed by, the top job . "There are real chal- Meanwhile, NCLR continues but certainly not limited to, the lenges to being a leader when you to value Hurtado's expertise and challenges of balancing a leadership are not white and/or male, which has perspective-regardless of her title role with family . Hurtado notes that implications not just for individuals or work hours . "I want to make this the three women had spent "hours" but for larger social change," she work, because we're an organiza- talking about how to find that says . "I think at the time I was the tion that needs Arcelia's voice and balance . Soltani, also a parent of only woman of color in a leadership leadership," says NCLR executive young children, acknowledges that position in an LGBTQ organization and director Kate Kendell . his wife takes on many of his family one of two in the country leading a responsibilities, and that "my ability national women's rights organiza- to have the flexibility I have to do my tion, which I think is detrimental to job, which is pretty demanding, is the movement as a whole ". made possible by [her] . I think we all Hurtado's move from Equal need to be mindful of those dynam- Rights Advocates to the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) was motivated in part by her struggle to balance the demands of 61

the cohort at their next bimonthly convening, unsettling effect on the whole program.” Equal Rights Advocates executive director Arcelia But Pan did lament a missed opportunity: “As Hurtado added yet another voice to the conversa- part of the Pioneers program, I thought that La- tion. “I may as well let you know I’m leaving era,” teefah and I might have a more formal platform to Lawrence recalls her saying. She was taking the build on our rare convergence of shared political number two job at era’s sister organization, the analysis, overlapping relationships, and personal National Center for Lesbian Rights. commitment to addressing issues and opportuni- The original Pioneer cohort members were ties between the African American and Chinese going to turn over by 60 percent in one fell American communities.” With Simon leaving swoop—with all three women leaving. Merle the cohort, that opportunity did not materialize. Lawrence and lsf executive director Daniel Lee While no one had anticipated the sudden hadn’t seen it coming. change, it did force the group to start talking about In fact, these transitions had a significant yet another dimension of leadership 2.0: constant impact on the entire cohort, because the learning transition. Executive directors of social justice that they were doing together and the support organizations used to stay in their jobs for 20 years they were providing to one another were a form of or more. In fact, many of the largest social justice shared leadership that they had quickly grown to groups founded in the 1960s or ’70s still had their rely upon. Now, only two members of the original original leaders at the helm or on the board until cohort were continuing in their roles: Vincent Pan quite recently. “The old-style executive direc- of Chinese for Affirmative Actioncaa ( ) and Abdi tors in these organizations led in ways that were Soltani of the American Civil Liberties Union- transformative, but you had the sense that they held Northern California (aclu-nc). But Pan and everything together themselves,” says Titi Liu. “If Soltani said they knew that their personal rela- they were to leave, no one could imagine how the tionships with the three women would endure— organization would survive.” and, just as importantly, that much of the existing But this style of long-term, positional leadership collaborative work between the original Pioneer was clearly changing with the transfer of power organizations would continue. “There was a lot of to the next generation—and the Pioneers were cohesion in the program in terms of our organi- now helping the field figure out a “new normal” zations working together,” says Soltani. “Our for which there were few best practices. In a world collaboration runs pretty deep, so removing the where nonprofit leaders change jobs every four to executive directors from the top did not have an five years, the Pioneers were cognizant that they 62

"THE BRIDGE BUILDER"

HYEON-JU RHO CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE-ASIAN could help the sector rethink its notions of leader- LAW CAUCUS ship development, succession planning, and orga- nizational sustainability—not to mention career BORN: development for leaders in it for the long haul. September 1972 Meanwhile, the announcement also raised ALMA MATER: other, more practical questions—specifically Swarthmore College, for the Levi Strauss Foundation as the program’s NYU Law School funder. Should Pioneers remain within the PREVIOUS ROLES: cohort after they left their jobs—in other words, Country director, American Bar should the foundation “follow the leader” rather Association's Rule of Law Initia- tive in China; trial attorney, civil than the organization? Or should the new execu- rights division, U .S Department tive directors at participating organizations be of Justice; staff attorney, Urban invited to take part in the pij cohort? And what Justice Center about the grants that these leaders’ organizations BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: had received as part of the program? The messy Needing to be fluent in many reality of leadership transition presented lsf different modes of speaking with challenges they hadn’t anticipated confront- and communicating . We are a ing—especially so early in the program. And bridge between incredibly diverse parts of our community and our these challenges were wreaking havoc on their movement, whether it's our mil- thinking about leadership, capacity building, and lennial staff and 60s-era activist grantmaking, not to mention linear logic models founders; recent immigrants and and theories of change. second- and third-generation In retrospect, lsf acknowledges that it was Asian American professionals; or marginalized communities in naïve to believe that—in today’s tumultuous and outside of the API umbrella times—five young executive directors would who don't necessarily see their remain at the helm of the same five organizations struggles as interconnected . for five years. Yet the foundation now had no choice While social media and technol- but to adapt. Ultimately, lsf decided that Lateefah ogy have opened up new ways of connecting, there are people Simon and Titi Liu would not remain in the cohort. who are excluded from it as well . Simon went back to graduate school full-time and We have to ensure that we don't then joined the Rosenberg Foundation, while Liu leave important voices out of the conversation . 63 64

took an academic job at Stanford University. Both and talented colleagues who stepped right into of these career pivots took them too far afield from the collaboration with such grace,” says Soltani. lsf’s work to justify ongoing investment. In 2013, Rho took on a co-executive director, Chris Punongbayan, who was invited to join the hurtado, on the other hand, remained with the cohort as well (see “Sharing the Lead,” below). Pioneers cohort, which helped smooth her transi- All three had to go through the same interview tion to her new organization, the National Center process as the original Pioneers and had to be ap- for Lesbian Rights (nclr), where she became proved by the cohort. deputy director and then policy advisor. Although Today, though they are no longer part of the the pij program was initially designed for executive formal program, both Simon and Liu continue directors, the Pioneers had talked a great deal about to feel its positive effects, and both remain close flattening hierarchy and distributing leadership, with the other Pioneers. “I’ve been through a so they decided Hurtado should stay in the cohort lot of fellowships or cohort processes that were despite her new role. Says lsf’s Daniel Lee: “When funder driven,” says Simon. “This was the most it comes to grantmaking, you see a leader, the vision meaningful to me. I learned a ton of new skills, they have, and you stick with them.” my politics advanced, and it provided a real, hon- lsf also made the decision to award a tying- est space that allowed us to do more than vent. It off grant to era after Hurtado left, since the was more than collaboration. It was really devel- nonprofit was in the middle of transforming its oping a new, forward-thinking community.” website and logo as part of its work with pij. As For its part, lsf has every confidence that a result, era staffers were able to remain in a the program’s impact will grow as a result of Liu parallel peer-learning group that ZeroDivide had and Simon’s participation. “We know they will established to provide social media training to continue to be influential voices for social change the staff of all Pioneer organizations. and justice,” says lsf president Bob Haas. The new executive directors of Advancing Jus- tice and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (lccr), Hyeon-Ju Rho and Kimberly Thomas Sharing the Lead Rapp, were invited to join the pij cohort. “It really was a loss to us as a group when Titi and Lateefah left, but in some ways that was mitigated by the “Shared leadership” sounds compelling—but fact that they were both replaced by wonderful what does it actually look like, and how is it 65

"I LEARNED A TON OF NEW SKILLS, MY POLITICS ADVANCED, AND IT PROVIDED A REAL, HONEST SPACE THAT ALLOWED US TO DO MORE THAN VENT. IT WAS MORE THAN COLLABORATION. IT WAS REALLY DEVELOPING A NEW, FORWARD-THINKING COMMUNITY." LATEEFAH SIMON, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

achieved? The only way to break with histori- In their public announcement, Rho and Pu- cal notions of top-down, individual leadership nongbayan noted that in many ways their move is to actively experiment with new paradigms, toward shared leadership was a natural evolu- for which there are few role models. As the pij tion. Unlike several other Pioneer organizations, program progressed, the Pioneers explored a Advancing Justice had a longstanding emphasis host of ways to distribute the power that comes on cooperative leadership. Still, the plan was un- with their positions: by taking on allies within usual, even for them. “It’s very bold,” says former their organizations, giving away responsibilities Advancing Justice executive director Titi Liu. that could better thrive in the hands of others, “Everyone’s usually so focused on this one [lead- and beginning to lower the walls between their er] in the organization. Donors, foundations, organizations and external leaders doing related and even government officials giving grants or work. This enabled shared leadership to take contracts need to meet with the executive direc- place not just at the level of the executive director tor or they don’t feel special. It’s so hierarchical, but at the level of the organization and larger and so different from what you’d expect to find in network as well; it also put the focus on leadership a progressive organization.” as a behavior practiced by many rather than on Both Rho and Punongbayan initially ap- “leader” as a formal position. proached the co-leadership idea with caution for In one Pioneer organization, the notion of just this reason. Sharing power and responsibil- shared leadership took very literal form—in the ity can be complicated. They also worried that shape of a co-directorship. In 2012, after leading it could potentially slow the organization down Advancing Justice for one year, Hyeon-Ju Rho,* when it needed to respond nimbly to the needs of who replaced Titi Liu, invited Chris Punongbay- its constituents and a rapidly changing environ- an, the organization’s deputy director, to become ment. Still, it was clear to many at the organiza- its co-executive director. The invitation came tion that an unconventional solution could be just around the same time that the organization was what Advancing Justice needed, given that it had formalizing its affiliation with three other Asian been through 10 executive directors in 20 years American civil rights organizations—a move (including three interim executive directors). that not only changed the organization’s name Clearly, the old model was no longer working. (from Asian Law Caucus to Asian Americans Indeed, Titi Liu had left the executive director Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus) but also job in part because the way the role was struc- shifted it to an even more networked form. tured had become untenable for her. She was at

* As this book went to press, Hyeon-Ju Rho announced that she was stepping down as Advancing Justice’s co-executive director and moving to Los Angeles with her family. Beginning in June 2014, Chris Panong- bayan will become the organization’s sole executive director. 66

the office late every night, and representing the It is another way they are leading by example— organization at community events meant even and piloting new ways of working that are much later nights and weekends away from family. more doable for a younger generation with young Even when she took time to enjoy a rare moment families. “We saw how it’s just too big of a job,” with her family, duty called. One time, when Liu says Advancing Justice board member Marjori shut off her phone for an hour to be more present Fujiki, adding that the board was pleased with with her kids at a swimming pool, a local Chi- the co-directorship proposal because they didn’t nese-language newspaper called her for a com- want Rho to burn out. “It did require more com- ment on a story. The story, critical of Advancing munication and coordination. But because they Justice’s cross-racial alliances, went live an hour don’t have big egos and could share the leader- later, under the headline “alc Is Weak” and with ship position, it made a lot of sense.” no quote or defense from Liu. The presumed les- The pair had already proved to be a powerful son was to be available 24/7. team even before sharing the top title, says board In fact, when Liu started at Advancing Justice chair Larry Lowe. “Under their leadership, we in 2008, she says, there were no staff members with now have the largest staff and budget in our his- young children, in part because of the intense pres- tory, and have grown our litigation and develop- sure of the job. “People would get married, have ment teams.” Clearly, co-leadership is paying off kids, and leave,” she says. “It was a combination in terms of greater impact and sustainability for of not being paid very well and being super busy. the organization. We had one staff attorney, more than 10 years out To support the transition into their shared of law school, who we were paying $50,000 a year. role, the Levi Strauss Foundation provided Rho Every Saturday for 12 years, after working a long and Punongbayan with professional coaching, week, he would drive around the Bay Area, pick which helped them work through the many up law students, and go somewhere to hold a legal questions that they, their staff, and their board clinic, so that clients who were working during the had. As part of that coaching, the pair created a week could come and get help. When his wife was 62-item list of all the traditional responsibilities about to have a baby, I said, ‘We need to talk about of an executive and deputy director—and then whether this is sustainable.’” chose who would take the lead on each, accord- Today, by contrast, there are many staff ing to their respective strengths as leaders. In members with young children at Advancing the end, Rho chose to lead the communications, Justice, including the two co-executive directors. development, and finance and administration 67

"PART OF OUR WORK IS TO BUILD ENOUGH SAFETY THAT FOLKS CAN DO THE WORK. SO WE DEALT WITH THE POWER DYNAMIC BY NAMING IT. WE TALKED ABOUT IT AND GRAPPLED WITH IT."

AKAYA WINDWOOD, CEO, ROCKWOOD LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

departments, while Punongbayan took charge zation can’t be dependent on a single individual.” of programmatic work, which had historically Moreover, adopting a co-executive director been his area of expertise. Both of them share model has demystified the concept of leadership responsibility for strategic planning, cultivating within the organization, she says. “It’s no longer and maintaining relationships with donors, and something that magically does or doesn’t work, being the public faces of the organization. but rather something we can shape into what we At the heart of making this intense partnership need it to be. And it’s opened up the space for work is trust, self-awareness, and strong commu- staff to think about and step into their own lead- nication. “The pij program really challenged me ership—another aspect of building resiliency.” to think about how to live out my values through Rho and Punongbayan weren’t the only this position,” says Rho. “It helped me to bring Pioneers to realize during the course of the pij the focus on whether co-directorship is consistent program just how intertwined the personal and with what I think the organization stands for, and the professional have become. It’s a throwback to be more open to the part of leadership that’s to the old ‘60s mantra “the personal is political,” about vulnerability and authenticity.” In social but with a new twist. In social justice 2.0, much justice organizations, she adds, “the lines between of who you are and what you do blend together professional and personal are already blurred, when the goal is to spark a larger social move- because you are living out your personal values in ment grounded in shared values. Both Pioneers the work that you do. In the co-leader context, that were innovative enough—and bold enough—to means opening up to the other person about my find a new balance by opting for co-directorship. fears, my concerns about myself, and my concerns about them. It wouldn’t be possible to do this if we couldn’t have those conversations.” Equalizing Power- She also believes that by “right sizing” their with the Funder leadership roles, Advancing Justice can now see and celebrate all of the other things that make it resilient beyond the commitment of its executive One of the Pioneers’ most interesting leadership directors. It is truly a shift to thinking of leader- lessons has been around the trust and relation- ship as distributed rather than as a concentration ships established with the Levi Strauss Founda- of power. “A movement can’t be dependent on a tion. Even though lsf’s stated goal was to co- single organization,” says Rho, “and an organi- create the pij program in collaboration with the 68

ABOUT THE ROCKWOOD LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

The Rockwood Leadership Institute was Pioneers, the foundation was still the Funder— founded in 2000 to provide individuals, with a capital F. As with all foundations, it held both the purse strings and the ultimate decision organizations, and networks in the social rights—a tension that can often create a power benefit sector with powerful and effective differential between funders and grantees. training in leadership and collaboration . Indeed, when the program began, the Pioneers were initially hesitant about just how honest they Each year, Rockwood delivers its programs could be in the presence of lsf staff. to nearly 400 leaders working in important Although the power dynamic will never be grassroots and policy reform sectors that 100 percent equalized, the level of trust between foundation staff and the Pioneers deepened help improve the well-being of communities significantly after they attended a five-day retreat and the world . Rockwood teaches skills and at the Rockwood Leadership Institute together. tools that help leaders overcome organiza- lsf’s executive director Daniel Lee had attended another Rockwood program and thought that the tional challenges; inspire and align individu- 360-degree feedback, visioning statements, and als and organizations toward producing other hallmarks of the institute’s process would be quality outcomes; develop collaborative helpful to the Pioneers’ own growth as leaders. So he approached Rockwood about creating a custom skills; decrease burn-out; and create experience for both funders and Pioneers together. organizations that celebrate sustainability When Rockwood indicated it could only run the and diversity . program for a larger group, Lee suggested that each Pioneer invite a board member and a key staff Today, Rockwood has nearly 4,000 al- member to attend the retreat with them. ums, making it the nation's largest provider “It was new for us to have a mixed group; we of multi-day, transformative leadership had board members, executives, team members, and funders all in this intensive experience to- trainings for social change nonprofit and gether,” says Rockwood ceo Akaya Windwood. philanthropic organizations . But the leadership retreat proved a big success and helped the group cross many boundaries. “Part of our work is to build enough safety that 69

folks can do the work,” says Windwood. “So we thing greater than what either of us can create sepa- dealt with the power dynamic by naming it. We rately,” says Windwood. In this case, the retreat talked about it and grappled with it.” deepened the shared leadership and partnership Lee agreed that it was an atypical experi- between an executive director and her board chair. ence: “Having a funder in such an intimate space “It’s in all of our best interests that everyone like that is quite an undertaking,” he says. “But thrives,” says Windwood. “We are not in the busi- it really solidified a sense of us all being in this ness of developing competitive leaders. Leadership together. I know I’m not in the Pioneers’ role. is inherently relational, and collaboration really They are voices of movements, they raise money, requires that no one needs to be alone.” on top of managing staff and guiding strategy. At the end of the day I’m in a corporate private foundation. But I really felt like we started engag- Finding Their Voices ing as friends and peers, which helped open doors to more honesty. Before that, it was collegial respect.” As a result of the Rockwood retreat— Like others in their generation, the Pioneers and the relationships that it helped develop—all have largely opted to lead behind the scenes parties felt that a new level of trust and partner- rather than adopt an individualistic leadership ship had emerged. model in which they became iconic and identi- To take one example, the experience helped fied with their movements. All seem to prefer for Kimberly Thomas Rapp establish a deeper partner- the spotlight to shine on “the work,” or the work ship with her board chair, Pamela Price, at a critical of others, rather than on themselves. But in the juncture. At the time of the Rockwood program, social justice sector, leaders also need to have Thomas Rapp had just become executive director their own voice, and that voice needs to be both of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, was in personal and engaging. Call it the paradox of the thick of addressing organizational changes, and networked leadership: needing to claim your own needed the support of her board. As it happened, voice and power—even while sharing that power one of the goals of the Rockwood retreat was to help with others. participants cultivate a collaborative leadership In their social media work, the Pioneers found style. “Collaboration is about recognizing that new ways to tell the stories of their organizations there are many agendas. I have a purpose and you and to lift up the voices of the people whose rights have a purpose, and together we can create some- they were all fighting for. But sometimes they 70

neglected to find their own story. “They’ve always aa The summer that abdi soltani turned eight, been about building other voices,” says former lsf his family left Iran as the country was going senior manager Merle Lawrence. “The hard part through a turbulent internal change and being was around the notion of their own voice being out drawn into war with its neighbor. “I remember there. They feel very negative about creating a cult looking out the plane window, knowing that I’d of personality, and they’ve bent over backwards to just left a country in a great deal of conflict, and go the other way.” that I now had this tremendous opportunity. I But the reality is that even in the 2.0 world, had to do something with it.” funders, media, and conveners still look to execu- tive directors as the voice and personality of an aa arcelia hurtado went to law school in organization, and at certain times that voice needs California in the mid-1990s, when anti- to be clear and powerful. nclr executive director affirmative action propositions were sweep- (and Baby Boomer) Kate Kendell says it’s their job ing the state. “Everyone assumed if you were to assert their voice in the larger conversation on a person of color, you were there because of behalf of their cause. “It’s ludicrous to me when I affirmative action. I got hate mail from some hear stories about executive directors who don’t white students—it was really terrible. My like asking for money or are reticent about commu- class is unusual in that a lot of us have gone nications, because that tells me that they’re driving on to do social justice work, and I think it’s their directors insane.” because of that experience.” It wasn’t as if the Pioneers were shy or restrained about their passions. lsf president aa For Korean-born hyeon-ju rho, immigrat- Bob Haas remembers his first meeting with the ing with her family to the white and black Pioneers, listening as they went around the table world of 1970s Columbia, South Carolina, sharing the deep and personal connections they gave her a very personal understanding of had to social change work. “It became clear that what it means to be outside the mainstream. their life experiences drove their commitment,” “We were seen as ‘Orientals,’ not Americans. says Haas. Indeed, each Pioneer has been moti- It gave me a deep identification with others vated by a personal experience that transformed who are excluded because of difference.” and shaped their lives. Part of their leadership journey has been learning to claim those stories aa chris punongbayan grew up next to a as foundational to their own work. dairy farm in a small town in rural Mas- 71

