Scherman Foundation

Hello, LinkedIn community! We're excited to connect on this platform and share some updates about the Scherman Foundation’s future. 🔍 Reflecting on Our Journey In 2021, we celebrated the Foundation’s 80th anniversary. This was an opportunity to reflect on our history, core values, and most importantly, the transformative work of our grantees. It was not only a moment to explore our past but also to define our future. During this period, we also focused on developing a shared understanding of racial equity and anti-racist practices among our board and staff. We came away with a renewed, deepened commitment to racial justice, and we're now focused on applying that framework to our grantmaking with transparency and accountability to our community. 🚀 A Vision for the Future We've spent the past year reimagining our mission, vision, and program guidelines to better reflect our two core commitments: advancing racial justice and emphasizing the importance of organizing, power shifting, and movement building in BIPOC communities. We are challenging traditional philanthropic structures and striving to be better partners, advocates, and allies to our grantees. During this ongoing process, we’ve assessed our current grantmaking and explored our collective vision for the future grounded in economic, political, and cultural transformation. We've provided final grants to some current grantees that don’t fully align with our direction while increasing support for those that do. We've also temporarily suspended our rolling acceptance of Letters of Inquiry until our revised program guidelines are available to ensure transparency during this period of change. 🌱 What’s Next? 1️⃣ Inviting feedback from our grantees and community members this summer to ensure our vision aligns with those at the frontlines of the movements we support. 2️⃣ Revising our guidelines and grantmaking strategies to reflect our new framework. 3️⃣ Launching these updates on our website and social platforms this fall. Stay tuned here and on our website! We look forward to making meaningful connections, learning from each other, and building our path together. #SchermanFoundation #RacialJustice #Philanthropy

GoVoteNYC grantee partners, including Scherman Foundation grantees El Puente and MinKwon Center for Community Action, are kicking off a week of nonpartisan get-out-the-vote activities. Events include parties, workshops, and distribution of voter guides across New York City. See how you can get involved here: https://lnkd.in/eMVgViDn

We are pleased to share that the Scherman Foundation is a contributing funder of The Fund for the Newest New Yorkers at The New York Community Trust, in collaboration with Robin Hood. We believe that ensuring immigrant communities and new arrivals receive the resources and stability they need is essential to building a stronger and more equitable New York for all.

We are excited to share that the GoVoteNYC Fund at The New York Community Trust recently announced $975,000 in grants to nine nonprofits focused on nonpartisan get-out-the-vote activities. As a proud funder, the Scherman Foundation is committed to supporting initiatives that build community power and strengthen our democracy. These grants will play a crucial role in ensuring that more New Yorkers have their voices heard at the polls. #GoVoteNYC #VoterTurnout #CommunityPower

At the Scherman Foundation, we support our city's vital arts and culture organizations and want to uplift the hard work of LxNY and The Cultural Equity Coalition, along with #CultureForAll partners in advocating for the recent restoration of $53 million in funding to cultural institutions. These groups, many of whom are our grantees, highlight the indispensable role of arts and culture in our city's vibrancy. We hope the importance of arts and culture will continue to be reflected in our city's budget in the coming years. #SupportArts #CulturalEquity 

The Scherman Foundation is a proud member of GoVoteNYC, a funder collaborative focused on boosting voter participation in NYC municipal elections. In this timely and insightful article for Candid, Neill Coleman and Melody Lopez (from grantee partner New York Civic Engagement Table) explore the innovative solutions community organizations are crafting to tackle challenges in engaging NYC voters. #VoterEngagement #GoVoteNYC #NYCElections

🎉 We want to take a moment to celebrate and uplift the important work of our AAPI-focused, led, and serving grantees this Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. These organizations are not only active across a diversity of issues — from environmental justice and housing stability to economic and gender justice — but also illuminate how they are interconnected. Asian Pacific Environmental Network Building the power of Asian immigrant and refugee communities on the frontlines of fighting for environmental justice. Chhaya Community Development Corporation Building the power, housing stability, and economic well-being of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities in New York City, while leading on key policy issues for immigrants, such as basement legalization, language access, and tenants rights. Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV): Organizing working-class Asian immigrants in Chinatown and Astoria to intervene in the gentrification of their neighborhoods and New York City. DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving Building the power of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean low-wage immigrant workers, youth, and families in New York City to win economic and educational justice, and civil and immigrant rights. MinKwon Center for Community Action Leading APA Voice and empowering Korean American, Asian Pacific American, and broader immigrant communities through civic engagement, organizing, and social services. National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) Building the power, influence, and autonomy of AAPI women and girls. (Check out their post on why AAPI Heritage Month is celebrated in May: https://lnkd.in/eDnXRbp2) The W.O.W. Project: Women, queer, and trans-led community initiative using art and activism to grow and protect NYC Chinatown’s creative culture in a time of rapid change. Let's continue to support and amplify their work not just during AAPI Heritage Month, but every day. 👏 #AAPIHeritageMonth