Marguerite Casey Foundation

Thank you National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) for publishing this timely article on humane investing! And a huge shout out to Daniel Gould, CFA, CAIA—MCF's Vice President of Investments and Operations—for your leadership in ensuring our endowment aligns with our vision for a better world, and for sharing these powerful lessons far and wide.

Congratulations to Ian S. Fuller, co-founder and CEO of Westfuller Advisors and esteemed Marguerite Casey Foundation board chair, on Westfuller being ranked 🏆 NUMBER 1️⃣ registered investment advisor (RIA) by USA TODAY and market research firm Statista. The ranking, published this week in USA Today, examined the best 500 RIAs and found our friends at Westfuller ranked TOP based on the growth of their assets under management over the short and long term and the number of recommendations they received from clients and peers. Congratulations again on being the very best of the best!

Recently, I got to sit down with Jean Guerrero and Dr. Daniel HoSang for an important conversation on the “Framers of Fascism: Knowing the Protagonists on the Right” as part of Marguerite Casey Foundation Summer School. Our conversation aimed to give our beloved MCF community a chance to explore how key figures responsible for architecting the right’s contemporary political formation have sought to achieve their fascist vision, *and importantly,* to understand what we can do to uproot their practices of radicalization. I’m eager to share this video highlighting some of the learning from our live webinar because I believe we urgently need to develop a common language around the threats our communities and organizations are facing from fascist forces. The MCF Summer School “Framers of Fascism” webinar ranged from pinpointing the right’s shifting ideological pillars to uncovering its diverse recruiting strategies to naming the ways they’re actively chipping away at the fundamental functions of government. A main takeaway is that the right is watching us closely, and we should watch them closely too. The ideological blueprint for the right’s resurgence over the last eight years is both complex and frightening, and if we are serious about contesting their political agenda we must understand how their protagonists plan, plot, and maneuver. The good news is that the repressive and divisive structures the right has worked so hard to create can be disassembled, but not without a plan. And a plan is not possible without an analysis of what they’re up to. By understanding the political terrain they’ve built, we can reject it and work to build a future our communities and our planet deserve. Please watch, like, comment on, and share this video to help spread the word. And join me for the next live MCF Summer School webinar by signing up at the link in the comments.

excited to be in this conversation about "Disclose and Divest" and how it opens up a larger analysis of the Higher Ed political economy and how to move forward with justice at the center thank you Marguerite Casey Foundation !

What’s the meaning and practice of ‘disclose and divest’ and why have so many folks chosen disclosure and divestment campaigns as the leading edge of their organizing work? Why have universities so vigorously (and violently) opposed student demands to disclose and divest? What are the basic technical steps universities and foundations can take to meet student demands of disclosure and divestment? Dive into all these questions and more in this week’s live MCF Summer School webinar! On Thursday, our very own Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation will moderate a Summer School session you don’t want to miss. Along with a panel of experts, this session will explore the meaning and practice of ‘disclose and divest,’ the most persistent demand from organizers to universities and foundations. The session will feature:   🌟Dr. Davarian Baldwin, the Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies and founding director of the Smart Cities Research Lab at Trinity College. Dr. Baldwin’s academic and political commitments have focused on global cities and particularly the diverse and marginalized communities that struggle to maintain sustainable lives in urban locales. 🌟 Ian S. Fuller, a cofounder and partner of Westfuller Advisors, a SEC-registered wealth advisory and investment management firm that provides advisory, strategy, and financial services for values-aligned individuals, families, and institutions in the US and Europe seeking impact. 🌟Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley, the Distinguished Professor, and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in US History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Kelley is a widely published scholar, teacher, and Guggenheim Fellow whose work explores the history of social movements in the US, the African diaspora, and Africa—extending into research on Black intellectuals, music and visual culture, and surrealism and Marxism. 🌟 Aditi Rao, a third-year graduate student in Princeton's Department of Classics and an organizer with Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD), which recently decamped from its month-long Popular University for Gaza. Aditi lives in Philly, where her work on police abolition and demilitarization sits in solidarity alongside her efforts in the movement for Palestinian liberation.

“Representation isn’t enough.” Carmen Rojas, PhD, president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation, broke it down at Hispanics in Philanthropy, highlighting how people who care about racial and economic justice must: 🎯  examine the tradeoff between the politics of representation and ideological alignment;  🏛️ discuss the role government should be playing in our society;  📚 learn and own our histories of multiracial solidarity. If these sound like conversations you’d like to be a part of, check out MCF’s Summer School: Building A People and Planet-Centered Future at the link in the comments.

"Solidarity is a verb." 👏 Catch highlights from our recent MCF Summer School webinar on "The State of Student Protesting" and sign up to join our next session!

🚨 Happening today! 🚨 Register now to join #MCFSummerSchool and hear from experts on Why Government Matters and what it will take to remake it to truly serve the public good. Find the registration link in the comments.

The stakes couldn't be higher. While some describe the *threat* of fascism in the United States, many are already *living* it. ⚠️ In Texas, a man charged with murdering a protester was pardoned by the state’s governor normalizing violence against those seeking to hold powerful people accountable. ⚠️ In Mississippi, a court is ordering an independent newspaper to expose confidential sources after a story ran exposing political corruption threatening the First Amendment protection afforded journalists. ⚠️ Across the country organizers are being named terrorists for fighting for the sanctity of life in Palestine, the health of our planet at Standing Rock, and against the expansion of the prison industrial complex at Cop City. For those of us who care about freedom—especially funders—we urgently need to understand how we got here and how we can fuel multiracial coalitions powerful enough to fight the forces of fascism. I’m proud to announce that Marguerite Casey Foundation has launched our Summer School series as part of our work to meet the challenges and opportunities of this moment. Summer School sessions are live events that take place in collaboration with visionary organizers, activist scholars, and experts to provide political education that has the power to spark the solidarity essential for creating a future focused on the well-being of people and the planet. Together, we can—and must—fight fascism with multiracial solidarity. Register now for MCF’s Summer School: Building A People and Planet-Centered Future at the link in the comments!

I’m thrilled to uplift this powerful conversation on "The Future of Work" with Adrian Haro, CEO of The Workers Lab. Every worker deserves dignified, humane conditions, but to make that real, we have to radically renovate what working life in the US offers to the folks who hold it up every day. Improving conditions for low-wage and gig workers in the excluded workers’ economy means we’ve got to start listening to workers' experiences, analysis, and expertise. That’s where The Workers Lab excels, and is part of what made them an ideal part of MCF’s 2023 #PublicDollarsForPublicGood grant recipient cohort. Their work is helping demonstrate that flexible W-2 employment with fair pay, access to benefits, protections, dignity, and opportunity for advancement is possible, all while leveraging public dollars in partnership with local public agencies, community-based organizations, and businesses. 🎧 Listen now on Lemonada Media’s #GoodThings podcast! Find the link in the comments, or wherever you get your podcasts.