"THE HARD PART WAS AROUND THE NOTION OF THEIR OWN VOICE BEING OUT THERE. THEY FEEL VERY NEGATIVE ABOUT CREATING A CULT OF PERSONALITY, AND THEY'VE BENT OVER BACKWARDS TO GO THE OTHER WAY." MERLE LAWRENCE, SENIOR MANAGER, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

sachusetts (population: 10,000). Other than opportunities they didn’t have, yet there are his family and a very small circle of Filipino still all kinds of barriers to advancing. It may friends, he felt as though he were in racial not be as overt and challenging as it was back and ethnic isolation until he took his first in their day, but it’s real.” Asian American studies class in college. “I remembered feeling that I was finally part of aa lateefah simon grew up surrounded something larger, part of a community that by the crack and aids epidemics in her San had deep roots in this country.” Soon after, he Francisco neighborhood. “I saw that tragedy, led a campaign advocating for an ethnic stud- and I became political.” It’s what drove her to ies department at the school. become the executive director of the Center for Young Women’s Development while still aa vincent pan’s father came to the U.S. from a teenager. “I said, ‘We are all ghetto girls, we Taiwan for law school but was prohibited all have babies, and we will change the face of from taking the bar exam upon graduation, San Francisco.’” because he wasn’t yet an American citizen. A few years later, the Supreme Court ruled that aa titi liu was just graduating from high non-citizens couldn’t be blocked from taking school when the Tiananmen Square massacre the exam, and his father was able to begin a occurred. Many Chinese student leaders had professional career. “I think about how that gotten asylum and were spending time at one decision really changed everything for the Harvard, where Liu attended college. “I had trajectory of my family and for me.” a chance to get to know them, and they were very inspiring.” After law school, she got a job aa kimberly thomas rapp grew up in a with the Ford Foundation working on human community with intense economic dispari- rights issues in China and supporting indi- ties and where everyone was impacted by the viduals and organizations making an impact law. “I was always trying to figure out: Why on the ground. are some people stopped by the police and others aren’t? Why is it easy for some people Despite their reluctant to highlight their own to gain employment while others struggle?” stories and experiences as a way to engage oth- Her grandparents grew up picking cotton in ers, this is starting to change—albeit slowly. Texas in the pre-Civil Rights era. “We have “They’re all kind of introverts, in a way,” says 72

Merle Lawrence. “It’s been a challenge to work In the final two years of the pij program, lsf is with them on their own voice.” exploring new ways to help the Pioneers express When Arcelia Hurtado became executive themselves as leaders. For example, lsf has pro- director of era, she knew that she was taking vided Arcelia Hurtado with a writing coach and on a more public role. “I struggled with being in editor to help her find and elevate her voice. In the the spotlight primarily because I had never been meantime, the Pioneers have come to believe that either encouraged nor trained to do it,” she says. sharing their individual stories and experiences “And I had a sneaking sense that it was egocen- is not about ego: it’s an important part of moving tric to try to speak for a movement.” But now, their cause forward. And all have become more four years later, she has come to understand the accomplished in telling stories from their own importance of elevating her own voice and per- personal experiences. “If they talk about their spective in service of a greater good. “I know now immigrant story, it really makes a difference,” how unique my perspective is, as an immigrant, says ZeroDivide’s Laura Efurd. as a queer woman, and as a lawyer representing poor people accused of crimes. If I don’t put it out there, it’s a lost perspective that cannot be replaced.” Abdi Soltani says that at first, the notion of “putting yourself in the story” ran against every bit of training he had as a community organizer. But through the Rockwood retreat and the Pioneers program, he, like Hurtado, has become more comfortable with the concept. Meanwhile, Vincent Pan has tried to separate his reluctance to share his personal story from the need to be more “out there” with his voice. “Via Facebook and in the Chinese language media I have, for better or worse, developed some semblance of a public personality,” he says. But he still struggles with how to balance the opportunity cost of sus- taining a public presence. 73 74

DEVELOPING NEW LEADERSHIP Key Takeaways

1 2 3 EXPECT TRANSITIONS EMBRACE LEADERSHIP FIND YOUR OWN VOICE AND PREPARE AS A TEAM SPORT. AND POWER. ACCORDINGLY. All of the Pioneers have experi- Despite being very democratic One of the biggest surprises to mented with ways to share lead- when it comes to sharing lead- the Levi Strauss Foundation ership more broadly within and ership, each of the Pioneers has was the fact that three of the outside their organizations. paradoxically had to learn to five Pioneers changed roles Rather than seeing themselves find their own power and voice within the program’s first two as heroic CEO who have to as a leader as well. Because they years. lsf hadn’t anticipated or “control” everything, they have have shied away from creating prepared for these leadership embraced a more networked a “cult of personality,” it has transitions—nor, in fact, had and fluid form of leadership. been difficult for them to learn the nonprofit organizations In some cases, this has meant to share their own stories. Over where they worked—and all of hiring a strong team to comple- time they have come to realize them had to adapt in real time. ment their skills, empower- that it’s not an either/or but a But in a world where leaders ing top staff to take on more both/and: they can claim their change jobs much more fre- responsibilities, or building a own voice and power and share quently, any cohort leadership strong partnership with their that power with others at the program, and any nonprofit or- board chair. In other cases, it same time. With this subtle ganization, should be prepared has meant building external shift, they are modeling a new to address this challenge and networks where leadership and way of thinking about leader- have backup or succession plans staffing are distributed across ship for the larger social justice in place. organizations, creating greater field. flexibility and resilience. In the case of Advancing Justice, it has meant creating a co-executive directorship.

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4 5 MODEL BETTER SHARE LEADERSHIP WITH WORK-LIFE BALANCE. THE FUNDER. The Pioneers have worked One of the most radical ele- hard to find a more sustainable ments of this program has been work-life balance for themselves the ways in which the Levi and for their staff. They have Strauss Foundation has chosen seen from their predecessors, to share power and leadership and even their peers, how with its grantees. lsf still pro- difficult it can be to maintain vides resources and acts as the boundaries when “the personal funder and convener, and the is political,” and to not let work Pioneers still execute the work. become a 24/7 endeavor. This But the power balance has been has been particularly tricky for greatly equalized, and leader- several women Pioneers, who ship of the overall program found that starting a family has been emergent and shared. was what forced them to leave From the beginning, lsf asked their jobs. Many of the Pioneers the Pioneers to help “co-create” are trying to cultivate truly the program, and it has often “just” and resilient workplaces followed their lead in identify- where nothing is dependent on ing the content or program a single individual, enabling elements that are most needed their staff—especially those at a given point in time. with young children—to have greater work-life balance as well.

5 Catalyzing Organizational Change Catalyzing Organizational Change "There is tremendous racial and cultural diversity in our region, and we need to make sure we're inclusive of everybody," says Pioneer Abdi Soltani (below), executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. 79

IN THE SAME WAY THAT THE PIONEERS ARE WORKING TO FIGURE OUT AN AUTHENTIC leadership style that fits with their times, so in exchange for a newsletter or calendar, rather too are they trying to lead their organizations than engaging in direct action. As a result, the through a period of transformation to become “movement” energy was lost, and the “treetops” social justice 2.0 nonprofits. In order for these became disconnected from the “grassroots.” legacy groups to embrace new technology, At the same time, the focus of the nonprofit become more networked, and work more fluidly sector shifted to building strong organizations, within social movements, they have needed to with an emphasis on nonprofit management and fundamentally rethink how they function as looking to business approaches and frameworks organizations—in part, by letting go of some of as the models to emulate. “I think we went awry their own organizational ego and boundaries. in the 1980s and 1990s with the big push to As Pioneer Vincent Pan puts it: “Maybe the equate strong communities with strong orga- story here is that leaders and organizations are nizations,” says Pan. “Embedded in that frame recognizing how the world is changing. They’re was an overly competitive view of the world that being as intentional and thoughtful as they can inhibited some networks from developing. Now about finding their place in the larger movement, these new tools exist, and it’s easier to work in where they can both lead and support. They ways that blur the lines between organizations, understand at the core who they are, and are not networks, and movements.” mistaking the organization for the movement.” New technology is the wedge driving this Shifting to the collective Pioneers’ voice, he adds, change—enabling new ways of working and “We want to be of service—to use our egos in movement building. It cuts across boundaries service of the movement, and to find our space, our and breaks down silos, internally and externally, place, within it.” which drives disruption. “Old businesses die off in The social movements of the 1960s and ’70s the private sector, but in the nonprofit world they were broad, powerful, and resulted in significant don’t,” says Pan. “If you want to help legacy groups systemic changes. But in the 1980s and 1990s, adapt, they have to have the will. Then it’s a matter many of these movements became embodied in of having an analysis of what you’re adapting to.” more hierarchical organizations; power (espe- This adaptation requires a “network mindset”—a cially for advocacy nonprofits) consolidated to new mental model, new values, and a new way of Washington, DC, inside the proverbial beltway, seeing the world, where organizations are a means and pulled away from the grassroots. These to the end rather than the center of the story. It organizations’ members wrote annual checks also requires creating horizontal, not just vertical, 80

linkages; building new relationships; and replacing Creating a Network Mindset control with trust. and Culture It’s not surprising, then, that transforming their organizations has been among the Pioneer’s greatest challenges. As Generation Xers—also Perhaps the most significant barrier to becoming known as the “sandwich” or “bridge” genera- a networked nonprofit is the least tangible and tion—the Pioneers are caught between their most difficult to describe: it requires shifting the predominantly Boomer boards, who sometimes mindset or culture of the organization, including resist these new ways of operating, and their Mil- the informal ways of working that are ingrained in lennial staff, who often view organizations as an the mental models and daily routines of its leaders afterthought or not entirely necessary. and staff. In fact, much of this new way of working The Pioneers have to straddle these tensions. flies in the face of conventional wisdom about what They’ve had to figure out how to make their makes a nonprofit organization strong. programs more accessible and more relevant “Most of our impact revolves around our abil- to new audiences; reorient their organizational ity to provide direct services on the ground and strategies and structures for this new networked do high-impact legal work at the same time,” says era; and shift their internal cultures, aligning Pioneer Kimberly Thomas Rapp. “But that’s also their boards and staff to the new normal. a weakness for us when we think about working This chapter explores how the Pioneers have in more networked ways. Literally, across our worked to create social justice 2.0 organiza- organization we’ve had to rethink our board tions that operate as an important part of a governance model and structure; it is a limitation larger ecosystem of actors, and how they have to 2.0 networking if our board comprises only moved at different paces through this complex lawyers at certain types of firms.” change. As former lsf senior manager Merle Pioneer Vincent Pan agrees that organizational Lawrence puts it, “This is a leader-focused centricity can sometimes work at cross-purposes to initiative; they are leaders at the same stage of network values, a tension he also struggles to man- willingness to make change. But we knew going age. “One of the jobs of leadership is to understand in that their organizations were at different that if you become overly organization-centric you levels of readiness, and in all sorts of different will not network, you will not support the move- places. We’ve had to work at different levels of ment,” he says. “A lot of organizational theory is being cooked.” grounded in market competition. It takes a con- 81

"ONE OF THE JOBS OF LEADERSHIP IS TO UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU BECOME OVERLY ORGANIZATION-CENTRIC YOU WILL NOT NETWORK, YOU WILL NOT SUPPORT THE MOVEMENT."

VINCENT PAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHINESE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

scious effort to say that sometimes it is in support of Creating this network culture can also present our mission to not put our organization first.” challenges for how these nonprofits think about This form of humility extends not just to the getting credit, or building their brand. While one Pioneers as leaders, but also to their stance as organization within a network may do more work organizations. “It’s broader than leadership—it’s on an initiative, it’s not unusual for it to give cred- also lack of ego as an organization,” says Pioneer it to other groups to benefit the larger cause. For Hyeon-Ju Rho. When her organization joined example, the American Civil Liberties Union of forces with three other Asian and Pacific Islander Northern California sometimes chooses to work advocacy groups under the umbrella name Asian behind the scenes with others on some projects, Americans Advancing Justice (described further keeping its name out of the spotlight because “the in Chapter 6), each organization had to let go minute we [highlight our role], it becomes a mag- of its ego almost entirely. “It was about invest- net for opposition,” explains executive director ing in something bigger than our organization, Abdi Soltani. “Our brand is more controversial to investing in a broader movement,” says Rho. some and invokes a level of opposition that’s not “We invest so much that it touches on questions always necessary.” of organizational identity. But we have to be very Indeed, in social justice 2.0, activists often agile about how we show up as organizations, as affiliate with social movements and causes, rather individuals, and as coalitions in order to get to than the organizations that are helping to elevate that larger goal we’re trying to achieve.” the issues. In fact, sometimes activists aren’t even This kind of shift is rarely easy, though. fully aware of the organizations operating behind Some staff and supporters of Rho’s organiza- the scenes. Early in the pij program, ZeroDi- tion initially resisted the alliance because they vide held a focus group with young immigrant thought it threatened the nonprofit’s strong activists who had been identified by the Pioneers brand. “For some people within our inner circle, as supporters of their organizations. Yet when the organization represents a kind of an anchor ZeroDivide asked these activists which organiza- for their values or hopes for what society should tions they connected with on social media, not a be,” says Rho. “There was a fear that those values single one mentioned the Pioneer organization wouldn’t survive if the organizational trapping that had submitted their name. changed. The process of investing more broadly “We asked them the same question four or five in the movement can feel scary and destabilizing different ways,” says ZeroDivide’s Laura Efurd. for people.” “There were people in Chinese for Affirmative 82 83

"THE ORGANIZER"

ABDI SOLTANI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (ACLU-NC) Action’s network, for example, who couldn’t name caa. One of them said, ‘Oh, there’s this Asian BORN: group.’ But they couldn’t name them.” This was June 1973 true not just for caa but for all the Pioneer organi- ALMA MATER: zations—and it points to an interesting tension for Stanford University them: promoting their causes above their organiza- PREVIOUS ROLES: tions can also inhibit people knowing who they are. Executive director, Californians As Pan says, it is all about finding the right balance for Justice, the Campaign for between organizational identity and identifying College Opportunity, and PARSA around a cause, between getting public credit Community Foundation and knowing when to operate below the radar to BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: advance an issue. If we define one of the quali- ties of 2 .0 ways of working as distributing knowledge and expertise outward, rather than Bringing the holding it in a center, one of the Board Along biggest challenges is how to do that in an organization that highly values expert knowledge and where there are great risks At their July 2013 forum, held at the Levi Strauss associated with failure to use Foundation’s headquarters, the Pioneers focused that knowledge well . A second exclusively on their boards—a topic that had major challenge is how to take been on their minds for a while. How the execu- on new innovative projects, tive director and his or her board share leadership some of which will succeed and most of which will fail, and is critical to how well an organization functions. maintain a level of management If the board has too much power, or tries to mi- attention on them while also cromanage, they can drive an executive director addressing the dozens of exist- crazy; but if the executive director has all the ing core projects and activities power, and the board is just a “rubber stamp,” that need our attention . that’s not optimal either. Ultimately, leadership 2.0 is a team sport, and maintaining a balance of power is important. It’s also particularly chal- 84

lenging when the board and executive director Nonprofits and board member of New America represent different generational cultures and Media. “Most executives think that it’s a lively leadership styles. conversation where the board agrees with the Pioneer Kimberly Thomas Rapp, executive executive director in the end.” Instead, she urged director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil the Pioneers to think of the board as a team with Rights (lccr), says finding this balance can be whom they share leadership (akin to a depart- tricky. “The executive director is hands on, all ment in the organization): you respect their day, everyday, and has the frontline view of the ultimate authority, but you should also replace organizational operations, and the responsibility members who aren’t working out. to make sure the board is updated,” she says. “But Tessie Guillermo—ceo of ZeroDivide, co- you’ve also got to have a board that understands chair of the California Endowment, and a board that it is not the day-to-day manager and that member with a number of nonprofits—agrees. its responsibility is to collaborate, and not just Executive directors need to set the tone for their legislate. That’s where the tension lies.” board and ensure that its governance structure The Pioneers’ board discussion was facilitated reflects the organization’s definition of social by Thomas Rapp, who has arguably had the most justice, she says. At minimum, the executive challenging task of all the Pioneers in bringing director needs to align board members around a her all-lawyer board into a “2.0” way of working. shared, defined goal. “There are times when you She and the other Pioneers brought a number of have to challenge the board and assert the leader- questions to the table for their conversation: How ship they brought you on to provide.” do you create an organizational culture that sup- Guillermo notes that traditionally, board ports social justice 2.0? How do you shape board members of legacy social justice organizations leadership? How do you help the board grow as have been populated with the “voices of the the organization changes? movement” and less with people who under- Much of the session was closed, but in their stand the business of running an organization. opening remarks, two guest speakers encour- Historically, it was the executive director’s job to aged the Pioneers to take a strong leadership role straddle those worlds, acting as leader of both the with their boards. “There’s a lot of talk about movement and the organization. board engagement but not a lot of understanding In the weeks following the Pioneers’ Rockwood of what that means,” says Jan Masaoka, execu- retreat, described in the last chapter, Pioneer tive director of the California Association of Kimberly Thomas Rapp and her board member 85

Pamela Price continued their frank dialogue about tion. Simon, for her part, says that she was stuck the governance of their organization. lccr has seen trying to create a radical organizational shift in a lot of executive turnover—and the relationship a more conservative nonprofit. (She has since between executive director and the board has not joined the progressive Rosenberg Foundation as a always been smooth. When the board hired La- program director.) teefah Simon in 2008, they were at a crossroads and When Simon left, the board didn’t have a suc- seemed willing to let her take charge and initiate cession plan in place—and didn’t have a strong significant changes. “It was quite revolutionary for vision for what would come next. “That’s not this board to make a decision to hire a non-lawyer,” acceptable,” says Price, who, along with Thomas says Thomas Rapp. “I think it was a recognition Rapp, is now trying to introduce governance by the board that something new and different reforms. “The challenge for organizations like was needed for the future of our work, and for the ours is you have to be prepared for an ongoing organization’s survival.” transition. Everything moves so fast.” By the July When she came onboard, Simon set three 2013 meeting with Guillermo and Masaoka, Price goals for herself: to establish relevancy for lccr and Thomas Rapp had established a governance in the 21st century by developing a new strategic committee on the board for the first time in the plan; to forge new relationships with new allies in organization’s history. the field; and to “keep the lights on.” She achieved all three. But after almost three years—the same length of tenure as the previous executive direc- Nurturing Next-Gen tor—Simon felt that her politics and perspectives Leaders and Staff were not the best fit for lccr. “I was fighting the board more than I was fighting for justice,” she says. In addition to inspiring their boards to commit Indeed, implementing such bold change to organizational change, the Pioneers are also required more support and adjustment than the trying to reach out and engage their staff, many board had realized. When Simon resigned, she of whom are Millennials. “We’re helping to bring was followed by six members of her management new young people into the social justice move- team. Price acknowledges that lccr’s board did ment,” says Asian Americans Advancing Justice- not give Simon the support she needed to create a Asian Law Caucus co-executive director Chris community-focused, movement-based organiza- Punongbayan. “As a legacy organization, that’s 86

a responsibility we have, to nurture new leaders working relationships; eagles (east), who are from our communities.” visionaries; and bears (west), who are analysts. The American Civil Liberties Union-North- Co-executive director Hyeon-Ju Rho identified as ern California is also trying to infuse its ranks the visionary eagle, while Punongbayan consid- with new and young community-based leaders. ers himself an analytical bear, able to adapt to The aclu-nc has had a dedicated and passionate whatever a situation requires. constituency for decades, but that constituen- After the exercise, Punongbayan facilitated a cy’s profile no longer reflects California’s chang- conversation about the strengths and weaknesses ing demographics. Since he joined the aclu-nc of each group, as well as the challenges they can as executive director, Soltani has been trying to have in working with other animals/directions. create space for new people to step into the orga- “The goal was to understand group dynamics, nization and feel a sense of ownership—whether and we arrived at a consensus that we should try as staff or as highly engaged volunteers. “I want to have all of these leadership styles present in to open up the organization so it’s a level playing our various subsequent working groups,” says field, so a person who’s 70 years old and has been Punongbayan. By including the four leadership a steward of the organization for 30 to 40 years styles, all perspectives would be represented up is working alongside the 22-year-old immigrant front, and the team would be stronger due to its rights leader,” Soltani says. “We need intergen- diversity. erational and multiracial leadership.” Punongbayan is also trying to level the play- Punongbayan agrees. “The experiences and ing field with his staff—to create a sense of equal- strengths that Millennials bring to the work- ity in the movement, if not exactly in title or posi- place have to be balanced by the Gen Xers and tion. “How I try to relate to younger members of Boomers in our organization,” he says. Punong- staff is through soft levers of influence, building bayan recently led a staff retreat where he helped a relationship by following them on Instagram or his organization’s younger leaders develop their interacting with them in a casual conversation,” interpersonal skills and helped his staff work he says. “It’s a small example of being able to more effectively across their differences. Dur- break down hierarchy.” ing the retreat, he led an exercise with a Native Punongbayan says that having Millennials on American Medicine Wheel in which participants staff will help Advancing Justice to stay relevant self-identified as buffaloes (north), who like to in the 21st century. He also says that they’re take charge; deer (south), who prioritize smooth very collaborative and collegial in the way they 87

