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Please click on a category below to view one of our featured items.
Documentaries
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Flow
This award-winning documentary investigates what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. Interviews with scientists and activists reveal the global and human face of this rapidly building crisis and introduces many of the culprits behind the water grab, while asking the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?"
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Reports
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UNTAPPED: How Community
Organizers Can Develop and Deepen Relationships with Major Donors
And Raise Big Money
This guide is a free, downloadable manual on reaching major donors
to tell them about community organizing! It is a crucial addition
to community organizing's fund development toolbox full of insights
and specific how-to's to engage long-term supporters.
View
Report » |
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Criteria for Philanthropy of
Its Best
This report is a set of measurable guidelines to help foundations
and other institutional grantmakers operate ethically and maximize
the impact of their dollars.
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Report » |
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Giving While Living
A comprehensive look at how the Beldon Fund handled the practical implications of putting the foundation on a spend-out course while seeking to accomplish an ambitious mission.
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Funding Social Movements
This report by the New World Foundation explores what Social Movements are and why they are critical to social change.
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Podcasts - SouthWest Organizing Project
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Part 1 - Community Organizing
In this interview, SWOP Executive
Director, Robby Rodriguez, sits down with Marjorie Fine, Director
of the Linchpin Campaign of the Center for Community Change to discuss
the organization's successes in community organizing.
Listen to Part 1 » |
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Part 2 - Organizational Development
SWOP Executive Director, Robby
Rodriguez, continues his conversation with Marjorie Fine, Director
of the Linchpin Campaign of the Center for Community Change to discuss
the organization's successes in organizational development.
Listen to Part 2 » |
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Videos
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Atlantic Philanthropies
Gara LaMarche, President and CEO of Atlantic Philanthropies speaks
about supporting advocacy for social justice as the best way to
achieve lasting social change. Atlantic believes in empowering
the people who need the change the most to advocate for a more
equitable and just world. Like FACT, Atlantic Philanthropies is
planning to completely spend down its assets and close its doors
within the next ten years.
View
video »
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West Virginia woman wins the Goldman
Environmental Prize
In the heart of Appalachia, where the coal industry wields enormous power over government and public opinion, lifelong resident Maria Gunnoe fights against environmentally-devastating mountaintop removal mining and valley fill operations. Her advocacy has led to the closure of mines in the region and stricter regulations for the industry.
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No Food Taxes!!
Tennessee's sales tax on groceries hurts low income families and costs Tennessee millions in lost revenue each year. This video by Tennesseans for Fair Taxation (TfT) describes the negative impacts of the stateÕs regressive food tax.
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Blasting on Coal River Mountain, as soon as TODAY!
In the face of an impending 6,600 acre mountaintop removal strip mine, activists fear blasting for the proposed site on Coal River Mountain, which rests beside a 6 billion-gallon toxic coal waste sludge dam above underground mines, could be catastrophic for the communities downstream.
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Victories
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CBE
and Richmond Communities Win Another Major Victory: Appeals Court
Upholds Case Against Chevron
In April, The California Court of Appeals upheld a lower court
decision that threw out an Environmental Impact Report that Chevron
Corp. used to justify plans to expand their Richmond, CA refinery.
The court stated that the EIR was "far from being an informative
document" because "the EIR's project description is
inconsistent and obscure as to whether the Project enables the
Refinery to process heavier crude." In a precedent-setting
decision the Court also found fault with the EIR for failing to
include specific, proven plans to mitigate a projected increase
in greenhouse gas emissions and for allowing Chevron itself to
come up with a mitigation plan later, outside the publicly involved
CEQA process. Additionally, the court cited the case CBE previously
won against ConocoPhillips stating that the "EIR completely
fails to properly establish, analyze, and consider an environmental
baseline."
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More »
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CBE Wins Court Victory
Protecting the Definition of Environmental Baseline Under CEQA
In a precedent-setting case in the California Supreme Court,
Communities for
a Better Environment (CBE) successfully challenged a definition
of what is an appropriate baseline against which to determine
whether an industrial project will adversely affect the environment.
The court unanimously ruled against the South Coast Air Quality
Management District (SCAQMD) in Los Angeles, finding that they
"abused their discretion" in determining that a new
industrial process at the ConocoPhillips refinery did not merit
a full Environmental Impact Review. SCAQMD had approved ConocoPhillips
to move forward with the production of ultra-low sulfur diesel
fuel based on a hypothetical emissions baseline, rather than actual
conditions. The court ruled that the proper baseline for consideration
of the impact of new emissions must be the actual current conditions.
