Letter from the Executive Director

Dear CCF Community,

I wanted to share important news on our fiscal sponsorship program (FSP).

As a movement-aligned FSP provider, Common Counsel Foundation (CCF) responded nimbly to the needs of movements as they popped up over the last few years, incubated and provided capacity for social justice organizations, and deepened and expanded their organizing and movement-building work. Our FSP services have provided the critical infrastructure to support Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), Color Congress, Rising Majority, and other partners. That is why we are proud to share the following announcements:

• Native Voices Rising (NVR): After 11 impactful years under the stewardship of the Common Counsel Foundation (CCF) and Native Americans in Philanthropy, NVR is now an independent organization fiscally sponsored by CCF. Read more about NVR’s transition.
• Movement for Black Lives (M4BL): CCF has provided FSP services to M4BL since 2020 and it has now become a 501c3 organization. Meanwhile, CCF will still support all of M4BL’s grantmaking and continue to be the FSP provider for Rising Majority, M4BL’s former program to build collective strategy across movements. Read the interview with M4BL on our FSP partnership.
• Color Congress: We have been providing FSP support to Color Congress since 2021, and we are also excited to share that they have also gained their 501c3 status. Learn more about Color Congress’ work.

With the evolution of our FSP partners and initiatives, we took the opportunity to reassess our role in the FSP landscape due to the tremendous growth of FSP providers over the last three decades since we’ve started providing FSP services. After careful consideration, we have made the strategic decision to sunset our fiscal sponsorship program. We will still continue supporting our existing FSP partners, Native Voices Rising and Rising Majority. However, we will not be taking on new partnerships moving forward.

Over the next year, we will be more focused, intentional, and engaged with our movement partners as we head into strategic planning to inform our next chapter while we continue executing our power-building priorities through our pooled funds and philanthropic advising. We will explore programmatic intersections, needs, and opportunities with our network of movement and grassroots leaders in how we can best strengthen and resource movements with an intersectional lens.

We recognize that we are embarking on this exploration during a time when movements are bracing for uncertainty and seismic shifts in our country. We are more determined than ever to engage deeply with our movement partners to identify the most innovative and impactful role we can play moving forward to fill movement needs. Thank you for your continued partnership during this time as we explore how we can sustain social movements and power shifting efforts for the long-term.

In solidarity,

Sangeeta Chowdhry