"I TRY TO RELATE TO YOUNGER MEMBERS OF STAFF THROUGH SOFT LEVERS OF INFLUENCE, BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP BY FOLLOWING THEM ON INSTAGRAM OR INTERACTING WITH THEM IN A CASUAL CONVERSATION. IT'S A SMALL EXAMPLE OF BEING ABLE TO BREAK DOWN HIERARCHY." CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN, CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ADVANCING JUSTICE

approach the workplace and the world. “They This generational shift is also showing up in view everyone as a peer; they don’t view you as philanthropy, not just in legacy nonprofits. At a necessarily wiser. That’s very different from what recent Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy I learned from the Baby Boomers, which was conference, Hurtado was excited to see a set of about being more deferential to your elders.” young funders seeking new, responsive approaches lccr’s Kimberly Thomas Rapp agrees that to philanthropy. “Traditional [strategic philanthro- younger staff members bring an important per- py] funders are very results-oriented and metrics spective to social justice 2.0 organizations—and focused, almost to the exclusivity of not seeing the also present diverse working styles that need to forest for the trees,” she says. “That’s always been a be negotiated. “We have a strong base of folks frustration of people in the nonprofit world: funders who are very comfortable and familiar with the want measurements to show their boards. But the traditional legal boxes of advocacy,” she says of new generation of people going into philanthropy the Boomer lawyers on staff. “Then we have a new are not so rigid in that way.” generation of folks joining the movement who realize that legal strategies can be very limited. So how do we remain true to our mission using Dismantling Bureaucratic the law as a tool for fairness, and accomplish Structures the kinds of equal access to the opportunities that we’re looking for across our communities? That’s where the challenge is.” For some Pioneer organizations, part of the Sometimes younger generations are willing change agenda has involved helping affiliates or to take risks that older activists would not take. local chapters transition to a “2.0” way of work- Pioneer Arcelia Hurtado says that when she started ing. Says the aclu-nc’s Abdi Soltani, “I’ve been at Equal Right Advocates, she had predominantly visiting all of our chapters [in Northern Cali- older women on her board. But during her tenure, fornia] as part of our change process focused on she actively recruited younger women. “They have diversity and inclusion. At one chapter meetings, a different perspective on a lot of things,” Hurtado the previous chapter chair pulled out her Roberts says. “The generation before us was very cautious, Rules of Order while the new chair was trying because they were often the first women in their to run the meeting. She starts waiving Roberts corporation or setting. Younger women are more Rules, saying, ‘You’re breaking the rules.’ It was bold in some ways.” unbelievable. We were there to talk to them about 88

the challenges they’re facing, and they couldn’t to talk about what changes were needed. “The big- have given us a better example of why change was gest reason this change process needs to happen is needed.” diversity,” Soltani says. “There is tremendous racial Like many social justice organization with af- and cultural diversity in our region, and we need to filiates, the aclu-nc’s chapter structure started make sure we’re inclusive of everybody. The second in a different era. Soon after its founding in 1934, big factor is the emergence of new technology that the aclu-nc initiated chapters as a way of com- allows us to work differently.” Soltani says the chap- municating with activists at the grassroots level ters were initially cautious about the prospect of throughout the region, and engaging them in the major change, but he and Gelender are giving them organization’s work. A representative from each lots of time to get comfortable with the idea. chapter would come to monthly board meetings Soltani’s goal is to create multiracial, intergen- in San Francisco for updates and then report back erational, well-trained groups of aclu volunteers at their local chapter meeting. and leaders who partner with staff to carry out ef- In this era of online communication, Soltani fective advocacy and outreach. None of the changes sees this approach as outdated. Yet many chap- he’s suggested are particularly radical, and some of ters still follow the formats and processes started them are the kinds of procedures it’s surprising to 80 years ago. “We went to a chapter meeting hear have not been implemented already: where the representative gave a report on meet- ing minutes that were three weeks old, talking aa Providing comprehensive orientation and about what support we needed on legislation that training—and making it mandatory. “Our actually happened the week before,” he recalls. previous model was very 2.0: it decentralized “The absurdity of it was just so apparent. We can authority and gave local chapter leaders a do a better job of engaging our constituents and lot of space to lead in the organization,” says giving our representatives better tools to engage Soltani. “But there was very little training for their peers effectively.” volunteers assuming important roles in a legal In response to these outdated ways of communi- organization that is otherwise very careful cating and working, Soltani and Shayna Gelender, about everything it does.” the aclu-nc’s director of organizing and com- munity engagement, recently began overhauling aa Streamlining and synchronizing chapter the organization’s chapter system. They and their calendar and administrative functions, with team visited all 15 Northern California chapters all monthly chapter meetings occurring at the 89

same time on a given set of dates. The use of to begin implementing them. In December digital tools (webinars, conference calls) can 2013, committee members met with the whole bring everyone together for updates, training, 45-member board and reached general consensus etc., regardless of location. on the broad direction of these goals, with more discussion to come on the best way to achieve aa Aligning the organization’s community them. The process still feels agonizingly slow to engagement program by making all activities Soltani—who wants change now—but he knows visible to all, and creating a pipeline of young that he needs to take the time to build the will for leaders by offering fellowships that begin right these changes if they are to succeed. after college graduation—then encouraging Progress in these areas will be assessed again in these young leaders to run in chapter elec- 2017, in order to determine their impact on building tions. a diverse, inclusive, and sustainable base of leaders; advancing civil liberties; and making the best use of aa Changing the focus of chapter meetings to staff and volunteer resources. “At each stage of this make them more engaging. “Currently, most process, we are embarking on three-year phases chapter meetings focus on governance and of organizational change, each one with the board process, which is not only boring for lots of adopting the goals and direction and setting the people but also not necessary since chapters markers for formal evaluation,” Soltani says. are not nonprofit corporations with those requirements,” says Soltani. “Chapter meet- ings should instead focus on activism, advo- Managing the Pace cacy, outreach, and impact for civil liberties. of Change When people are engaged and inspired, they want to keep participating in the aclu.” Managing all of this change requires having one aa Being more selective about chapter leaders foot on the gas pedal and sometimes one foot on and doing away with the roles of treasurer the brake. The Pioneers have had to intuit how and secretary in favor of roles that are more far they can push their organizations to adapt, outwardly focused on the community. and how quickly. Sometimes they’ve had to learn The committee that worked on the above to go slow to go fast, or to temper their own im- recommended changes voted unanimously patience. “I just hit the four-year mark and I feel 90

so frustrated, like we haven’t done that much,” says Soltani. But then he talked to a mentor who said to him: “Are you kidding? The amount of change that this organization has gone through is dramatic.” So now Soltani is asking himself: How do you calibrate the pace of change, and how many vari- ables do you act on at the same time? The same mentor advised him not to start anything new for a while. “All these things are very disruptive to the whole system, and they need their time to work through and coalesce,” Soltani concedes. “I’ve shifted. Now I’m all about documentation and measuring the impact of what we’ve already started. When we’re further along, then I can say what’s next.” Pioneer Hyeon-Ju Rho says that her organiza- tion has also gone through an accelerated cycle of change, in part because of the Pioneers program. Just five years ago, she says, Advancing Justice had major financial challenges, was half its cur- rent size, and was facing real questions about relevance. “We’ve come so far from that place,” she says now. “We’ve doubled in staff and bud- get—and I think we have answered that question of relevancy in many different ways.” 91 92

CATALYZING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE Key Takeaways

1 2 3 CHANGE IS THE ONLY EMBRACE A NETWORK BRING YOUR CONSTANT. MINDSET AND CULTURE. BOARD ALONG. If there’s one theme that Perhaps the most fundamental The Pioneers are all Genera- resonates throughout this shift these nonprofit organiza- tion Xers who are now at the report, it’s that the social sector tions are making is the least helm of legacy social justice is going through a period of visible on the surface: they are organizations, trying to bring enormous change. Technol- embracing a network mindset them into the 21st century and ogy is changing how people and culture, changing the way build on the successes of the connect, communicate, and they and their organizations past to embrace new ways of organize. At the same time, the think and act. Older, more working. This is not an easy sector is experiencing intergen- market-based or transactional feat, and a critical success factor erational leadership transfer, paradigms are being replaced has been their ability to bring with Baby Boomers beginning by a renewed emphasis on their predominantly Baby to retire and Gen Xers stepping building strong relationships Boomer boards along with the into their roles. Meanwhile, and adopting a more fluid proposed changes. This has Millennials, as digital natives, approach to “structures” and meant cultivating strong and are learning how to organize “roles.” This fluidity enables trusted relationships with their without organizations and these nonprofits to distribute board chairs, making the case are accelerating this change. their work more broadly, break- for change, and not being afraid Lastly, economic stability is ing down hierarchies within to lead their organizations in a less guaranteed, and external their institutions and break- new direction. forces can present unantici- ing down boundaries with the pated disruptions. The bottom outside world. line: all nonprofits are having to learn how to embrace change in order to stay both relevant and resilient. 93

4 5 6 CULTIVATE NEXT DISMANTLE THE MANAGE THE PACE OF GENERATION STAFF AND BUREAUCRACY. INTERNAL CHANGE. VOLUNTEERS. Most legacy organizations have The Pioneers are in many ways At the same time that the also inherited legacy struc- “social entrepreneurs” in the Pioneers have to bridge to their tures and business processes social justice field—unafraid older boards, they are also designed for a different era. to innovate, change, and lead reaching out to their younger The Pioneers’ nonprofits are no the way into the unknown. staff and volunteers. Many of exception. Part of their change This is why their unique form the Pioneers see a core part of agenda has been tackling some of leadership is so needed at their social justice work as the of the bureaucracy that has this moment in time. However, ability to equalize the playing crept in over time, and updat- changing too quickly can also field within their organizations ing business systems and pro- be very unsettling and disrup- as well as in society, encourag- cesses to reflect a more current tive to organizations. At times, ing multi-generational partner- reality. The aclu-nc, which the Pioneer have had to temper ships and creating space for has chapters scattered across their own impatience and mod- different and diverse players to Northern California, has had to erate the pace of change across bring all of their strengths to make changes in how its chap- their organizations—giving the table, whether it’s seasoned ters communicate, how local their board, staff, and key social justice wisdom or prow- volunteers are trained, and how stakeholders time to catch up, ess with Twitter. they create greater alignment and going slow to go fast. and adaptive capacity across their system. 6 Building Networks Building Networks Defending women's economic rights is core to the mission of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), a member of the Pioneers in Justice cohort when it was headed by Pioneer Arcelia Hurtado. 97

COLLABORATION IS NOTHING NEW IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR; ORGANIZATIONS HAVE LONG PARTNERED ON mutually beneficial campaigns or created coali- Haas. “They were open to new and more shared tions to boost their collective impact. But many forms of leadership than their organizations had of these alliances have proved short-lived—cre- experienced in the past.” This frustration with the ated at and for a certain moment in time—rather past created an additional incentive to explore new than deep, long-lasting, and adaptive. Moreover, ways of working. the same organizations in these coalitions often To encourage the Pioneers to experiment with found themselves competing against their “part- new forms of aligned action, lsf offered them ners” for limited grantmaking dollars, which annual grants designed to support “experimental further inhibited true collaboration. collaborations that reached across sector, field, Social justice 2.0, by contrast, embraces a dif- issue, and constituency, using networks of both ferent kind of collaboration—one that promotes trusted and ‘unlikely’ allies to power change.” a networked way of working that is transforma- In the first three years of the pij program, lsf tional instead of transactional, and that is built distributed $580,000 in funding for three large not on formal structures but on relationships and more formal collaboration projects, two of with people in other like-minded organiza- which are described in more detail below. But the tions. Rather than coming together to achieve design of the Pioneers program encouraged and short-term goals and then disbanding, the goal of supported the Pioneers to collaborate in many 2.0 networks is to form relationships with other informal ways as well. organizations that are more fluid, supportive, Through the process of working together on and lasting—and that create shared value for all initiatives large and small, the Pioneers learned of their participants. that trust is a necessary ingredient in any As we explored in the previous chapter, working breakthrough collaboration or network. Unlike in more collaborative ways requires first embrac- the fleeting connection and goal-orientation ing a network mindset and cultivating a network that characterized past coalitions, these new culture—something all of the Pioneers have done networks are established on a deeper founda- in their nonprofits. Indeed, the Pioneers came into tion. While shared interest can be the impetus this program with a profound understanding of to come together, trust is the glue that makes today’s interconnected world and an equally pro- these relationships stick. “There is no question found readiness to act, says lsf president Bob Haas. that building trust is a precondition,” says lsf’s “They expressed frustration about the historic in- Bob Haas. “The connective tissue of network ability of progressive groups to work together,” says collaboration is trust.” Through their ex- 98

periments, the Pioneers have also learned that Vincent Pan with lsf seed funding. aacre’s many of the issues that social justice organiza- goal, as envisioned by Pan, was to support a wide tions work on are not just interconnected but range of local grassroots social justice groups actually best tackled through collective action. working in Asian and Pacific Islander communi- By reaching across issue lines and embrac- ties by 1 creating shared back-office capabilities ing new partners, even seemingly non-related for these organizations and 2 encouraging new organizations can have an impact on spreading kinds of collaboration—big and small—among one another’s messages. “It’s important for them. there to be a blurring of the lines, a seeking and Most of the attendees at the meeting were enlisting of allies,” says Haas. “It can have a “digital natives”—activists in their 20s and 30s multiplier effect on impact.” whose social lives, at least, were already highly In the stories below, we explore the various networked. While most were Asian American, ways that the Pioneers have begun to expand an ice-breaker dubbed “human bingo” demon- their impact by building external networks strated to everyone just how much diversity was and relationships. Whether through creating present in the room. Participants had to walk shared infrastructure to lower overhead costs, or around asking one another questions about working on intersectional issues, or even pursu- their backgrounds until they found someone ing “collective impact” via the use of a shared who could surf, someone who had met President brand, the Pioneers have all come to believe that Obama, someone who had participated in a “flash networked action can dramatically increase their mob,” etc. Although ethnicity, religion, and reach and effectiveness. sexual identity weren’t explicitly highlighted in the game, participants included Christians, Mus- lims, lgbtq activists, immigrants, and people Founding a Network who had served time in prison. Next, as the activists filed into the meeting room, they were greeted by an unusual setup. In August 2012, more than 50 Bay Area social There were no rows of chairs or long boardroom- justice activists gathered at the Oakland Asian like tables; instead, everyone sat on the floor in a Cultural Center for the inaugural meeting of large circle. “We wanted to negate the assump- Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality tion that power is important when creating a new (aacre), a fledgling network launched by Pioneer structure and movement,” says Keith Kamisugi, 99

who serves on the aacre board. “The best Shared Infrastructure coalitions and networks are ones that are aware in Action of power issues but don’t spend a lot of time on bureaucracy. One analogy for aacre is that everyone sits at the table together.” aacre was born from Pan’s view that the Among the activists who showed up at the Oak- Asian American social justice community was land Asian Cultural Center at that first convening rich with advocacy organizations, but their small were representatives from Hyphen magazine, size and limited resources were constricting both an edgy, progressive publication that explores their individual and collective impact. These various aspects of Asian American identity. The “free agents” were at risk of burning out if they magazine had no paid staff or office—it was became swamped with administrative tasks. run by volunteers out of their homes—and had And because many of these activist groups were nowhere to store its old issues. So Pan offered up entirely volunteer-based, most didn’t have the storage space in Chinese for Affirmative Action’s bandwidth to communicate or campaign to the San Francisco office, as a way to be supportive degree they wanted. Pan realized these groups and to see whether it might lead to a stronger could be better sustained and have more impact if relationship between caa and the magazine— they shared administrative, campaign, fundrais- which it did. Now, Hyphen staff meetings are held ing, and communication resources—so he helped at caa headquarters late into the night. create aacre as a “backbone organization” or Lack of back-office capacity—fiscal sponsor- hub that would enable that to happen. ship, financial management, insurance, and fa- “We’re trying to offer a new model,” cilities—is something that can kill any nonprofit, explains Pan. “The old way is to think of particularly one that is volunteer-led. By knitting what needs to be done, raise money, start an these small activist groups together and creating organization, and hire staff. But there are not a shared infrastructure based on shared values, enough resources to allow everyone to become Pan hoped that all of aacre’s members could professional activists—and that model turns become more effective and sustainable. But first, away many who can contribute in other ways.” he had to overcome their suspicions about his aacre makes it possible for these volunteers to motives. be activists without also having to be manag- “Initially there was some skepticism about ers, fundraisers, and administrators. [Pan’s] offer,” say Hyphen’s former executive 100

ASIAN AMERICANS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND EQUALITY (AACRE)

AACRE has eight organizations in its director, now fundraising advisor, Irene Kao. The network: two with paid staff, and five that magazine’s staff were worried that entering an are all volunteer-led . Several more grass- alliance with caa could lead to attempts on the roots groups are currently exploring being part of the network . part of the larger organization to sway their edi- torial direction. But Pan made it clear from the > Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) outset that he had no desire to influence Hyphen’s content. Rather, his goal was simply to unburden > API Equality-Northern California, which works at the intersection of the Asian and them of cumbersome processes such as book- Pacific Islander and LGBTQ communities keeping and storage-seeking to allow staff to stay focused on producing the publication. > Hyphen, a magazine covering Asian American arts, culture, and politics Creating shared back-office capabilities required a reorganization of caa’s staff, some > APEX Express, a weekly radio show of whom became dedicated members of the featuring the stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders newly designated “aacre capacity team.” It also required a revamping of its technology and > Alliance of South Asians Taking Action accounting systems. Both efforts were funded (ASATA), which educates and empowers South Asian communities to end violence, as part of Pan’s pij collaboration grant. “The oppression, racism, and exploitation whole cultural philosophy is that this is a shared capacity team now,” says caa associate director > Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC), which provides support to and John Fong. The team’s five members went from advocacy on behalf of incarcerated Asians working within one organization to adapting its and Pacific Islanders systems to encompass the efforts of eight organi- zations. > The Network on Religion and Justice, which seeks inclusion for LGBTQ people in Pan also leveraged the new team to help the Asian and Pacific Islander faith com- another aacre member, api Equality-Northern munity California (which focuses on lgbtq acceptance), > The Visibility Project, a national portrait with a fundraising initiative. In April 2013, api and video project dedicated to the Queer Equality ran a campaign to support its summer Asian American Women, Trans, and Gender internship program, and aacre’s shared capac- non-conforming communities ity team pitched in by producing acknowledg- ment letters to donors on API Equality’s behalf. 101

"THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT BUILDING TRUST IS A PRECONDITION. THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE OF NETWORK COLLABORATION IS TRUST."