This industrial process has been shown to dramatically increase
nitrogen-oxide emissions, creating smog that can result in asthma
and other respiratory illnesses. The case sets a precedent in
determining what constitutes a real baseline under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) which will impact future cases
and provides an important tool for communities working to protect
the health of their neighborhoods from corporations attempting
sideline environmental regulations.
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More »
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Victory for Hotel Workers Near LAX
LAANE recently won victories
in the fight for workers rights in the hotel district on Century
Blvd - the corridor leading to LAX. The end of 2008 saw the final
implementation of a living wage law that will provide an estimated
$12.3 million in wages and benefits to the families of 3,500 workers
through the end of 2012. Along with the living wage law, four
major hotels have since unionized including Westin, Four Points
Sheraton, Sheraton Gateway and most recently the Radisson LAX.
LAANE continues to work with a coalition of advocates for workers
rights and is pressuring Hilton LAX to join other hotels in allowing
its workers to unionize.
Learn
More »
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South Florida Workers Protected From Wage Theft
Low-wage and immigrant workers in south Florida are one step
closer to winning the battle against wage theft thanks to the
Florida Immigration
Coalition (FLIC), a FACT grantee who recently won the passage
of Miami-Dade County's wage theft ordinance. Wage theft takes
many forms including forcing workers to work off the clock, refusing
to pay overtime, shaving hours from time cards, paying less than
minimum wage, and outright refusing to pay for work performed.
This victory is a result of a two year struggle led by a task
force that FLIC facilitated-The South Florida Wage Theft Task
Force. This ordinance is a powerful piece of legislation that
prohibits wage theft and gives the county legal authority to help
recover back pay for workers who have been cheated.
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More »
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Oakland City Council
Approves Instant Runoff Voting; Oakland Rising to Begin Voter Education
In January 2010, the Oakland City Council finally approved Oakland
voters' decision to switch to a system of Instant Runoff Voting
(IRV), passed as Measure O in 2006 with 69 percent of the vote.
The new system of IRV, also known as Ranked Choice Voting will eliminate
the June primary election and save the city $800,000 per year after
its initial implementation. During the City Council meeting, over
70 community members signed up to speak on the agenda item, with
an overwhelming majority speaking in favor of IRV. Voices of support
included Esperanza Tervalon-Daumont, Director of Oakland
Rising who assured the Council that her organization would work
to educate Oakland voters to understand the new system when they
go to vote in November. "Oakland Rising is ready, we have been
ready and now we are waiting on you. We are waiting for City Council
members to show leadership." Tervalon-Daumont stated at the
meeting.
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Clean Trucks Program Continues at the San Pedro Bay Ports
In a victory for the movement led by organizations like FACT
grantee LAANE who are working
to push policy that would clean the air and create good green
jobs at our nation's ports, a U.S District judge denied a preliminary
injunction that would have threatened the San Pedro Bay Ports'
Clean Trucks Programs in Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA. This
was a critical test for the Clean Trucks Programs, which aims
to reduce diesel truck pollution by 80%, deliver $5 billion to
the regional economy, and create stronger safety and security
enforcement.
Learn
More »
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Articles
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Grassroots Efforts in Richmond
Read this article on the grassroots effort to stop the expansion
of Chevron's refinery in Richmond, CA.
View Article
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Why Spend Out
John Hunting, founder of the Beldon Fund talks about why he chose
to spend down the assets of the foundation in ten yearsÉ
View
Article » |
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Every Dollar Spent
When the office-equipment manufacturer Steelcase Furniture went public just over a decade ago, the deal supplied its major stockholder, John Hunting, with the financial muscle to endow his small foundation with $100-million.
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Featured Organizations
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The LA Alliance for
a New Economy (LAANE)
LAANE is a leading advocacy
organization based in southern California dedicated to building
a new economy that works for all. Combining dynamic research, innovative
public policy and the organizing of broad alliances, LAANE promotes
a new economic approach based on good jobs, thriving communities
and a healthy environment.
View The LAANE
Update » |
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The California Alliance
The California Alliance works toward a common progressive vision
through innovative public policy and civic participation strategies
for communities of color and low-income communities. The CA Alliance
is predominantly led by people of color and is comprised of 15 recognized
social justice, environmental justice and labor-affiliated organizations.
View The California
Alliance Update » |
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What's New
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President appoints San Diego environmental justice leader to Advisory Committee
President Obama appointed Environmental Health Coalition Executive Director Diane Takvorian to the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.
View Press Release » |
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