2023 is coming to a close, and we are once again grateful for the support and kindness of our community, the generosity of the Weir family and the opportunity to be of service to our grantees. Kudos to the team here: Chloe and Monet Weir, Bobby and Natascha Weir, Trevor and Gabriel Soule, Chris Desser, and the superb investment and accounting teams at Bailard and Golden State.
Out there in the world, we are cautiously optimistic. The year marked a post-pandemic resurgence of public attention to climate change; notably September’s March to End Fossil Fuels which turned out 75,000 demonstrators. And the United Auto Worker’s historic “Stand Up Strike” fused labor rights with the green transition, winning historic gains.
Following the October 7th Hamas attacks, the Gaza ceasefire movement erupted into the largest sustained foreign-policy protests in recent American history. And throughout the year—from Memphis, where Tyre Nichols was beaten to death on January 7th, to a Manhattan subway, where Jordan Neely was killed on May 1st—racial justice mobilizations reignited demands for police accountability.
It is worth noting that we are seeing a resurgence of protests. This makes sense. When the more familiar methods of bending the arc of history toward justice—including the ballot box, our influence over our elected officials, and our voice in the streets—prove ineffective, Americans will turn to the time-honored tradition of non-violent civil disobedience (as the demonstrators who disrupted golf tournaments, broadway, and art museums make clear). Their philosophy: “Disciplined, protracted nonviolent civil disobedience can create system-level change. Martin Luther King and Gandhi showed us the way.”
Our strategic focus included climate justice and environmental action. We backed youth activists globally through SustainUS and supported direct action groups like Climate Defiance, known for its high-profile actions drawing attention to the climate crisis. We also supported conservation through the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, and abortion rights through general operating support to the National Network of Abortion Funds. We also invested in expanding the electorate through groups like the New Era Colorado Education Fund and The New North Carolina Project Foundation, both dedicated to creating lifelong voters.
Locally, we supported organizations dedicated to community solutions, such as Oakland Communities United for Equity and Justice, which resists displacement, and The HomeMore Project, which delivers specialized backpacks with critical survival gear to the homeless community. We also backed leadership development for Girls of Color in the Bay Area through Cinnamon Girl and for aspiring music industry professionals through the UC Theater’s Concert Career Pathways program. In the arts, we funded cultural programming through the San Francisco International Arts Festival, Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage, and the Sweetwater Music Hall Arts Fund.
As ever, we’re grateful for your encouragement, suggestions, and support…
Andre Carothers, on behalf of the Board of the Furthur Foundation