BOB HAAS, PRESIDENT, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

The assistance, although relatively small, was Susan Hsieh, program manager at caa. “There enormously helpful, and the campaign brought was excitement that these groups wouldn’t be in 100 new donors as a result. “If we had to do alone in doing their work, that they would have everything ourselves,” says API Equality execu- moral and capacity support. The more we’re tive director Monna Wong, “it would have taken able to do that, the more the movement can be time away from meeting with our community bigger than each of us alone.” members and planning our events.” The aacre Most recently, aacre members have begun capacity team now handles the administrative using the larger combined network to promote aspects of donor tracking and acknowledgment their own organizational events, and a shared for all aacre members. As a result, community- website launched in March 2014. Several caa based fundraising increased significantly in 2013. staff have also begun advising all of the organi- From the mundane—office space and letter zations on what they have learned about social writing—to the more technical and financial, media from ZeroDivide, which is creating addi- aacre’s shared back-office services have been a tional ripple effects throughout the network. As boon to many of its members. Ben Wang of Asian a result, aacre groups say that they have already Prisoner Support Committee says that before become much more strategic about social media aacre existed, his organization’s funds were and their use of analytics. kept in a personal bank account. “I was worried Looking ahead, aacre is exploring the idea about liability on my part but I didn’t know the of having different organizations lead various best practice for this type of thing,” Wang says. shared functions among the network, optimiz- “It has been tremendously helpful to have a bank ing each group’s assets in service of the whole. account with an actual 501c3.” All aacre mem- For example, media organizations Hyphen bers now have their funds managed by aacre— magazine and apex Express may take on the with strict bookkeeping by the capacity team, lion’s share of website management and com- and no comingling of funds. munications, while api Equality would lead Thus the first of Pan’s goals for the net- convening efforts. Looking across the assets of work—to let activists be activists by having the network, it’s clear that many new combi- aacre deal with administrative work—has nations are possible. In this way the notion of already been realized, which in and of itself distributed leadership also intersects with the is groundbreaking. “People had been think- notion of building a resilient network and a ing and talking about this idea for years,” says more sustainable movement. 102

Collaboration Within had an impact on api Equality’s work: the or- the Network ganization is launching a storytelling project to share the personal experiences of lgbtq Asians and Pacific Islanders with Asian American com- munities of faith. It’s something that Wong says At aacre’s inaugural meeting, Pan also set in never would have happened without the help motion another part of his vision for the network. and shared contacts of fellow aacre member In his brief remarks, he challenged members to organization Network on Religion and Justice. find small ways to work together that might not “Without the extra piece they brought into the seem immediately obvious—to look for how their space, and without their connections, I don’t work intersected with the work of others, perhaps think we would have done it, because faith is such even in surprising ways. Pan has come to believe a touchy topic,” Wong says. that healthy networks are built on many “micro- api Equality is also exploring the idea of collaborations”—or small bets—between two conducting education workshops with aacre or more groups that find ways to work together member organization Asian Prisoner Support on overlapping areas, and he wanted to see if col- Committee (apsc), a collaboration that Pan is laboration of this sort might spark more external particularly excited about because it evolved action on behalf of the aacre network. organically. While it might not seem obvious api Equality-Northern California executive why the lgbtq community should care about director Monna Wong, who joined the organiza- prisoners’ rights, or why the incarcerated should tion after it became part of aacre, says that the care about lgbtq issues, there is in fact a logical promise of this type of collaboration made the job link. As Wong says, race and sexuality often more attractive to her. “So much of the work that impact people’s prison experience, creating an I’ve done has been about exploring intersections intersection of these issues worth exploring. The of different social justice networks,” says Wong. two organizations are now discussing how they “In the Asian and Pacific Islander lgbtq com- might educate their respective constituents on munity, you have to be looking at intersections, these overlapping issues, including introducing otherwise you’re too small. Knowing that there curriculum on lgbtq issues into apsc’s educa- are these different layers of support, and deeper tional work within prison walls. “The beauty of relationships, is really important.” being part of a network like this is the unplanned Belonging to the aacre network has already intersectional work,” says Wong. 103

"WE'RE TRYING TO OFFER A NEW MODEL. THE OLD WAY IS TO THINK OF WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, RAISE MONEY, START AN ORGANIZATION, AND HIRE STAFF. BUT THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES TO ALLOW EVERYONE TO BECOME PROFESSIONAL ACTIVISTS,—AND THAT MODEL TURNS AWAY MANY WHO CAN CONTRIBUTE IN OTHER WAYS." VINCENT PAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHINESE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Indeed, Pan’s accomplishments with the Activism Under a aacre network demonstrate that even an Shared Brand identity-based organization—which most social justice groups are—need not be constricted by a single identity. In fact, Pan bristles at the phrase “unlikely allies”; to him, the possibilities Yet another type of network is one built not on for alliance are far broader than the term sug- shared infrastructure and intersectional issues, gests because, in truth, every organization has a but on a coming together of very similar orga- multiplicity of identities. By breaking down the nizations under a shared brand. This is exactly barriers between issue areas and trying out new what happened in the case of Asian Americans combinations of collaboration and partnership, Advancing Justice—a network of four Asian and the Pioneers are changing what it means to do Pacific Islander advocacy groups that decided to this kind of work—and widening the range of its combine their efforts under a shared umbrella. potential impact exponentially. The new network was put to the test when, six “When the National Center for Lesbian days before Halloween in 2013, they wrote a letter Rights features the stories of undocumented to Pottery Barn demanding that the chain im- people, when Advancing Justice, with its East mediately remove two Asian-themed Halloween Asian roots, focuses on South Asians and Mus- costumes for children dubbed “Sushi Chef” and lims, it’s part of normalizing connections that “Kimono.” previously were seen as marginal,” says Pan. “By “Our problem is not with the attire itself,” the choices we make, we redefine what social wrote Ling Woo Liu, Advancing Justice’s direc- justice looks like.” tor of strategic communications. “It is with the This, then, is perhaps the greatest benefit of fact that Pottery Barn is marketing these outfits aacre—creating a larger platform for a variety as costumes. As a student-led campaign in 2011 of related social justice groups to explore points put it, ‘We’re a culture, not a costume.’ Like other of intersection, all while connecting to a larger minorities, Asians and Pacific Islanders are real movement. The network “helps ground us in people who cannot and should not be commodi- what’s going on and not stay too swept up in fied. There is a history in this country of using our own particular issues,” says Hyphen’s Kao. caricatures to reinforce stereotypes of minorities “When we’re in the room together, it reminds us as perpetual foreigners who are somehow less to keep this broader sense of movement.” ‘American’ than white Americans.” 104

"THE STRATEGIST"

KIMBERLY THOMAS RAPP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS (LCCR) A media firestorm ensued, with coverage from the Los Angeles Times, Time, FOX News, the New BORN: York Post, Al Jazeera, and a slew of blogs. People February 1976 tweeted and posted the story on Facebook. With- ALMA MATER: in a week, Pottery Barn apologized and withdrew UC Berkeley, Stanford Law School the costumes. Admittedly, the costumes were PREVIOUS ROLES: pulled on October 31, when sales were tapering Lead deputy counsel, County of off. But the issue had gained significant national Santa Clara; legal counsel, Santa attention—and the new network felt it had as- Clara County Office of Education; serted itself as a credible, national progressive director of law and public policy, Equal Justice Society voice for Asians and Pacific Islanders. The four organizations that together formed BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: Asian Americans Advancing Justice—Asian The unavoidable tension to be managed between "tried and Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles, true" and 2 .0 strategies . Our Asian American Institute in Chicago, Asian mission is to advance and defend American Justice Center in Washington, DC, and civil rights for communities of the Pioneer organization formerly named Asian color, low-income individuals, Law Caucus in San Francisco—had already been immigrants, and refugees . The drive to be leading edge in order working together in a loose alliance for 20 years. to remain relevant in the move- But in June 2013—five months before the Hal- ment and the practical need to loween protest—the four organizations formal- be sensitive to funding tides for ized their affiliation. program support are very real “We knew we were doing good work in our challenges . At times, it can feel like there is a pull to migrate separate ways, but in terms of building aware- away from some strategies ness in the community about Asians and Pacific simply because they are the Islanders supporting civil rights, that’s where we same strategies that have been wanted to make headway together,” says Pioneer employed for decades and there Chris Punongbayan. Asian and Pacific Islander seems to be a demand for what's new . Yet our clients remain in voices often get lost in national discourse because need of some established legal of their internal diversity, both ethnically and services that aren't broken and socioeconomically, says Punongbayan. At times, get the job done to support their ability to live fulfilled lives . 105 106

Asian Americans are even pitted against other communities—and all have come to realize that communities of color because of the “model building a shared brand requires some give and minority” myth. take among them. “We’ve really had to figure out Despite their new shared “brand,” each mem- what our common theory of change is, our com- ber organization continues to operate with sepa- mon vision for the kind of impact we have in the rate boards, executive directors, staff, programs, world, and our vision for civil rights in our com- and finances—though they do share a fundrais- munity,” says Rho. “We’ve had to work through ing manager and a director of strategic commu- things and ask, ‘Where is it okay to let difference nications. Rather than sharing infrastructure, be difference, and where do we need to come the goal of the shared name is to aggregate and together to have a more coherent vision?’” amplify their impact on the regional and national The four Asian Americans Advancing Justice levels. organizations are now developing a multiyear But getting to the point of this shared identity campaign designed to mobilize Asians and wasn’t without its challenges. Of the four Ad- Pacific Islanders to push for greater support for vancing Justice affiliates, the Pioneer organiza- immigrant communities. tion formerly known as Asian Law Caucus took the longest to ratify the formal affiliation. The process started in 2008 with a board vote, but Connecting Grassroots progress was slowed by internal resistance. “It and Treetops was clear that the other organizations wanted to move forward, but our organization was having a hard time,” says former executive director and Yet another aspect of working in more networked pij participant Titi Liu. “We had the longest his- ways is the ability for nonprofit organizations to tory and the deepest set of alumni attachments connect their advocacy efforts with the grass- to the name of the organization. But my point all roots communities they seek to serve. Too often, along was that it was really important to build a nonprofit advocacy can become overly focused on national voice, to capture synergies among the influencing the establishment, which disconnects organizations.” organizations from constituents and from their Although the four affiliates don’t agree on grassroots base. One effort to bridge this gap is every issue, all are committed to listening and re- exemplified by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil sponding on behalf of Asian and Pacific Islander Rights (lccr)—an organization with deep roots 107

"WHO GETS TO BRAND SOMETHING AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE? IN THE 1.0 ERA IT WAS BIG ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAD OWNERSHIP IN DEFINING THE ISSUE. NOW, ANY ONE INDIVIDUAL AT ANY MOMENT CAN BEGIN A MOVEMENT."

KIMBERLY THOMAS RAPP, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

in the Bay Area’s African American community. systemic change.” So far, the lccr’s community When Lateefah Simon became executive meetings have drawn a positive response. “Once director of lccr, she insisted on creating more you get out there and start saying, ‘We’re the connections within the communities that the Lawyers’ Committee, here’s the concern, and nonprofit serves. So instead of marching her staff here are our resources to support the communi- into a meeting room to analyze constituents’ ty,’ people quickly come to you,” says lccr legal issues from a distance, she sent them straight director Oren Sellstrom. out into San Francisco neighborhoods, hosting “Hitting the streets” is particularly impor- meetings designed to surface the legal needs of tant in the digital age, when grassroots activists the people who live there. The practice has since can now organize without organizations. Some- expanded under the leadership of Pioneer Kim- times the only way to find out what is happening berly Thomas Rapp. is to plug into local social networks. “People come One such meeting took place in September together around a particular issue, they work 2013 in Bayview-Hunter’s Point, a low-income San on it, then they move on to a different issue with Francisco neighborhood with a high crime rate. For different alliances,” says Sellstrom. “Ideally, we several hours, lccr lawyers met with community want to be a constant in those shifting equations. activists to discuss how the organization could help When an issue bubbles up, we want someone them address a particular problem: discrimination already at the table to remember the work that we against children of color in the San Francisco public did on another issue, and come back to us to see school system. Important issues at that meeting how we can help on this one.” only surfaced because the lawyers tapped into the As Thomas Rapp asks, “Who gets to brand intelligence of local activists, and because they something as a civil rights issue? In the 1.0 era it was gathered in the community rather than asking the big organizations that had ownership in defining activists to pay the $30 parking fee to visit lccr’s the issue. Now, any one individual at any moment downtown office. can begin a movement.” That’s why she and her “We need ongoing dialogue between the team believe that making time for the pound- real people on the ground who are impacted the-pavement work of connecting treetops and and the organizations that are really needed to grassroots is so important. “While it can be tempt- support and advance that work,” says Thomas ing to sit in the office and do things by email,” says Rapp. “Otherwise you have folks on the ground Sellstrom, “there is no substitute for getting out organizing with limited ability to create lasting there and meeting people on the ground.” 108 109

"THE FEARLESS SPIRIT"

LATEEFAH SIMON DIRECTOR, CALIFORNIA'S FUTURE PROGRAM, ROSENBERG FOUNDATION; FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL Working at the Intersections: RIGHTS (LCCR) A National Campaign

BORN: January 1977 While still the executive director of Equal Rights ALMA MATER: Mills College Advocates (era), Arcelia Hurtado knew that she wanted to experiment with ways to do better PREVIOUS ROLES: storytelling and with new ways to collaborate Executive director, Center for Young Women's Development; with like-minded allies. In early 2013, the perfect head of the Reentry Services opportunity to do both presented itself. At the Division, San Francisco District time, two pieces of groundbreaking legislation Attorney's Office were winding their way through the California BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: legislature: ab218, which would prevent employ- The program supported, fi- ers from asking about criminal convictions on job nancially and spiritually, really applications; and ab651, which would set aside important work, but I couldn't convictions for low-level, nonviolent crimes if believe how hard it was to implement because we (LCCR) the person who committed those crimes showed were hemorrhaging in all these rehabilitation. other ways . We had amazing As a criminal defense lawyer, Hurtado knew ideas for collaboration, but that securing employment was critical to the suc- couldn't come up for air . My cessful reentry into society of people with prior main goal had to be stabilizing an organization and developing convictions. Both pieces of legislation would make new programs, and it was dif- it easier for the formerly convicted to establish more ficult to radically innovate . stable lives after getting out of prison. While criminal justice reform wasn’t one of era’s core areas (historically it focused on equal pay for equal work), a similar program had been incubated by the organization prior to Hurtado’s arrival. Building on that felt like a natural next 110

step for the nonprofit. “There’s no women’s Gascón also expressed hope that more collabora- rights organization out there championing tions of this kind will happen in the future. formerly incarcerated women,” says Hurtado. Indeed, the unprecedented collaboration “That’s the epitome of intersectional work.” between era/nclr and local law enforcement After Hurtado moved to nclr, the two broadened the video’s base of support. “We organizations decided to work together to raise should be likely allies with law enforcement, but awareness of the issue and mobilize support for historically that’s been challenging,” says Hurta- the bills. Leveraging a Pioneers in Justice col- do. “It’s almost as earth shattering as what’s laboration grant, they created a series of videos happening in the gay rights movement with called “Let Her Work,” which focused on three marriage.” The video spread rapidly through women who had served time for low-level crimes everyone’s networks, getting posted to multiple and now needed to support their families. One websites and to YouTube. “The video had the of the videos featured a former convict named era stamp on it, but we wanted it to be a com- Cheauvon who had applied for many jobs after munity product,” Hurtado explains. “Criminal serving time, but was always turned down. “I’d justice organizations can use it how they want to tell the [employers], ‘Yes, I’ve been convicted of support their advocacy efforts.” a crime,’ because I’m honest,” she says. “They’d Partly as a result of that campaign—and the tell me, ‘Well, we can’t hire you.’ My qualifica- efforts of many others—both ab218 and ab51 tions are there, I have excellent skills, but they bills were signed into law by California’s Gover- don’t want to hear it.” nor Jerry Brown in the fall of 2013. Meanwhile, In an effort to increase the videos’ reach, the “Let Her Work” video series continues to Hurtado tapped into her relationships with spread the message, one click at a time. The San Francisco’s Sherriff’s Department, Public program is also now a formal part of era. “As a Defender’s Office, and District Attorney’s Office, leader, working on the reentry project has been as well as other potential partners—with great transformative,” says Hurtado. “It’s great to success. The collaborative effort even inspired theorize about networked ways of working, but San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón this was actually doing it.” to make an appearance in the video series. “Once you have been institutionalized, you carry the scars,” he says. “We all want to get to an outcome that’s good for the community and our people.” 111 112

BUILDING NETWORKS Key Takeaways

on building trusted relation- focusing instead on identifying 1 ships. As a result, interactions needs and leveraging (or creat- "NETWORKING" CAN between organizations become ing) shared assets—they can MEAN MANY THINGS. less “transactional” (using one free up activists’ time to focus This chapter covers broad organization to fulfill your own on what is most important: the ground, looking at the many agenda) and more transforma- social justice work. ways in which the Pioneer tional (working as partners to organizations are working explore emerging opportuni- in more “networked ways.” ties for true collaboration). 4 This can mean a mindset and START WITH SMALL cultural shift, but also new COLLABORATIONS AND ways of behaving, seeking trust 3 BUILD ON THEM. over control, breaking down or SHARE INFRASTRUCTURE As the Pioneers have sought to bridging internal and external AND BUILD "BACKBONE" work in more networked and boundaries, and focusing on ORGANIZATIONS. collaborative ways, they have shared values more than ideo- The emerging field of “col- also learned that sometimes logical differences. By explor- lective impact” has begun to the easiest way to get started ing what it means to become champion the notion of creating is to try some “little bets.” a “networked nonprofit,” the backbone organizations, or They’ve found smaller bilateral Pioneers are showing the way hubs for networks where com- opportunities to collaborate for the rest of the sector. mon resources can be central- with another organization ized and shared. Several of the or two, where the risks and Pioneers (most notable, caa complexity are relatively low. 2 through aacre) have experi- By starting small, and then REPLACE CONTROL mented with creating shared learning together, the Pioneers WITH TRUST, AND platforms so that smaller are building their collective TRANSACTION WITH nonprofits don’t have to create capacity to collaborate: creat- TRANSFORMATION. duplicative services. In doing ing trust, understanding, and a Networked work requires so, they are learning that by relational foundation on which leaders to let go of control and thinking outside the tradi- to build. Many have then gone hierarchy, focusing instead tional organizational box—and on to larger, more complex col- 113

laborations, piggybacking on these initial early bets. 6 7 CONNECT THE BREAK DOWN SILOS GRASSROOTS AND AND WORK IN THE 5 THE TREETOPS. INTERSTICES. COORDINATE ACTIVITIES The design thinking and All of the Pioneers share a UNDER A SHARED BRAND. innovation fields have increas- willingness to break down silos In the case of Advancing Jus- ingly brought attention to in their fields. Rather than tice, four organizations found it the importance of “human focusing on what separates or advantageous to run campaigns centered design.” In a similar differentiates their work, they and programs together under a way, the Pioneers have realized are looking instead for the shared brand. In so doing, they that their work is most effective intersections: the metaphorical are leveraging all of their assets when they engage directly Venn diagram between related and relationships while con- with constituents and con- but adjacent issues. In doing so, solidating their size and power nect them to broader advocacy they have also found ways to en- and minimizing brand “noise” campaigns, breaking down the gage “unlikely” allies—stake- in the system—all to increase barriers between grassroots holders who wouldn’t normally their impact. These nonprofits communities and the political be considered supporters or have pioneered a new approach establishment. lccr, for ex- advocates of an issue who can be that other organizations work- ample, works especially hard to persuaded to support it because ing on similar issues might engage its constituents in iden- of its relationship to their own want to emulate. tifying real community needs movements and causes. and to elevate these issues into larger policy agendas. 7 Sparking Movements Sparking Movements 116

A few of the many supporters who participated in the American Civil Liberty Union’s traveling Estamos Unidos campaign, which stopped at cities across the country to advocate for immigrant rights. 117

FOR THE PIONEERS, EXPANDING THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA CAPABILITIES, FINDING THEIR FOOTING AS 2.0 leaders, transforming their organizations, often worked in “command and control” ways and forging new networks are part of the “how” that are now out of sync with today’s more decen- of their work. But the “why”—the ultimate end tralized ways of working. In the 2.0 world, social goal—is about building movements to change movements are large, diffuse, and involve many larger systems and scale their impact. By defini- actors who work in only loosely coordinated ways. tion, movements are large initiatives driven They are also messy, with different networks and forward by many organizations and individuals groups self-organizing around a cause, enabled who share a similar goal. They seek to change and accelerated by technology. the rules—and to change the hearts, minds, and In this chapter, we share how all of the Pio- behaviors of people both directly and indirectly neers and their organizations came together to affected by an issue. collectively work on the same issue: immigration Ultimately, movements are what happen reform. Through a larger statewide coalition, the when networks activate, lighting up to change the Pioneers helped to pass the Trust Act, a Cali- world through collective organizing and action. fornia bill that prohibits local law enforcement Whether it’s teaming up with others to promote a from detaining people for deportation if they larger shared agenda, or reaching out to mobi- are arrested on minor charges and are otherwise lize new constituents on the ground, all of the eligible to be released from custody. The measure Pioneers—in different ways—are trying to spark has already had an impact on how state and local national and regional movements through their government interact with federal immigration work, building upon the foundations laid by their programs. predecessors in earlier eras. And they are very We also explore other ways in which each of the cognizant of trying to create movements that Pioneer nonprofits acts as part of larger national reflect the reality of today’s times. coalitions and movements. Much of the chapter While there are similarities between the focuses on a series of experiments launched by social movements of the ’60s and ’70s and those the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern of today, there are also some subtle differences. In California (aclu-nc) as part of the Pioneers the 1.0 world, movements tended to be identified program—experiments that yielded successes, with iconic individuals (think Martin Luther setbacks, and important lessons. Specifically, we King or Gloria Steinem), even though many look at the ways in which the aclu-nc has tried groups and leaders participated in them. The to recruit new allies to its cause—no matter their organizations spearheading these movements ethnicity or religion, whether they’re documented 118

or not, or whether they’re already vocal activists working on—criminal justice reform and immi- or people who have yet to find their voice. gration reform—and began brainstorming ways to have shared impact on these issues. Ultimately, they chose to work on immigration reform first, to Pushing for Policy Change: see what they might accomplish together. The Trust Act Over the past few years, the Pioneers and their organizations have participated in a much larger statewide coalition—comprising more than 50 As mentioned in previous chapters, several of groups in the immigrant rights community—fo- the Pioneers and their organizations had worked cused on passing local laws for the fair treatment together on various issues before the launch of of immigrants, while also pressing for compre- the PIJ program. Asian Americans Advancing hensive federal immigration reform. Justice-Asian Law Caucus and Chinese for Affir- In 2010, the coalition launched an unprec- mative Action have a decades-long relationship. edented three-year campaign that culminated The aclu-nc had collaborated with all the other with the signing of the California Trust Act, Pioneer organizations, including taking joint le- which went into effect on January 1, 2014. Two of gal action on civil rights issues with the Lawyers’ the Pioneer organizations—Advancing Justice Committee for Civil Rights and the National and the aclu of Northern California—played Center for Lesbian Rights. The latter organiza- pivotal leadership roles in this larger coalition as tion, nclr, was actually born out of Equal Rights co-sponsors of the bill, along with the California Advocates, and the two organizations have Immigrant Policy Center, National Day Laborer worked together for years. Organizing Network, and Mexican American But the formalization of the PIJ cohort took Legal Defense and Education Fund. all of these alliances to a new level. The Pioneers’ The Trust Act emerged as a local response convenings expanded their awareness of how to to new federal programs that entangle state and increase their effectiveness, individually and col- local law enforcement with the enforcement of lectively. As a result, it became natural for them to immigration laws. Under the ice Agreements of start seeking out opportunities to work together Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety on intersectional issues in service of movement and Security (ice access) initiative, Immigration building. In fact, early in the program, the Pio- and Custom Enforcement (ice) is authorized to neers identified two issues that all of them were “enlist the participation of local law enforcement

1 As an internal funder report produced by Advancing Justice further explains, ice access programs include training and deputizing local police to carry out immigration enforcement; the Criminal Alien Program, which gives ice agents access to jail information and to detainees for interviews; and the Secure Communities program, which automatically shares fingerprints taken by local police with ice. 119

AN ADDICTION INSPIRES ACTIVISM

In 2011, an ACLU-NC representa- been sentenced to a treatment ACLU-NC's campaign—to more tive made a presentation at center . Instead, he eventually than 1,000 students . His talks Berkeley City College about found treatment himself . A year helped engage students in the the need for criminal justice later, he enrolled at Berkeley ACLU's criminal justice reform reform . Afterward, a student City College, where so far he has work, including advocating for approached the presenter gotten all A's . He also wrote a bills that provide better reentry and shared his own story . His one-man play, which ran at the opportunities for people with name was David Moss . He was Marsh Theater in San Francisco . felonies . recovering from a cocaine ad- Moss wants to share his story diction and had been in and out with anyone who will listen, of jail 14 times for being under in the hopes that it will help the influence of a narcotic, at an change the state's practices estimated cost to the state of around drug sentencing . $150,000 . As it happened, the ACLU Moss said that he had never wanted to put a human face to gotten violent and never sold its "Think Outside the Box" ini- drugs . But throughout his stints tiative on criminal justice reform in jail, he'd also never been of- and the need for alternatives to fered help . For a fraction of the incarceration-and Moss was cost of his multiple incarcera- just the person they were look- tions, Moss could have ing for . With LSF funding, the ACLU-NC made a video capturing Moss's story . The organization also hired him to travel around Northern California campuses making presentations to stu- dents . He hit every CSU and UC campus in Northern California, presenting his story—and the 120

to identify and detain immigrants suspected to be Governor Brown’s office and another in the deportable.”1 This initiative has had devastating California State Sheriff’s Association office led by effects on immigrant communities in California dreamers and supported by the statewide coali- and across the country. According to a report by tion, we were able to gain the necessary traction Advancing Justice, “Deportations have increased in negotiations,” says Rho. On October 5, 2013, by 100 percent over the last decade and, at an Governor Brown signed the Trust Act along with average of 400,000 deportations per year, are several other pro-immigrant bills, proclaiming currently the highest they have ever been…. From that “while Washington waffles on immigration, 2010 to 2012, nearly 205,000 immigrant parents California’s forging ahead … I’m not waiting.”4 were separated from their U.S. citizen children.”2 In addition to resulting in unfair deportations, currently, the statewide coalition is lead- these punitive local policies have eroded trust be- ing Trust Act implementation efforts. In Decem- tween immigrant communities and law enforce- ber 2013, the coalition convened in Los Angeles ment and even compromised public safety, says to launch a mobilization campaign. Advancing Pioneer Hyeon-Ju Rho. A recent report found that Justice and the aclu-nc, along with other Trust 70 percent of undocumented Latinos are now less Act co-sponsors, have already begun providing likely to contact the police if they are victims of a technical assistance and support to community crime, out of fear that police officers will use this organizations and legal practitioners throughout interaction as an opportunity to ask them about California. If implemented effectively, the Trust their immigration status.3 Act will have significant impact in California, Clearly, the Pioneers had reason to protest preventing tens of thousands of immigrants from ice access programs as part of their larger being detained on behalf of ICE each year. efforts to address immigration reform. But The Trust Act has also paved the way for passing the Trust Act—which bars local law similar local and state-level policy reforms enforcement agencies from detaining people for throughout the country. “We’ve clarified that deportation if they are arrested for a minor crime ice holds are requests by the federal govern- and eligible to be released from custody—didn’t ment, not mandates, and we’ve changed federal come easily. The bill encountered significant ice enforcement practices around detention and pushback from ice, other federal entities, and deportation,” explains Pioneer Abdi Soltani. “Ul- initially even California Governor Jerry Brown. timately, our local movement has had a national But after several bill revisions and “a sit-in in impact. Not bad for a ‘hometown strategy.’”

2 Ibid. 4 See “Governor Brown Signs Immigration Legislation,” October 5, 3 University of Illinois at Chicago, May 2013, available at 2013, available at http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18253. http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/gci/documents/1213/Insecure_ Communities_Report_FINAL.pdf. 121

"ULTIMATELY, OUR LOCAL MOVEMENT HAS HAD A NATIONAL IMPACT. NOT BAD FOR A 'HOMETOWN STRATEGY.'"

ABDI SOLTANI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACLU-NC

None of this impact would have happened building and conversation, seeking to build bridg- without several of the Pioneers taking lead roles es across local divides. Dubbed “A Moment of Re- in the statewide coalition. “Part of what made this flection in the Fight for Immigration Reform,” the victory possible was that it really was a movement event was hosted by all five Pioneer organizations, building strategy,” says Rho. “It wasn’t just about the Levi Strauss Foundation, and the Bay Area getting the Trust Act passed. It was also about Justice Funders Network (bajfn). The goal of the building long-term networks and relationships event, which drew almost 90 California grantmak- among different communities impacted by these ers and activists, was to bolster the immigration policies, and then mobilizing these networks. The reform movement in the Bay Area by creating new Pioneers program, and the values it embodies, connections between two groups—funders and contributed to these types of victories.” activists—that rarely work in concert. While policy reform wasn’t an explicit goal of The event came at a challenging time in the the Pioneers in Justice program, it was an impor- national fight for immigration reform. The fate of tant outcome nonetheless. “When a foundation S.744—a bipartisan Senate bill that would have invests in longer-term capacity building, it can provided a road to citizenship for millions of un- enhance organizational outcomes,” says Soltani. documented immigrants—was uncertain. With “lsf didn’t go in with an expectation that we stiff opposition in the Republican-controlled would achieve immigration policy change. But as House, it seemed unlikely to pass. Many grant- leaders of organizations going through a program makers had invested heavily in supporting the like this, the ideas, tools, and thinking we’ve bill, but some grassroots activists were against gained ultimately infuse everything we do.” it, believing that it gave up too much in return for citizenship options. Instead, these activists advo- cated for what The Atlantic termed the “nuclear Building Bridges Betweeen option”—where President Obama would bypass Funders and Activists Congress entirely and issue deferred action for all undocumented immigrants. Leading up to the event, the Pioneers dis- In September 2013, the Pioneers also took on a cussed the possibility of friction in the room. “We much smaller, time-bounded initiative to advance were bringing together two sides of the move- immigration reform: they brought local activ- ment that aren’t in dialogue very often, and we ists and funders together for a day of relationship knew it could be explosive,” says Pioneer Chris 122

Punongbayan, who organized the event with from the event, Pioneer Hyeon-Ju Rho noted bajfn. “We wanted to make sure that the people that it helped different players in the movement playing the game and the people trying to change understand the larger ecosystem of which they the rules were given equal footing, even though are a part, and brought greater authenticity to some organizations had more financial resources how they relate to one another. “This was not a than others.” means to an end, but an end in itself,” says Rho. The aclu-nc’s Abdi Soltani suggested break- “The process is the product.” Adds Pioneer ing down the barriers between the two “sides” at Vincent Pan: “The event at least ‘cracked the ice’ the outset of the event, framing them as equally im- in an otherwise very traditional funder-grantee portant parts of a larger movement. “The idea that environment, which I hope can be the basis for some people are funders and others are advocates is different 2.0 types of relationships in the future.” a misnomer,” he says, using a 2.0 frame. “Funding For Arcelia Hurtado, the immigration reform comes from people who give small donations, indi- initiative—like the Pioneers program more vidual donors, and organized foundations. But it generally—encouraged her to take a broader look also comes from people who put in vast amounts of at the field beyond any particular organizational time and provide their own resources. And funders focus. “It has strengthened my capacity to think are also advocates. Everybody has a role in the strategically about building bridges for height- resources that we marshal, the ideas we generate, ened impact,” she says. “And it has elevated our and the relationships we have.” voices and our organizations’ voices in places At the event, the tension between funders and where they have not previously been heard.” activists was sometimes palpable. But partici- pants seemed to appreciate hearing different per- spectives that held the potential to inform their Engaging New and own work. “Philanthropy can seem directive, but Diverse Audiences just because we’re stewards of resources doesn’t mean we always know what needs to happen,” says attendee Rouverol Callejo. “When we’re not Whether focused on immigration or other issues, a in relationship, we’re isolated and siloed. What key component of movement building is engaging makes us powerful allies is our ability to be in the public in your cause in order to build a larger relationship and to build those intersections.” base from which to influence economic, political, Although no radical collaborations emerged and social systems. Throughout the Pioneers in 123

A MOVEMENT'S CHAMPION CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE

It's rare to see a heterosexual Minnesota Vikings football straight buddy who's a sports- football player teaming up with player Chris Kluwe caught writer with his own radio show, a lesbian rights organization,— wind of the letter and quickly and he would never have come but sometimes an individual released one of his own . In it, to one of our events otherwise,"” with no strong connection to a he accused Burns of being a says Camillo . "Not that he's not movement can become one of freedom-hating, oppressionist supportive, but he came because its most valuable champions . violator of the First Amendment . he got to see Chris Kluwe ". In September 2012, Maryland Kluwe, a heterosexual father of When an issue like mar- State Delegate Emmett C . Burns two, became an instant hero in riage equality is seen as just Jr . heard that Baltimore Ravens LGBTQ households all over the that-an issue of equality and linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo world . Kate Kendell, executive social justice, rather than a was publicly supporting a gay director of the National Center "gay" issue-all kinds of new marriage initiative on the state for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), was alliances and opportunities are ballot . Burns, a Democrat, wrote among Kluwe's admirers . A born . a letter to the team owner, year later, when she heard that Steve Bisciotti, urging him to Kluwe would be in the Bay Area, "inhibit such expressions from she picked up the phone and in- your employee ". vited him to attend a fundraiser for NCLR . Kluwe accepted . NCLR board member Stacey Camillo says she has no doubt that Kluwe's support of mar- riage equality broke down ste- reotypes, and that his presence at the NCLR event drew in many of its attendees . "I have a 124

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT YOUTH (AKA THE DREAMERS)

>ADAPTED FROM THE IMMIGRATION POLICY CENTER WEBSITE

There are roughly 1 .8 mil- This initiative, announced DREAMers are 15 or older and are lion immigrants in the United on June 15, 2012, offers a two- eligible to apply for deferred ac- States who might be, or might year, renewable reprieve from tion right now . However, nearly become, eligible for the Obama deportation to unauthorized a quarter of DREAMers are 14 or Administration's deferred ac- immigrants who are under the younger and are not yet eligible tion initiative for unauthorized age of 31; entered the United to apply, but will be eligible at youth brought to this country States before age 16; have lived some point in the future if the as children . Taken as a whole, continuously in the country for deferred action initiative still unauthorized immigrants who at least five years; have not exists . And close to another qualify for the deferred action been convicted of a felony, a quarter of the DREAMer popula- initiative are commonly referred "significant" misdemeanor, or tion could become eligible for to as "DREAMers" because they three other misdemeanors; and deferred action if they earn a comprise most of the individuals are currently in school, gradu- GED . who meet the general require- ated from high school, earned a ments of the Development, GED, or served in the military . Relief, and Education for Alien Most DREAMers are originally Minors (DREAM) Act . from Mexico and are found in big immigrant-receiving states with large unauthorized populations, such as California and Texas . Yet DREAMers are also found in virtually every state, and signifi- cant numbers are non-Mexicans who hail from all corners of the globe . Just under half of DREAM- ers are female . The majority of

FOR MORE INFORMATION: WWW .IMMIGRATIONPOLICY .ORG/JUST-FACTS/WHO-AND-WHERE-DREAMERS-ARE WWW .DREAMACTIVIST .ORG 125

Justice program, the Pioneers have experimented organization-wide push to attract more Latinos with new ways to engage others in their work—by as members and activists. His vision included harnessing the power of social media, by tapping creating a Spanish-language version of the aclu into networks, and through grassroots, on-the- website, dubbed miaclu; launching a national ground organizing. But perhaps no Pioneer has bus tour (called Estamos Unidos, or “we are taken these efforts further than Abdi Soltani, united”) to protest racial profiling; and increasing executive director of aclu-nc. Indeed, Soltani’s awareness of the aclu among Spanish speakers, growing expertise with new ways of engaging via both online and offline campaigns. Ultimately, activists and the broader public holds lessons for he wanted to position the aclu as a bilingual or- anyone trying to build stronger movements. ganization and a trusted source within the Latino Soltani came to the executive directorship community. with big ideas on how to broaden the aclu’s But creating the scaffolding to draw hundreds constituency to include more young people and of thousands of people into a movement was not people of color—particularly Latinos. He was easy. The miaclu website, for example, got off keenly aware that a core driver of change in to a slow start. Soltani’s initial goal was to have California is the growth of the Latino population; 10,000 Facebook fans within one year; 18 months half of all public school students in California are later, roughly 3,000 had “liked” the site. Part Latino, and a large part of the Latino community of the problem was the very issue Soltani was is primarily Spanish speaking. Yet the aclu has trying to address: the aclu’s name is not well historically not done much to engage Latinos known among Latinos. “It’s not love, it’s not hate, in its work. “The aclu had become a place for it’s…nothing,” says Miriam Gerace, director of people to go who were not black, not Latino, strategic initiatives at the aclu-nc and a Latina not Asian,” Soltani says. “It had become a home herself. “They don’t know we exist.” for people to work on civil rights issues if they Soltani hoped the Estamos Unidos national didn’t have an ethnic identity. And being a legal bus tour would help change that. Pegged to the organization, there wasn’t as much attention to Supreme Court’s challenge to Arizona’s Senate constituency building.” Bill 1070—which brought into high relief the Soltani began by translating the aclu’s basic sorts of racial profiling that many Latinos experi- “Know Your Rights” materials into Spanish. ence—the tour covered 17 states in three weeks, Out of that effort grew a larger vision for en- garnering plenty of media attention. Six of the gagement—and soon Soltani was leading an states on the tour had legislation like Arizona’s 126

"THE INNOVATOR"

TITI LIU DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC INTEREST INITIATIVES, on the books or pending. All along the way, aclu STANFORD staff collected signatures protesting the laws, LAW SCHOOL'S held rallies, and conducted “Know Your Rights” LEVIN CENTER; trainings. They also made sure to gather stories FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASIAN from around the country to feature on miaclu. AMERICANS Meanwhile, other aclu affiliates saw the ADVANCING JUSTICE- promise of miaclu and stepped up. A national ASIAN LAW CAUCUS working group was created. Staff from the nation- al office and affiliates nationwide began to create BORN: July 1972 Spanish-language content and media outreach. The working group also created a Listserv for all ALMA MATER: bilingual staff to share questions and resources Harvard Law School in real-time, a Spanish-language immigration PREVIOUS ROLES: glossary, a directory of vetted translators and Executive director, Asian Ameri- interpreters, a social media policy specific to cans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus; law professor, Spanish-language efforts, and a Spanish-lan- University of Washington; pro- guage primer on best practices and guidelines, gram officer for law and rights, used to conduct miaclu working group trainings Beijing Office, Ford Foundation; with staff nationwide. consultant, U .S . State Depart- In August 2013, thanks in part to this larger ef- ment and the U .S . Agency for International Development fort, the aclu was able to quickly mobilize when (USAID) the dream 9—a group of U.S.-raised Mexican nationals protesting the continued deportation of BIGGEST PIONEER CHALLENGE: Overcoming resistance to change undocumented workers—attempted to reenter on the part of staff and other the U.S. by seeking political asylum and were key stakeholders in order to promptly thrown into solitary confinement. The transform the organization miaclu team was ready with an op-ed in Spanish to meet the challenges of the that was swiftly reprinted in three Spanish-lan- 21st century . guage newspapers and re-tweeted multiple times. “Every re-tweet we got from other groups that are better known and have more credibility than us in 127 128

this space was exciting,” says Gerace. phone. The image captured exactly the sense of Without the strategy started by the aclu- voice, passion, and empowerment that Soltani nc, they wouldn’t even be that far, says Debra was looking for. He asked the graphic designers to Sanchez, director of affiliate marketing and com- find out who the woman in the photo was and put munications at aclu headquarters in New York. him in touch. It turned out her name was Dulce “Usually national does what national does and Juarez, a dreamer student activist in Phoenix, the affiliates do their state-based work,” she says. Arizona, who had come to the U.S. at the age “I don’t think there’s been this level of collabora- of five. In the photo, she was speaking out at a tion before. The NorCal affiliate under Abdi is an protest against racial profiling and immigrant innovator, for sure.” detention practices. If movement building is about connecting the formal with the informal, and the individual with Leveraging Stories and the cause, then Soltani had even more reason for Voices in a Movement wanting Juarez to be the face of the tour. Soltani told her about Estamos Unidos and learned that, in an incredible coincidence, she would be MCing While the aclu-nc’s Estamos Unidos national one of the Phoenix-based events where the tour bus tour was a success, it wasn’t easy to pull off. was scheduled to make a stop. Juarez asked if she Just days before the kickoff event, Soltani was still could join the tour after Phoenix, traveling with searching for the right images for the tour’s poster, them to South Carolina—and Soltani agreed. bus wrap, and marketing materials. He’d already After the tour ended, the aclu offered her rejected dozens of stock photos proposed by the one better: a job with the aclu of Arizona’s Im- graphic designers. Ideally, Soltani wanted two im- migrant Rights Project. “I’d spent three years ages—one of a group and one of an individual— after graduation doing side jobs because I was and he wanted each to have a real story behind it. undocumented,” says Juarez. “Then I got legal The group shot that Soltani eventually chose status, at the same time that Abdi reached out. featured Alabama youth and families fighting Because he took the time to talk to me, I got that state’s anti-immigrant law. But selecting the hired by the aclu.” Juarez now manages a crisis individual shot was much harder. Just five days hotline for reporting law enforcement abuses and before the tour launched, the designers emailed contributes to miaclu. She also helped create a him a photo of a young Latina holding a micro- mobile app for reporting abuses that had 3,000 129

"AT ONE HOUSE WAS A MAN WHO HAD NOT VOTED FOR 20 YEARS BECAUSE HE HAD A PAST FELONY. HE THOUGHT HE COULD NEVER VOTE AGAIN."

PAM WHALEN, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION- NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ORGANIZER

downloads in the first week. “I feel like I am part nificant additional cost—so that Nolasco could of a bridge between the Spanish-speaking Latino join in. Nolasco hopped on the bus in Illinois and community and a legal organization that defends stayed on through visits to the “friendlier” states their rights,” says Juarez. “It’s such a wonderful of Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, experience to feel like I’m contributing.” and California, where he was less likely to be Juarez wasn’t the only activist hoping to join questioned or deported. The trip was Nolasco’s forces with the aclu via the tour. At an aclu first outside California, and an experience he says conference that took place before the tour’s kick- he will never forget. Speaking out on behalf of the off, Soltani sat down with a group of dreamer aclu to media and communities along the way activists who had gathered in the hotel lobby. One made it even more meaningful. of those activists was 21-year-old Luis Nolasco, For Soltani, Nolasco was a shining example a community organizer with the Inland Empire of the many thousands of activists who operate Immigrant Youth Coalition. When he learned with very little institutional support, yet are will- about Estamos Unidos, Nolasco asked if he could ing to accept tremendous risk for a larger cause. ride along. More and more, Soltani believes social justice There was only one catch: Nolasco was undoc- 2.0 groups need to figure out how to engage these umented, and the bus would be driving through participants in their networks; often, these new states where vehicles are regularly stopped by informal allies offer something to a movement border patrol and local law enforcement to ask that the organizations alone cannot bring. occupants about their citizenship status. When The aclu’s bus tour took place at the same Soltani discussed this dilemma with aclu at- time that a small group of dreamers was literally torneys, the organization was initially hesitant to walking across the country. Soltani met them in let him participate. “I’m undocumented and un- Salt Lake City, where both groups were passing afraid,” Nolasco said. “If there are consequences through simultaneously. He still marvels at their to me speaking out for my rights, I’m willing to resilience and their nimble action. “They walked accept that responsibility.’” Then he pointed out across America and raised money as they went,” how ironic it was that an organization planning he says. “If we tried to pull that off, it would have a tour to highlight the plight of undocumented cost us half a million dollars and 14 forms of li- immigrants was hesitant to take one of those im- ability insurance. It’s amazing what people can migrants on the trip. do when they have will. When the will is there, Ultimately, Soltani extended the tour—at sig- people will move mountains.” 130

Pushing into New arrests.9 And yet despite its many needs, few large Geographical Markets statewide or national social justice organizations have a permanent presence there. After months spent establishing trust and meeting existing local grassroots organizations, When Soltani became executive director of the the aclu’s Fresno office finally opened in Decem- aclu-nc in 2009, he had another very specific ber 2011. The first permanent hire was Fresno local goal: to build the presence of the aclu in the Cen- Pam Whalen, a lifelong activist who had organized tral Valley of California. Before the pij program, her first protest at the age of 10. “I’ve worked with the nonprofit had limited presence in Fresno, a lot of activists over the years who have dedi- CA—an area that should be a hotbed for social cated their lives to trying to make Fresno better, justice work. When The New York Times wanted and basically it’s almost entirely from personal to write about jail overcrowding in California, self-sacrifice,” says Whalen. “We don’t get a lot of they headed straight for Fresno County. When money for people to organize here.” Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation giving Whalen became the only aclu organizer in undocumented immigrants the right to apply California to work exclusively on county-level for a driver’s license, he did it in Fresno. Pick any criminal justice reform within three counties: social justice issue—racial equity, reproductive Fresno, Tulare, and Merced. As part of that work, rights, immigrant rights, worker rights, voting she has created new community coalitions; orga- access rights, lgbtq rights, prison reform, pris- nized prisoners’ families to write letters, speak at oner rights—and you will find that it looms large meetings, and protest; and held grassroots events in Fresno and the surrounding Central Valley. to educate people about the criminal justice The city of Fresno is in the sixth poorest Con- system. She has also walked around the commu- gressional District in the country, with a median nity, knocking on doors and explaining to people household income of $26,800 and one in four their rights. “At one house was a man who had not residents living below the poverty line.5 It is also voted for 20 years because he had a past felony,” extremely diverse: the population is 63 percent La- she says. “He thought he could never vote again.” tino,6 and more than 40 percent of Fresno residents Whalen’s work was timely because of the speak a language other than English at home.7 The passage of a statewide bill, ab109, which aimed to city also has the highest rate of vehicle theft in the reduce prison overcrowding by shifting respon- country8 and ranks fourth in the country for dui sibility for low-level offenders from the state to

5 2010 U.S. Census. 7 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 8 “Fresno Again Leads Nation in Vehicle-Theft Rate,” The Fresno Bee, 2012. 9 Kathleen Pennepacker, “America’s Drunkest Cities,” Men’s Health, 2010. 131

local jurisdictions. She began lobbying local gov- people she talks to and works with feel unpro- ernments and pushing publicly for alternatives tected and powerless. That is, until Whalen and to incarceration. Her efforts paid off. In Fresno’s her crew come calling. “You knock on someone’s last budget cycle, more funds were put into men- door,” says Whalen, “and they say, ‘Where have tal health services for inmates and into programs you been all my life?’” offering alternatives to incarceration—victories As Soltani, Whalen, and others have learned, that the aclu credits to linking its legal expertise spreading and scaling a 2.0 movement becomes with local community leadership. In Fresno, easier when organizations draw in new audi- ab109 offenders now spend part of their time ences—whether they are formal organizations, in jail and part on probation, and there is now informal volunteer networks, or lone individuals a transitional unit at the county jail that gives determined to make a difference. These move- those in custody access to the same programs ments also have the potential to spread faster available to them upon release. “We don’t feel when the organizations trying to spark them liter- like we’ve crossed the finish line, but we feel that ally push their presence into new areas, extending we’ve definitely had an impact,” says Whalen. awareness of their organization and its message “We’ve gotten people engaged, and we’ve gotten into places where it is most needed—like Fresno. some results.” The Fresno aclu office now has a second Spanish-speaking organizer, Stephanie Kamey, Continuing to Engage who focuses on immigrant rights and developing New Constituents awareness of the aclu within the Latino com- munity. The office also just hired its first lawyer, who is taking on reproductive rights and law Throughout his tenure, Soltani has also contin- enforcement issues. “This is capacity that we just ued to emphasize the need for the aclu-nc to have not had before,” says Shayna Gelender, the build a diverse, inter-generational base. In the aclu-nc’s director of organizing and communi- past few years, in addition to the above initia- ty engagement. “It’s exciting for the community tives, the organization has run a series of smaller, to see them doing this work.” rapid-fire experiments designed to create ways Despite the many challenges in Fresno, for new constituents to engage with the aclu Whalen notes that the Central Valley is the “easi- on their own terms, rather than plugging into est place in the world to organize.” Most of the the existing structure of its chapters. A few of 132

these efforts have been successes, and those that comprehensive immigration reform.” Soltani’s haven’t have provided valuable learning. willingness to help students to lead their own Several of these smaller efforts have focused engagement in the aclu’s criminal justice reform on engaging and supporting a new generation work represents a huge shift for the organiza- of student activists—specifically through the tion. “Our past model was to form aclu clubs on aclu-nc’s Campus Network Program. In the fall campuses, which tended to be small and lack di- of 2011, aclu-nc organizer Laila Fahimuddin versity,” Soltani says. “Our new model is to work and two interns set out from San Francisco in a in a more networked way with diverse student Honda Civic to find Northern California univer- organizations.” sity campuses with an activist culture. The goal Another campus-based initiative, Think was not to have the campus set up its own aclu Outside the Box, aimed to educate and mobilize club, but to have their existing student groups an additional 10,000 college students to fight for work more closely with the organization’s larger criminal justice reform. Launched in 2011, the ini- statewide network. tiative kicked off with what the aclu does best: For example, in January 2012, 50 student in-person grassroots outreach using the power of activists identified through the Campus Network storytelling. The organization hired David Moss, Program attended a convening in Monterey, CA, who was jailed 14 times while suffering from where they took workshops on key civil rights drug addiction, to travel the circuit of Northern issues and received basic activist skills training. California college campuses to share his story Two key issues—immigration reform and the (see sidebar, “An Addiction Inspires Activism”). affordability of higher education—garnered the Ultimately, Moss’s presentations reached 1,000 most discussion. Soon after, dozens of University undergraduates—and left a strong impression. of California (uc) students began attending other The initiative’s next goal is to mobilize an- aclu-nc events. Ultimately, the UC statewide other 9,000 students to get involved in crimi- student leadership decided to take on criminal nal justice reform not through time-intensive justice reform advocacy as a primary issue. in-person presentations but through online “We now have thousands of students who are tools. After a few failed experiments, the aclu sending action alerts and doing call-ins,” says is working with a new media strategy company to Fahimuddin. “They’re partners on our sentenc- come up with a short, mobile-friendly “quiz” that ing reform bill and our school discipline reform makes learning the basic concepts around crimi- bill and even wrote a resolution in support of nal justice reform quick and fun. The online quiz 133

"YOU WANT TO MEET PEOPLE WHERE THEY ALREADY ARE AND TO MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO CONNECT WITH YOUR ORGANIZATION AND OTHERS."

TAYLOR DANKMYER, NEW MEDIA STRATEGIST, FISSION STRATEGY

will be marketed to students through Twitter and hood) and through paid canvassing in targeted Facebook, as well as through events, email mar- cities. Not surprisingly, Soltani and Gelender are keting, and direct outreach. “You want to meet now experimenting with more “2.0” methods for people where they already are and to make it easy recruiting new membership—although, so far, for them to connect with your organization and these strategies have been more hit and miss. others,” explains Taylor Dankmyer, a new media Recently, the organization tried out several strategist at Fission Strategy, the firm helping to recruitment strategies designed to encour- develop this next phase.10 age others to help draw in new members on the The aclu-nc has also experimented with aclu’s behalf. The first, called “My aclu,” was new ways to bring grassroots organizations an online system enabling members to invite and activists working throughout Northern friends to join the organization through just a few California into the organization’s sphere—for mouse clicks; if a member got 10 people to sign example, through its Conference and Lobby Day, up, the aclu would give a grant to an organiza- a weekend-long conference offers training on tion of their choice. They also tried a house party legislation, lobbying, and more.11 The first event version of “My aclu,” where members invited succeeded in expanding the aclu-nc’s regional friends to their homes to raise money in support base and putting important upcoming bills in the of Proposition 34 (which, if passed, would have California legislature on everyone’s radar—so abolished the death penalty in California). Both much so that the aclu’s other two California events had mixed results. affiliates have now begun collaborating with the Next, they tried hosting joint events with like- aclu-nc to make this a statewide program. minded organizations, offering grants to these Of course, not all of the activists identified organizations if they were able to get attendees and served through these events became aclu to sign up for aclu membership at these events. members—in fact, that wasn’t the primary Another recruitment strategy, the “Count Me goal. But growing its paying membership is still In” campaign, offered new monthly sustaining critical to the organization, not least because members a chance to win a trip for two to Wash- membership dues help fund the lobbying work ington, DC. This “carrot” was not particularly conducted under its C4. Traditionally, the aclu effective, but the fact that the campaign was has recruited membership in very “1.0” ways— tied to two hot-button issues that people cared by exchanging mailing lists with like-minded or- about—reproductive justice and marriage equal- ganizations for direct mail (e.g., Planned Parent- ity—proved powerful. The modest success of

10 Burger, D., “‘Thinking Outside the Box’ to Reform California Prisons,” MSNBC, August 12, 2013. 11 LSF funds were not used to support lobbying efforts. 134

these efforts was attributed in part to the aclu- nc being much more direct with people about why they needed commitments from monthly sustaining members. Thus far, these new strategies have not yielded a substantial number of dues-paying members. Whether they will—or can—remains an open question. Part of the challenge, says Soltani, is that most social media fundraising is focused on funding specific projects or generating one-time gifts. But the aclu-nc is trying to use these tools to achieve something different. “It’s still not clear for our sector whether these approaches can serve as a tool for acquiring a base of long-term supporters.” In this way, he says, “we may still be trying to work in a 1.0 way using 2.0 tools.” 135 136

SPARKING MOVEMENTS Key Takeaways

1 2 3 MOVEMENT EXPAND YOUR ACTIVATE NEW BUILDING 2.0. SUPPORTER BASE BY MOVEMENTS AMONG Social movements have been TARGETING NEW EXISTING ALLIES. around for centuries, but what’s DEMOGRAPHICS AND Two of the Pioneer organiza- new is the ability of individu- NEW MARKETS. tions—Advancing Justice als and organizations to use A key component of movement and the ACLU-NC—helped technology to both accelerate building is the ability of organi- lead an existing coalition of their activism and to find and zations to engage and mobilize immigrants rights groups and connect to one another in more individual supporters on behalf their supporters in a statewide organic, decentralized ways. of their cause. This is easier effort to pass the Trust Act, a As a consequence, today’s today than ever before, as new California bill that has changed social movements are more technologies make connect- federal enforcement practices emergent—and less dependent ing and sharing information around immigrant detention on charismatic personalities. faster and less expensive. The and deportation. By co-spon- Part of the work of the Pioneers Pioneers have also explored soring the bill—and mobiliz- has been exploring how to specific ways to engage par- ing a strong network of allies leverage social media and social ticular demographic groups. to advocate in its favor—the networks to better understand The ACLU-NC, for example, Pioneers successfully sparked a the systems they operate within has made engaging Latinos movement that led to ground- and to accelerate their impact. an important priority. The breaking policy change. Pioneers have also expanded their reach by entering new geographical markets where they have historically been un- derrepresented, or by staying local and “going deep” in their hometown communities. 137

4 5 6 FIND UNLIKELY USE REAL STORIES THE WHOLE IS ALLIES AND BUILD TO LIGHT GREATER THAN BRIDGES. UP CAMPAIGNS. THE SUM. To build larger movements, the The Pioneers have learned that When all of these actions are Pioneers have had to simultane- telling stories can be a more taken together, the beauty of ously understand their place in effective tool for persuading movement building is that the a larger ecosystem of players others to support a cause or whole can be greater than the and identify and reach out to movement than mere statistics sum of the parts. The ACLU in likely and unlikely allies. In and abstract arguments alone. particular has run a number of other cases, they have worked They now seek to lift up stories different experiments designed to build bridges across different of individuals whose lives have to help them engage new and di- players within a movement, been impacted by political verse audiences. Together, the such as the convening on im- or social changes—and are Pioneers have also collaborated migration reform that brought increasingly lifting up their on shared or intersecting issues together two groups—funders own stories as immigrants and such as immigrants rights, and activists—that rarely work minority leaders in service of where combining forces has together. their movements. helped them all to have greater impact. 8 Looking Back, Looking Forward Looking Back, Looking Forward Immigration reform was one of the intersectional issues that the Pioneers chose to tackle as a group, bringing all of their organizations together to support young Dreamers, like those pictured here, and to help pass the Trust Act legislation. 141

WHEN THE LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION LAUNCHED THE PIONEERS IN JUSTICE PROGRAM THREE YEARS AGO, IT WAS clear on its intent: to create a breakthrough home- continue to support these leaders in the future. town strategy that would exemplify the company’s Rather, lsf wants to deepen current efforts to values, innovate new approaches to grantmaking, transfer the lessons of this work to the larger contribute significantly to local social justice non- social justice and philanthropy fields. It will profits and next-generation leaders, and help pave also seek to apply what it has learned to other a pathway for other philanthropists seeking new areas of its grantmaking. “We are extending this ways to leverage their assets in pursuit of greater networked way of working to our hiv and aids impact. In short—and true to the program’s portfolio, convening grantees doing that work title—lsf’s approach was pioneering. and building a community for peer-to-peer learn- While the program is still ongoing, by all ac- ing and collaboration, both online and offline,” counts it has already been a success. Even outside says lsf president Bob Haas. leaders in the field look to lsf and this program as With three years down and two years to go, an example of what could be possible for philan- how has the program done against its aspira- thropy. Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the tions? Measuring the achievements of an National Center for Responsive Philanthropy, emergent “work in progress” is difficult; so is says that in 2013, his group recognized lsf as the attributing causality in a dynamic system where top corporate foundation in the country because many variables are constantly at play. “When an of the Pioneers in Justice program. “It’s innova- initiative like Pioneers invests in organizations tive, it trusts and invests in people in communi- to learn, absorb, and apply new concepts, where ties, it recognizes the importance of relationships do you draw the line between what the impact of across organizations, and it says to people, ‘We’re that program was and what would have happened in this for the long haul with you,’” explains anyway?” says Pioneer Abdi Soltani. “In a way, Dorfman. “That’s just not the message that most I feel the program has equipped me, and our orga- funders are delivering to their grantees these nization, with resources and thinking that infuse days. But if we’re really going to change power the entirety of what we do.” dynamics in society, it takes these longer-term, Some aspects of the pij program, such as so- trusting relationships.” cial media progress, can and have been measured At the time of this report, the Levi Strauss more thoroughly. But other aspects have not been Foundation’s plan is not to extend or expand the measured at all, or are difficult to quantify. In current Pioneer cohort after the five-year grant fact, leadership and capacity-building programs ends, though it is exploring other ways it can are notoriously difficult to evaluate because they 142

are “soft” in nature, and don’t But we can point to “leading and outcomes of the Pioneers always provide easily quantifi- indicators” of success: tangible in Justice program to date. able outcomes. Linda Wood, ways in which the program has While more concrete details of senior director at the Evelyn produced significant outcomes each can be found throughout & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and at multiple levels, even if the ul- the narrative chapters, below an expert on funding leader- timate “impact” of the program we’ve attempted to summarize ship development, says that may not be known for years or the program’s impact and the foundations often have a hard even decades. “ripples” it continues to make time investing in leadership Here, then, is the evidence in different layers of complex precisely because it is so dif- we have to share of the outputs social systems. ficult to evaluate. But, she adds, it’s not impossible. “We studied our grantees and found that budgets had grown, and that EMERGING EVIDENCE OF OUTCOMES those who had made the most progress on their leadership goals had also made the most gains in strategic goals. They’re Social Media surprising that this is where the closely linked.” & Technology Pioneers have shown the most While this report is meant Use progress to date. Additionally, to share emerging lessons of because of lsf’s partnership this program, it is not intended This is the easiest aspect of the with ZeroDivide, the Pioneers to be an evaluation. In fact, the program to measure, both be- have had external assessment Pioneers in Justice program has cause it is the most concrete and in this area as well. (ZeroDivide not been evaluated by an exter- because there are known metrics completed a baseline assess- nal third party—though the and methods for gauging suc- ment in 2010 and a midpoint individual Pioneers have had to cess (e.g., number of followers, assessment in 2013). Below is a write subjective grant reports webpage visits, etc.). This is also quick summary of the program’s documenting the program’s the area of the program where documented outcomes in terms impact on themselves and their lsf invested the most heavily of technological capacity and organizations throughout. in the first few years, so it is not the ability of the Pioneers to ef- 143

fectively leverage social media to the 2010 Pioneers in this regard,” strategic in their narrative meet their goals: noted ZeroDivide in its 2013 approach. They have harnessed midpoint program assessment. the power of communicat- IT INFRASTRUCTURE: All of the ing their messages through Pioneers point to basic infra- ONLINE PRESENCE: All of the individual stories and pictures structure upgrades—from organizations have ampli- rather than just data and facts. investments in hardware or fied their use of social media “Across the board, the leaders software to training staff on and increased their Facebook and their organizations have how to use technology more and Twitter followers. They a…more strategic outlook on effectively. In an internal report publish videos on YouTube and how social media can be used to their board in October 2013, make use of other online tools to build awareness and support lsf staff wrote, “Technology such as Instagram. While they the issues they care about,” ac- infrastructure is the back- may not yet be best-in-class cording to lsf staff. bone of an organization and in terms of their social media the group has undergone a use, each nonprofit has made CULTURAL SHIFT: Becoming a transformative change in this real progress. “Their increased networked nonprofit that relies of area. They are also seeing the online presence uses compel- social media as a core communi- importance of mobile technol- ling media, like infographics cations strategy means commit- ogy and accessibility for their and video storytelling, on their ting to increased transparency, stakeholders and taking steps websites, blogs, and social shared ownership, working in real to implement this.” media sites,” noted ZeroDivide time, and rapidly prototyping in its midpoint assessment. to learn. Says Pioneer Vincent SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES: When “They have also recognized the Pan, “I better understand and the Pioneers program began, power of data and invested in am more comfortable with social none of the Pioneer organiza- analyzing website and social media now, how it is continuing tions had a social media policy in media metrics to better inform to change, and the implications it place. Now, they all do. Addition- strategic efforts.” raises for our work.” As a result of ally, they have expanded and this shift, “communications staff democratized the use of social STORYTELLING: The Pioneers are not the sole arbiters of social media among staff and volun- have improved their ability media work, but rather they now teers. “They look nothing like to tell stories, and to be more leverage their content experts as 144

thought leaders and social net- ship has been significant. They ticularly given the daunting workers on behalf of the organiza- point to the following outcomes: challenges they were facing. tion,” according to lsf staff. But they have all said that being TIME FOR REFLECTION AND part of the pij cohort has given LEARNING: The Pioneers all them both greater support and Leadership say that the program has given greater courage to do their work Development them the time and space to as leaders. “We helped create Documenting the impact of step back from their day-to-day opportunities for collaboration the program on the Pioneers as work in the trenches in order to so the Pioneers would not feel leaders—and the development reflect and learn. It has given isolated, so they could share of leadership across their orga- them opportunities to consider wins and feel like someone has nizations—is less concrete and what’s working, what’s not their back when challenges do more challenging to measure. working, and what they might arise,” says lsf trustee Jennifer It’s also hard to separate out do differently—and hence to Haas. how much “credit” the lsf pro- be more intentional, strategic, gram can take for the Pioneers’ and effective leaders. “The Pio- DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SKILLS development, given the many neers describe the program as AND MINDSETS: Most leadership other variables impacting their a ‘cherished’ space for learning development programs seek personal growth. Moreover, any and strategizing,” says former to help leaders develop new assessment of personal develop- lsf senior manager Merle skills, mindsets, and behaviors, ment is inherently subjective Lawrence. whether through peer learning, and self-reported (the Founda- expert presentations, train- tion has not collected 360 feed- PEER SUPPORT: One great ing, or on-the-job work. The back on the Pioneers, though benefit of a cohort model (or Pioneers in Justice program is that was done as part of the “community of practice”) is the no exception. Pioneers point Rockwood leadership program peer learning and peer support in particular to the new skills for developmental purposes it enables. As leaders of legacy they have developed around only—and not shared with organizations undergoing networking and collaboration. lsf). However, the Pioneers do transformation, the Pioneers Says Pioneer Vincent Pan, “I believe that the impact of the were at risk of feeling isolated have improved my ability to program on their own leader- and alone in their work—par- think and lead collaboratively.” 145

"WE HELPED CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION SO THE PIONEERS WOULD NOT FEEL ISOLATED, SO THEY COULD SHARE WINS AND FEEL LIKE SOMEONE HAS THEIR BACK WHEN CHALLENGES DO ARISE." JENNIFER HAAS, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION TRUSTEE

VOICE AND IDENTITY: Part of the Organizational effectively. Several Pioneers said individual journey of each of Change that the Rockwood program Pioneer has been learning to in which they all participated place themselves within a larg- As with leadership, document- had a positive impact on their er network and movement— ing the impact on the Pioneers’ relationships with specific board and share their power—while organizations is more abstract members who attended the simultaneously strengthening and challenging to measure retreat with them. their own identity and learn- than some other aspects of this ing to tell their own story. All program—and no formal as- SHARED LEADERSHIP: Many of of them are still working on sessment has been conducted of the Pioneers cultivated explicit this last point, but say they the program’s ability to create “shared leadership” models feel increasingly comfortable organizational change or build during the program, by setting sharing their own personal organizational capacity (other up a co-executive directorship experiences in service of the than social media capacity). (as Rho and Punongbayan did larger cause. However, the Pioneers do be- at Advancing Justice); sharing lieve that the program’s impact leadership more effectively RELATIONSHIPS AND NETWORKS: on their organizations has been with their board members and As with any network, the whole significant, particularly in the board chairs (Thomas Rapp at is greater than the sum of its following five areas: lccr); or via networks such as parts, and this is particularly Advancing Justice or aacre, true given the deep bonds the BOARD RELATIONSHIPS: Board where the lines between organi- Pioneers have formed with one development has not been a zations blur and issue leader- another. Through the program, strong focus of the Pioneers ship is more collectively shared. the Pioneers have expanded program, although it is a topic their professional and personal the Pioneers chose to discuss as a STAFF DEVELOPMENT: As networks, both online and cohort. In general, the Pioneers “bridges” between one genera- offline. Says Pan: “I now have credit their bimonthly conven- tion (Boomers) and the next stronger relationships with ings and outside experts with (Millennials), the Gen X Pio- leaders of other social justice helping them develop a deeper neers have been very explicit organizations that I deeply understanding of how to manage about working to cultivate respect and admire.” and work with their boards more next-generation leaders among 146

their staff and volunteers. No external networked structures networked ways, seeking to col- external evaluation has been for working and extending their laborate rather than compete conducted yet to assess or quan- organization’s impact beyond with peers, leveraging new tify the impact of this program its own four walls. technologies, and pursuing on the Pioneers’ staff. other opportunities to become more “networked” nonprofits. WORK-LIFE BALANCE: This Network Weaving This mindset has also extended generation of leaders explicitly Documenting the impact on the throughout their organiza- seeks to model a different kind Pioneers’ networks is some- tions, becoming part of the of work-life balance and find a what easier to measure than culture of how they work. more sustainable way of staying leadership or organizational in the field without burning development, in that there are SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE AND out. Again, no attempt has been concrete examples of collabora- RESOURCES: Not all of the Pio- made to assess the impact of this tions large and small that all of neers have pursued opportuni- value on actual hours worked, the Pioneers can point to as a ties to team up and formally or on staff morale and turnover, result of this program. (While share back-office infrastructure but anecdotal evidence suggests the Pioneers have learned about and resources (i.e., to create a that these nonprofits are now network mapping, they haven’t “backbone organization”). But more “balanced” and healthy used it as an evaluation tool in there are at least two examples places to work. this program.) They highlight of nonprofits doing so during the the following outcomes: course of the program: aacre STRUCTURE (CHAPTERS): Most (led by caa) and Advancing Jus- of the Pioneer organizations ei- NETWORK MINDSET: It’s hard tice, where some staff and other ther don’t have complex struc- to tell how much of a network resources are shared across tures or haven’t yet tackled mindset the Pioneers already multiple organizations. reforming them, but in the case had coming into the program of the aclu-nc, this has been a (seemingly it was fairly strong), SPECIFIC ISSUE-BASED big component of their organi- and how much of this shift can COLLABORATIONS: In addition to zational change agenda. Other be attributed to the program examples of sharing infrastruc- Pioneer organizations have fo- itself. But it is clear that all ture, there are all kinds of ways cused instead on creating more of them are working in very in which these Pioneers have 147

teamed up with one another trol of any single organization media and larger networks, in bilateral or multilateral or individual. However, there the Pioneers have helped pass collaborations—small and are some indicators that suggest the Trust Act and have formed large. Says Vincent Pan, “We the Pioneers are now much more a critical Bay Area “cluster” have embraced a new organiza- conscious of their role in build- within the larger network and tional vision that is focused on ing and scaling movements: movement that has been sweep- anchoring a larger network of ing the nation. individuals and groups.” SYSTEMS THINKING: All of the Pi- oneers say that the pij program EXPANSION OF A MEMBERSHIP helped them to think more BASE: All of the Pioneers Movement deeply and strategically about have succeeded in reaching Building the larger “system” around out to new constituents and Documenting the impact of the them, and to better understand expanding their base of sup- Pioneers in Justice program on where and how they fit into that porters, whether as volunteers, the building and spreading of system. In fact, they often talk activists, funders, or all of the movements is incredibly dif- about not seeing themselves above—in some cases reaching ficult. For one, movements by at the “center” of anything (an out to groups that historically definition involve many players, organizational-centric view), have not been known support- hence it’s nearly impossible but rather as actors within a ers of their issue. The best to separate out the role of the complex web of relationships, example of this is the aclu-nc, Pioneer organizations vis-à-vis where they are an important which has made a concerted many other groups. Secondly, part of a larger whole. effort to reach out to Latinos in movement building takes a California and to grow into new long time, and this program has IMMIGRATION REFORM: One geographies such as Fresno. only been going for three years, concrete example of joint- so long-term impact is not yet Pioneer movement building is INTERSECTIONAL ISSUES: Many evident. Lastly, the success of around immigration reform. of the Pioneers have sought movements is often a confluence Through their participation out opportunities to work on of organized actions and com- as thought leaders in this field, intersectional issues (areas of plex external political, social, or through organizational actions, overlap between different issue economic forces beyond the con- and through their use of social silos) with external partners, 148

sometimes even with “unlikely of issues. We have implemented Pioneers it has been support- allies.” Various examples of a new internal infrastructure ing—something that has made this were given in the narrative that will allow us to better sup- the learning all that more chapters. Says Pioneer Vincent port movement building.” personal and profound. Ex- Pan, “We have new experience ecutive director Daniel Lee is a addressing the interdependence Generation Xer, whereas Merle Lawrence, who just retired, is a Baby Boomer, and senior program associate Elizabeth IMPACT ON THE LEVI STRAUSS Ramirez is a Millennial. lsf’s board is also becoming FOUNDATION age diverse as the next genera- tion of the descendants of Levi By its own account, the Pio- The Evelyn & Walter Haas, Strauss begins to take up lead- neers in Justice program has Jr. Fund’s Linda Wood adds ership. “We are in the middle been a runaway success for that investing in leaders can be of a generational shift at the the Levi Strauss Foundation. a critical lever for social change. Levi Strauss Foundation,” says The organization has learned “In the private sector, long- trustee Jennifer Haas. “There a tremendous amount from term, intentional investment in have been tensions, just as there this experiment, lessons it now leadership is just what you do. are in the social justice field. wants to apply to other program But in our sector, it hasn’t been. It’s not about rejecting the past areas within the foundation Leaders don’t give themselves but bringing our own flavor to and to share more broadly with permission to invest in them- the work. Doing something the field. “Breaking down silos selves; it has traditionally been differently is not an inherent is the way of the future,” says seen as a ‘nice to have’ and not criticism of past—it’s about Aaron Dorfman of the National something that is central to the changing with the times.” Center for Responsive Philan- work,” she says. Most importantly, lsf thropy. “This is where the social Ironically, the Levi Strauss believes it has found a promis- justice field is and should be Foundation has been under- ing model for its grantmaking headed, and I wish [other] foun- going its own generational strategy going forward—and dations would catch up.” transition in parallel with the that networked grantmaking 149

"BREAKING DOWN SILOS IS THE WAY OF THE FUTURE. THIS IS WHERE THE SOCIAL JUSTICE FIELD IS AND SHOULD BE HEADED, AND I WISH [OTHER] FOUNDATIONS WOULD CATCH UP." AARON DORFMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE PHILANTHROPY

and “possibility grantmaking” a hard time doing that kind of from now is that the Bay Area are best practices for achiev- criticism of their own leader- is known as a leading place for ing greater social change. The ship or their own organization.” social justice philanthropy, foundation is just beginning to Next, lsf wants to spread and that the nonprofits doing apply what it is learning to other the impact of this program out- this work will become leaders areas of its work. For example, ward—both in the social justice of larger movements to create a at a recent international hiv/ field and in the larger field of more fair and inclusive society. aids conference, lsf convened philanthropy. “By supporting He hopes that some of the leading practitioners to share homegrown social change lead- Pioneers will be nationally rec- tools and experiences from the ers, we have the opportunity to ognized for their achievements Pioneers program that everyone extend the influence of the work (they have already been locally found valuable. lsf is also doing we do—and the work they do— recognized), and that their work this in two other focus areas: to the statewide and national will help extend the impact and improving the well-being of levels,” says lsf president Bob influence of the “San Francisco textile workers and helping low- Haas. His vision for 10 years model of social justice.” income people around the world build their savings. Foundation trustees and staff credit not just the program LESSONS LEARNED FOR FUNDERS but the Pioneers themselves for helping them learn and grow. Says Jennifer Haas, “The Pio- For funders wanting to do the neers in Justice is much more neers have been very transpar- systems-level work of invest- than a “program”—and it took ent and shared with us what the ing in leaders, networks, and a lot more than mere grants challenges have been and where movements, there are a few to pull it off. The Levi Strauss there have been missteps. That key summary lessons that the Foundation acted as a convener critical eye they bring to their Levi Strauss Foundation would of the group; provided space work has been very inspiring. I choose to share with the field: and created time for these think that speaks to a different leaders to build relationships; vision of leadership: the leader USE ALL THE TOOLS AT YOUR invested in building capacity that is in control of all things has DISPOSAL. Ultimately, Pio- by bringing in outside experts; 150

connected the Pioneers to networking and collaboration, instead. Many aspects of the pro- other external opportunities; and movement building could gram’s “design” were unknown and documented and captured help advance social justice 2.0 in advance and were developed knowledge to share with the goals. This was a decidedly in conjunction with the Pioneers field. As the lsf staff observed nonlinear approach that flew as the program evolved. All early on in the program in a in the face of more structured of this follows a process more board report: “Organizations and logical forms of grantmak- akin to “design thinking” than recognize the value of collabo- ing. But because they were traditional linear logic models: ration but are often stymied thinking about multiple levels empathizing with the Pioneers, by logistical barriers. lsf can of the complex social systems identifying current needs, remove these obstacles by these leaders work in, they were brainstorming ideas, prototyp- providing funding, dedicated able to identify many different ing potential solutions, and then time and space, guidance, and points of leverage where they continuing the cycle. As former coordination. With those ele- could intervene and support lsf senior manager Merle Law- ments in place, these partners the work. Ultimately, by rip- rence says: “This work is messy, can emerge as far greater than pling out from individuals to unpredictable, always changing, the sum total of each part.” In organizations, networks, move- and also incredibly rewarding.” fact, five years ago, 85 percent ments, and fields, they have had of program managers’ time far more impact than had they CO-CREATE WITH YOUR GRANTEES. was spent on grantmaking. It is targeted one level of the system The foundation deliberately now down to 50 percent, with in isolation. changed the power dynamic the remainder being dedicated between itself and its grantees. to supporting these kinds of LET GO OF CONTROL AND EMBRACE Rather than claiming a higher capacity-building programs. EMERGENCE. lsf staff learned status, or doing things “to” that this work is nothing if not their grantees, lsf did things INVEST IN MANY LAYERS OF THE messy. It is also constantly “with” grantees instead. By “SYSTEM.” From the outset, lsf changing. For example, they participating authentically in had a hypothesis about how didn’t anticipate multiple execu- Pioneers’ conversations, build- investing simultaneously in so- tive leadership transitions at the ing trusted relationships with cial media, leadership develop- Pioneer organizations but had them as individuals indepen- ment, organizational change, to deal with them in real time dent of institutional identities, 151

"BY SUPPORTING HOMEGROWN SOCIAL CHANGE LEADERS, WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXTEND THE INFLUENCE OF THE WORK WE DO-AND THE WORK THEY DO-TO THE STATEWIDE AND NATIONAL LEVELS." BOB HAAS, PRESIDENT, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

asking them to help design come in and share knowledge that this is a necessary ingredi- sessions, and being transparent, with the Pioneers. “It is more ent to breakthrough forms of lsf was able to develop a near- effective to partner with collaboration,” Merle Lawrence peer relationship with the Pio- outside experts and thought reported to the lsf trustees. neers. lsf’s Lawrence summed leaders to develop convening “They see their engagement it up this way: “Co-creation is agendas, facilitate sessions, with the foundation as ‘refresh- a participatory process where and organize follow-up activi- ingly honest’ and ‘value- shared values ground our work ties,” wrote the lsf staff in a adding’ to their organizations together; we agree on a common memo to the board. “In social and movements.” Additionally, set of goals and outcomes and justice philanthropy, long- creating structured time and participants have both owner- term investment strategies to space for relationship building ship of and accountability for address seemingly intractable was a critical component of the success. We take responsibility social problems force the issue program. As Jennifer Haas puts for our own learning. Transpar- of partnership for a founda- it, “I think that having struc- ency and trust are critical, and tion used to doing it alone. A tured, scheduled collaboration everyone attends and is fully foundation that practices social time was important—versus present and engaged.” justice philanthropy ‘walks the saying, ‘You need to collabo- talk’ by developing strategic rate’ but then not creating the INVOLVE PARTNERS IN YOUR WORK. partnerships with funders and space, structure, or facilitation In addition to co-creating with encouraging grantees to do the for it to happen.” the Pioneers, lsf also relied same.” on several outside partners to SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS. provide different dimensions BUILD TRUSTED RELATIONSHIPS. One important caveat that of the program. ZeroDivide lsf learned, as many others points to some of the more chal- was a trusted partner on the have before, that trust—and lenging lessons of this program: social media front, providing authentic relationships—are it’s important to understand assessments, training, capacity the lifeblood of networks. what social media can and can’t building, and coaching for the “Over the past year, substantial do, and what its limitations are. Pioneers. In addition, lsf had trust has been built—both “Despite all of our investment, a number of external facilita- with and among the Pioneers nothing has gone viral,” says tors and subject matter experts cohort—and experts concur Lawrence. “But we’ve learned 152

this isn’t the only measure of change demands regular reflec- of capacity-building funding social media success. Make tion and strategy revision; this was deliberately structured peace with these realities but places learning at the center of a to support sustainability of don’t limit yourself because of foundation’s work. The result- gains made past the five-year them.” Adjusting your expecta- ing ‘social justice laboratory’ timeline. But one thing is tions is critical in this regard. for board and staff helps them clear at the midway point: the When it became clear that the learn how to partner effectively impact is only just now being shared online platform that lsf for change and offers a platform observed. It takes time to build had created for the Pioneers for external sharing and cross- these capacities and transform wasn’t getting used—perhaps fertilization of ideas,” wrote organizations, to build trusted because the cohort was so small Lawrence in a midpoint report. relationships and networks, and people preferred to connect She adds that the foundation and to build strong movements. directly rather than via a “por- also built in a lot of documenta- “Any meaningful change re- tal”—they scrapped it. tion of this learning through- quires sustained commitment,” out, making it easier to capture says Bob Haas—not just among LEARN AS YOU GO. The gap lessons learned. grantees but by the grantmaker between theory and practice as well. Adds Merle Lawrence: is wide in this emerging space, PROVIDE PATIENT CAPITAL. It “There are no turnkey ap- and the use of social media for takes patience and time to real- proaches to spur immediate social justice goals has not yet ize impact. lsf took a five-year results.” been deeply explored. Success timeframe from the outset and stories of legacy organiza- provided “patient capital” to tions working on long-term, invest in the larger process of complex policy change have, organizational and systems for the most part, not been well change. It’s unclear if the work documented. This represents will be “done” by the end of the an opportunity for lsf to take fifth year, or exactly how lsf a leadership position by codify- will continue to support these ing and transferring key lessons leaders and their organizations for nonprofits and foundations. and movements beyond that “Driving a cycle of long-term timeframe. lsf’s final round 153 Behind the Book Behind the Book 156

THE PIONEERS

ARCELIA HURTADO body that hears appeals relating to a wide range of Policy Advisor city determinations. National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) Hurtado has also devoted a substantial por- tion of her time to community service, serving on the volunteer boards of various professional, Arcelia Hurtado was raised in the Lower Rio nonprofit, and philanthropic organizations Grande Valley of South Texas by Mexican im- such as Women Defenders, San Francisco La migrant parents who taught her the core values Raza Lawyers Association, Our Family Coali- that guide her work: commitment to public tion, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, service and working tirelessly for social change. the Tides Foundation Advocacy Fund, and Bay She received her undergraduate and law degrees Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom. She is the from the University of California at Berkeley in founder of the Women Defenders Fellowship, 1993 and 1997, respectively. Her legal career has which supports law students pursuing careers in been devoted to providing legal representation to indigent criminal defense. She has also taught those who would not otherwise have access to it. constitutional law, criminal law, and criminal Prior to joining nclr, Hurtado served as procedure at several Bay Area law schools. In executive director of Equal Rights Advocates, a 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle named her a national women’s rights advocacy organization. “Bay Area Changemaker.” She has also worked with numerous community- Hurtado is a frequent speaker at the national based organizations to secure the rights of level on civil rights issues and women’s rights in working class and indigent people in the fields of particular. She writes for The Huffington Post and employment, housing, criminal defense, and im- has published several articles on race/ethnicity, migration. As a trial lawyer, she has litigated more education, and feminist theory. than a dozen jury trials representing juveniles and adults accused of misdemeanors and felonies. As an appellate lawyer, she has represented people on the national center for lesbian rights death row. She has argued cases before numerous (www.nclrights.org), founded in 1977, is a national courts, including the California Supreme Court. legal organization committed to advancing the civil In 2012, San Francisco Board of Supervisors and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans- President David Chiu appointed her to the Board gender people and their families through litigation, of Appeals, a voluntary quasi-judicial five-person public policy advocacy, and public education. 157

VINCENT PAN and other publications. He is a former winner of Executive Director the Do Something Brick Award for community Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) leadership and has been a fellow with the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University, the Echoing Green Foundation, and the Stride Rite Vincent Pan is a progressive leader on issues of Foundation. racial justice and social change. The require- ments of leadership, in his view, demand not only running effective organizations and campaigns chinese for affirmative action (www. but also working across boundaries to make the caasf.org ) was founded in 1969 to protect the civil whole of social justice efforts greater than the and political rights of Chinese Americans and sum of their parts. Whether reforming immigra- to advance multiracial democracy in the United tion laws or fixing the criminal justice system, States. caa is a progressive voice in and on behalf promoting language access or increasing civic of the broader Asian and Pacific American com- participation, Pan believes campaigns must be munity, advocating for systemic change that aggressive and visible, while also connecting protects immigrant rights, promotes language people with shared values such as compassion, diversity, and remedies racial injustice. inclusion, and equity. To create a world that works for everyone, he advocates a holistic approach that simultaneously changes laws as well as hearts CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN and minds. Co-Executive Director Prior to joining Chinese for Affirmative -Ac Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian tion in 2006, Pan was a consultant to the William Law Caucus J. Clinton Foundation, where he helped start treatment programs for children living with hiv/ Chris Punongbayan doesn’t want to be your men- aids in China. Before that he co-founded and tor. He wants to be your comrade. directed Heads Up, a nonprofit organization It’s a leadership style he learned shortly after that runs after-school and summer programs college from the executive director of the Audre for low-income children in Washington, DC. Lorde Project, Joo-Hyun Kang, who invited him Vincent’s work with Heads Up was profiled by to sit on her board. When Punongbayan expressed The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, his gratitude using the “m” word, Joo-Hyun re- 158

plied, “I’m not your mentor. We are comrades.” vice-chair of the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Those simple words made Punongbayan feel Commission. that despite his youth, his contributions were highly and equally valued. Now, more than a decade later, he believes that it is his responsi- asian americans advancing justice- bility to bring new voices into the social justice asian law caucus (www.advancingjustice-alc. movement, learn from them, and build ownership org) based in San Francisco, is the nation’s oldest with them. organization advocating for the civil and legal His collaborative style over four years rights of Asians and Pacific Islanders. Its mission as deputy director of Advancing Justice led is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and executive director Hyeon-Ju Rho to invite him civil rights of these communities, with a focus on to share leadership of the organization in 2013. addressing the needs of low-income, immigrant, Their cooperative approach has increased their and underserved individuals. In addition to sup- organization’s reach and visibility with external porting clients with legal expertise, Advancing stakeholders, and also allowed a healthy family Justice seeks to bring together elements of policy life for both co-executive directors. advocacy and community organizing so that Chris oversees Advancing Justice’s programs through one person’s individual struggle it is able and is responsible for managing relationships with to achieve broader results for the community. local, state, and national civil rights organizations. He has been involved in grassroots activism in the Asian American, immigrant worker, and lgbtq HYEON-JU RHO communities on both coasts of the country for Co-Executive Director more than a decade, and his vision of social justice Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian is grounded in the realities of those communities. Law Caucus) After graduating from Brown University and UCLA Law School, Chris worked as a Ford Foundation New Voices Fellow with Filipino In her sophomore year of college, Hyeon-Ju Rho Advocates for Justice in Oakland, before joining got her political awakening. the Positive Resource Center in San Francisco as Not only did she discover that her class on a staff attorney, representing clients living with race, ethnicity, and public policy contained noth- disabilities. From 2006 to 2008, he also served as ing about Asian Americans, but the professor 159

declined her offer to help source appropriate materials, saying that Asian Americans were not as this book went to press, Hyeon-Ju Rho “statistically significant enough” to be included. announced that she was stepping down as Ad- Rho disagreed, and negotiated with other vancing Justice’s co-executive director and mov- students to develop their own, credit-granting ing to Los Angeles with her family. Beginning in class. She has fought for inclusion, equality, and June 2014. Chris Punongbayan will become the justice ever since. organization’s sole executive director. For more After graduating from New York University on Punongbayan and Advancing Justice, see Law School, Rho was a trial attorney in the civil previous page. rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program. She then practiced poverty law as a staff attorney ABDI SOLTANI at the Urban Justice Center in New York City Executive Director before spending six years in China consulting for American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California the Ford Foundation and heading up the American (ACLU-NC) Bar Association’s Rule of Law initiative. When she took the position of executive direc- Abdi Soltani represents a new generation of pub- tor of Advancing Justice in 2011, Rho returned lic interest leaders in California. Having worked to the organization where she had spent her first his entire career in Northern California, he summer internship as a law student. In 2013, she understands its diverse communities, geographic presided over an organizational name change idiosyncrasies, political dynamics, and key play- and affiliation with three other organizations, in ers. A card-carrying member of the aclu for effect quadrupling the reach of her team’s work many years, he became executive director of the and ensuring a strong, national Asian American Northern California affiliate in 2009. Previously, voice in the civil rights movement. “A movement he served as executive director at Californians for can’t be dependent on a single organization, and Justice, the Campaign for College Opportunity, an organization can’t be dependent on a single and parsa Community Foundation. individual,” she says. Her commitment to the lat- Soltani’s passion for freedom of speech and ter principle came to fruition in June of 2013, when constitutional protections is intensely personal she and former deputy director Chris Punongbay- as well as political. As a child in Iran, his early an assumed co-leadership of Advancing Justice. experiences were shaped by government abuse 160

of power before and after the Iranian Revolution. ity and constant self-improvement. He has extensive experience leading social justice In collaboration with lccr staff, board campaigns related to statewide policy and ballot members, and constituent communities, she has initiatives. As a leader in the “No on 54” cam- worked to continue to broaden the scope and rel- paign in 2003, he helped defeat a proposition that evance of her organization’s triple-barreled work would have weakened racial equality by barring as direct service providers, impact litigators, and state and local government agencies from col- advocates in the areas of racial, economic, and lecting vital data on Californians’ race, ethnicity, immigrant justice. color, or national origin. Thomas Rapp considers herself uniquely Soltani was awarded the John Gardner Public positioned to “hold the tension” between lccr’s Service Fellowship in 1995 and the Gerbode nonprofit staff, constituents, and corporate pro Foundation Fellowship in 2002. He serves on the bono attorneys because of her experience in the board of Public Advocates, a legal advocacy orga- public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Before nization, and is a graduate of Stanford University. joining lccr, she served as lead deputy counsel for the County of Santa Clara and as legal counsel to the Santa Clara County Office of Education and the american civil liberties union of various school districts. Before her public service, northern california (www.aclunc.org ) is she was the director of law and public policy for the country’s largest ACLU affiliate. In 2009, the Equal Justice Society. Before and after law it celebrated its 75th anniversary as a leader in school, she worked in the private sector, conduct- defending and advancing the civil rights and civil ing investigations and trainings on workplace liberties of all Californians. discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual harassment, and issues of hours and wages. Throughout her career, Thomas Rapp has KIMBERLY THOMAS RAPP been motivated by her grandparents, who grew Executive Director, up picking cotton in Texas and encouraged her to Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) take advantage of every opportunity that came her way, from undergraduate studies at Berkeley Kimberly Thomas Rapp is working to build an to Stanford Law School. “To this day, it almost organization and a movement that never sits on brings me to tears to think of my grandmother its laurels. The key to success, she believes, is agil- signing her name,” she says. “It was a concentrat- 161

ed, laborious effort. The barriers that existed for grew into an organization with a $1.2 million her, they still exist to varying degrees today.” budget, serving 3,500 women per year. In 2009, Simon became executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights the lawyers’ committee for civil rights (lccr), leading the organization through its (www.lccr.com), founded in 1968, works to first strategic planning process in more than 10 advance, protect, and promote the legal rights of years and refocusing its place- and community- communities of color, low-income persons, im- based efforts to advance racial and immigrant migrants, and refugees. Assisted by hundreds of justice. In her role as a non-lawyer running a legal pro bono attorneys, the Lawyers’ Committee pro- organization, Simon saw her job as “making the vides free legal assistance and representation to silos disappear between the folks who speak the individuals on civil legal matters through direct language of the law and the folks on the outside, services, impact litigation, and policy advocacy. needing and wanting the change to happen.” Prior to lccr, she served as head of the Reentry Services Division of the San Francisco LATEEFAH SIMON District Attorney’s Office, helping to launch and Director, California's Future Program, lead programs designed to prevent former offend- Rosenberg Foundation; Former Executive Director, ers from returning to a life of crime. Since 2011, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) Simon has served as director of the California’s Future Program at the Rosenberg Foundation, a Born and raised by a single mother in San strategic effort to change the odds for women and Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood, children in the state. Lateefah Simon has advocated tirelessly on behalf A nationally recognized advocate for juvenile of communities of color, youth, and women since and criminal justice reform, Simon is the recipi- her teenage years. She discovered her life passion ent of numerous honors, including a MacArthur early, when at 15 she joined the Center for Young “Genius” Fellowship, the Jefferson Award for Women’s Development, working to provide extraordinary public service, and the State As- homeless, low-income, and incarcerated young sembly’s “California Woman of the Year.” women with the tools they need to transform and rebuild their lives. By the age of 19, she was execu- tive director. Under her 11-year tenure, the center 162

path in international public interest lawyering TITI LIU and serves as a resource for leading practitioners Director of International Public Interest Initiatives, in the field, with a focus on transitional societies. Stanford Law School's Levin Center; Prior to joining Advancing Justice, Liu was the Former Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Garvey Schubert Barer Visiting Professor of Law Justice-Asian Law Caucus at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she studied the role of public interest litigation in The week that Titi Liu graduated from high social movements in Asia. A graduate of Harvard school, pro-democracy protesters descended on Law School, she worked for seven years in the Tiananmen Square. Several hundred people— Ford Foundation’s Beijing office supporting the possibly thousands—died, but some were grant- development of nongovernmental organizations ed asylum in the United States. Liu met them, just and leading human rights initiatives in China. a few months later, when she started college. The She also consulted to the U.S. State Department experience influenced her entire career work- and the U.S. Agency for International Develop- ing to advance domestic and international social ment and has published extensively in the U.S. justice issues. and China on the relationship between litigation Liu sees leadership as having the courage and social change. to stand up and say that what's happening is unacceptable—not only because it is impacting oneself but also because it is impacting other indi- viduals and other communities. In her work with Advancing Justice, she sought to bring different communities together to build understanding of what they have at stake and in common and to build durable alliances that promote multiracial democracy. In 2011, Liu left Advancing Justice to become the director of international public interest initiatives at Stanford Law School’s Levin Center, where she develops and implements programs that support students who are pursuing a career 163 164

LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION CORE TEAM

Merle Lawrence organizations in the fields of human rights, hiv/ Former Senior Manager, U .S . aids, and social justice. He served as senior pro- gram officer for Asia and Pacific at the Interna- Merle Lawrence joined Levi Strauss & Co. in tional Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commis- December 1991, bringing more than 15 years sion (iglhrc) and on the founding board of the of experience in strategic planning, program Massachusetts Asian aids Prevention Project. management, and research and evaluation in Currently, he serves on the boards of Funders local, statewide, and national nonprofit organi- Concerned about aids (fcaa), the Council on zations. Until her retirement in 2013, she was a Foundations, and the National Committee on senior manager with the Levi Strauss Founda- Responsive Philanthropy. Lee is also an advisory tion, responsible for developing and managing board member of the Astraea Foundation and a strategic grantmaking and special initiatives member of the Asia-Oceania Advisory Council in the United States. During her tenure with of the Global Fund for Women. He holds an ab Levi Strauss & Co., Lawrence managed numer- (magna cum laude) in religion and history from ous programs, including Community Affairs, Princeton University and an ma in divinity from Employee Volunteerism, Cause Branding, and Harvard University. Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives. She holds a ba in liberal studies from the University of Connecticut and an msw from San Francisco Elizabeth Ramirez State University. Senior Program Associate

Elizabeth Ramirez joined lsf in September Daniel Jae-Won Lee 2010. She began her career at the United Nations Executive Director Foundation as board relations intern, progress- ing to executive office senior associate. At the un Daniel Lee joined Levi Strauss in 2003 as com- Foundation, she worked directly with senior staff munity affairs manager for the Asia Pacific Divi- and the board of directors to address some of the sion in Singapore, and subsequently relocated to world's most pressing issues, including global San Francisco to assume the role of director of public health policy, climate change, and sustain- global grantmaking programs. Lee has extensive able development. Ramirez then moved on to the experience with international nongovernmental Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization 165

AUTHORS & CONTRIBUTORS

Fund (gavi Fund) as special giving and opera- Heather McLeod Grant tions associate, where she built relationships with Lead Author untapped constituencies to broaden awareness of gavi and developed new fundraising mecha- Heather McLeod Grant is founder and ceo of nisms in partnership with for-profit corpora- McLeod-Grant Advisors and a published author, tions. Ramirez currently serves as treasurer of speaker, and consultant with more than 20 years of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy’s Bay experience in the social sector. Her current work Area chapter and as inaugural co-chair of the focuses on creating transformative leadership and Full Circle Fund Rising Leaders. She graduated networks for social change. She is the managing magna cum laude from George Washington director of the Irvine New Leadership Network in University-Elliott School of International Affairs the San Joaquin Valley and works with foundation with concentrations in conflict and security and and nonprofit clients throughout California. She is Latin American studies. co-author of the bestselling book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, named a “top 10” book by The Economist (2nd edition 2012), and numerous articles, including “Working Wikily: Social Change with a Network Mindset” and “Transformer: How to Build a Network to Change a System.” Most recently, she worked at Monitor Institute for nearly five years, where she helped lead their nonprofit practice area. McLeod Grant currently serves on the boards of Fuse Corp and Jacaranda Health and chairs the Woodside Elementary School Bond Campaign. She is a mem- ber of sv2, the Women’s Information Network at Stanford gsb, and was previously an advisor to the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the National Civic League. Originally from Fresno, California, she holds an mba from Stanford and an ab from Harvard, and resides in the Bay Area with her husband and daughter. 166

Amanda Bower Jenny Johnston Researcher & Writer Writer & Editor

Amanda Bower has been a writer long enough Jenny Johnson is a writer and editor based in San to remember typewriters and compositors, and Francisco. Part journalist, part anthropologist, nowhere near long enough to be bored by meeting she is an expert in helping organizations and new people and learning new things. As a journal- individuals find innovative and “sticky” ways ist, she filed stories from datelines in Australia, to communicate their visions and their stories. North America, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, Her recent projects include writing provocative and interviewed a broad spectrum of people, from scenarios for a leading U.S. art museum to help the Dalai Lama and Bill Gates to hypnobirthers determine its future direction; helping the San and wounded soldiers. Bower started out as a local Francisco Unified School District articulate its reporter for a weekly newspaper in Perth, Austra- vision for the future of public education; and lia, before winning a Fulbright and moving to New serving as developmental editor on the books York City to get her ma in journalism from Co- Moments of Impact: How to Design Strategic lumbia University. She graduated first in her class Conversations That Accelerate Change (Simon and won a Pulitzer traveling fellowship, which & Schuster, February 2014) and Rejection Proof she used to spend time in Vietnam and Cambodia (Crown Books, May 2015). writing about public health efforts around hiv/ Previously, Johnston served as senior editor aids, as well as human sexual trafficking. She also at Global Business Network, a Bay Area-based served as the New York correspondent for Time. scenario planning consultancy and futurist think In 2012, she shifted from newspaper and tank, where she shepherded an ever-changing magazine journalism to advocacy storytelling: range of publications and presentations from writing and producing multimedia content exclu- concept to completion and ran modules on “stra- sively for nonprofit and social impact organiza- tegic storytelling” for clients and coworkers. Also tions. Her current work includes heading up a freelance journalist, her articles have appeared communications for the Equality + Opportunity in numerous national publications. She holds an Foundation’s new startup housing initiative in AB (magna cum laude) in cultural anthropology India and Bangladesh, DomoGeo. Bower lives in from Princeton University, an MA in the same the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and from UC Boulder, and an MS in journalism from two young sons. Boston University. 167

Patrick Mitchell Designer

Patrick Mitchell is founder and creative director of Modus Operandi Design/US (www.ModusOp.net), a firm specializing in editorial branding and design. Mitchell was the founding creative director at Fast Company, where he was a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award (and four-time finalist), as well as winner of the Society of Pub- lication Designers Magazine of the Year award (and a 4-time finalist). He is also a former creative director of Hearst’s O: The Oprah Magazine, Boston Magazine, and Nylon, where he was again named a finalist for the National Magazine Award for design. Mitchell was awarded Launch Creative Director of the Year by Media Industry News for his work on Success Magazine, and while at Fast Company was named to the Folio: 40, which rec- ognizes “the magazine industry’s most influen- tial leaders and innovators.” His work has been recognized by the AIGA, The Art Directors’ Club of New York, Graphis, Communication Arts, Folio, and Print Magazine. He currently resides on Cape Ann (www. TheOtherCape.com), just north of Boston, with his wife and sons. "Our sense of purpose was to be the first movers in helping take these (social justice) organizations to a 2.0 level. We wanted to fire on every cylinder and try everything we could." DANIEL LEE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LEVI STRAUSS FOUNDATION

{about Pioneers in Justice}

¶ The social justice sector is at a critical inflection point—a moment when many of its fundamental assumptions and old ways of operating are being challenged. The leadership of legacy social justice organizations is transferring from Baby Boomers to a new cadre of ethnically diverse Gen Xers with deep connections to their communities and new perspectives on how to lead the field to greater impact. There is also a growing recognition that new tactics, tools, and strategies are needed to strengthen a sector that is still largely invested in “analog” and “siloed” ways of working—especially at a time when loosely organized groups of individuals can wield just as much influence as established nonprofits.

¶ In 2010, recognizing this shift and eager to experiment with new strategies for supporting the sector, the San Francisco-based Levi Strauss Foundation (lsf) launched a first-of-its-kind grantmaking program designed to help local social justice organizations amplify both their reach and their impact. Through its Pioneers in Justice program, lsf set out to support a cohort of Bay Area leaders, all of them Gen Xers, who had recently taken the helm of legacy social justice organizations and were charged with helping their nonprofits adapt to a rapidly changing world.

¶ This book shares many of the rich stories and lessons that emerged from the Pioneers in Justice program during its first three years, as these young leaders worked to scale their impact and build social movements through the power of social media and networked action. What they learned—and how they learned it—is something that everyone in the larger social sector should be curious to find out.