|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
ABOUT THE CIVIL MARRIAGE COLLABORATIVE Founded in 2004, the Civil Marriage Collaborative is a unique effort to build and strengthen a broad and diverse grassroots constituency and a powerful public education apparatus to achieve marriage equality for same-sex couples in the United States. The Collaborative supports work at the state level to change hearts and minds and help create environments that can lead to marriage equality in each state targeted. To date, the Collaborative has invested $11.4 million toward public education, research, polling, message development and advocacy activities in a total of 17 states and the District of Columbia.
In 2003, when funders first considered a collaborative vehicle for funding marriage equality efforts, the initiating grantmakers reviewed the priorities of groups working on this issue in the field. What stood out was the need to strengthen the movement's capacity for state-by-state strategic planning, collaboration, education, and advocacy, especially in light of the major "lift" that would be needed to simply fix this problem at the national level for all LGBT Americans. The CMC emerged in response to this need and works to support coordinated marriage equality efforts at the state level in key states. The CMC was seeded by seven initiating funders including David Bohnett Foundation, Columbia Foundation, Gill Foundation, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, Open Society Institute, Overbrook Foundation and an anonymous donor. It is a testament to the CMC's vitality as a funder collaborative as well as to the critical nature and immediacy of the marriage equality issue that all of the original funders have remained as steadfast members of the collaborative. Indeed, most of the founding grantmakers have increased their contributions over the years and five new funders (The Atlantic Philanthropies, Calamus Foundation, Calamus Foundation - Delaware, Horizons Foundation and Kevin J. Mossier Foundation) have joined the effort in the intervening years bringing the total number of funding partners to twelve today. The Collaborative has also become one of the major vehicles for funding the marriage movement. Data from The Funders for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Issues report on grant making among US foundations reveals that for 2008, the last year for which such data is available, the Collaborative's $2,268,500 investment in marriage grants gave the CMC a rank of 10th on the list of overall LGBT funders in the country. With nearly $11.4 million in grants awarded since its founding in 2004, the Civil Marriage Collaborative is the largest source of funding for state-based marriage equality efforts. The mission of the Collaborative is unique within LGBT philanthropy and our approach to strategy development and targeted grantmaking has contributed significantly to the advancements we have seen in the last six years. The Collaborative has funded groups in all six jurisdictions - Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Iowa and Vermont - that have won marriage to date and we continue to fund in some of these jurisdictions to help protect the rights won so far as well as in other states to keep the momentum moving forward so that an ever increasing percentage of LGBT couples will live in states with the right to marry. Though the victories to date are impressive, the march to marriage equality is not by any means inevitable. Like most social movements, the road to justice is harrowing. In the nearly 20 years that the LGBT community and its allies have struggled to achieve marriage equality, there have been significant setbacks. These include passage of the federal "Defense of Marriage" Act (DOMA) which eventually must be repealed for same-sex marriages allowed in states to carry full weight at the federal level for purposes of rights and benefits, such as social security, immigration-related rights, etc. Also, despite the six state-based marriage equality victories that have been won to date, the loss column is populated with 31 voter-approved initiatives defining marriage as between a man and a woman, including initiatives in Maine and California that stripped our community of the right to marry after impressive and groundbreaking wins in the courts/state legislatures. Despite these obstacles, however, the movement toward marriage equality continues and robust funding of it must not only continue but grow. A broad range of movement leaders, legal advocacy groups and strategists alike continue to agree that the best approach for achieving marriage equality for an ever-growing percentage of the LGBT community is to win its acceptance on a state-by-state basis, with the hope that these victories will lead to a tipping point when federal action to advance equality in this area can and will succeed. And while tactical legislative and judicial wins are critical vehicles for marriage equality, public education, ally-building, and other forms of targeted outreach and organizing that produce "wins" in the court of public opinion are the critical strategies that will result in a growing number of state victories as well as an eventual national victory.
The overarching strategy of the Civil Marriage Collaborative remains the same year to year: identify jurisdictions where marriage rights can be gained in the short to mid-term and invite the lead organizations working on marriage in that state to submit a proposal to the CMC for funding. The Collaborative also has the capacity to make Rapid Response grants to existing grantees to take advantage of opportunities or to address challenges that arise quickly and out of the regular grant cycle. Those struggling for and supportive of marriage rights have already learned the hard way that separate is not equal. Marriage is a civil and human right that confers hundreds of tangible protections and responsibilities on couples and their children as well as intangible and irreplaceable security and respect. The denial of these protections and responsibilities translates into real economic loss, lack of opportunity, and psychological hardship for LGBT individuals, couples, their families and other loved ones. Civil unions do not and can never confer all of the same rights and respect of marriage. Thus, another consistent element of the CMC strategy is that we set the bar where it belongs: at full equality. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the marriage equality landscape, the Collaborative revisits its specific strategic priorities annually. For example, despite the dramatic number and pace of victories in marriage equality across states in the first part of 2009, the movement was faced with many challenges later in the year and in early 2010: the losses at the polls in California and Maine, and the losses in New York state and New Jersey. Each of these opportunities as well as these challenges requires a grant making approach that is nimble, vigilant, robust and responsive to the immediate as well as longer-term needs on the ground in each jurisdiction. In 2010, the Civil Marriage Collaborative's grantmaking strategy prioritizes funding organizations in key states where there is a realistic expectation of winning marriage equality by 2012. The 2010 strategic priorities also include protecting the marriage victories in Iowa and the District of Columbia, and continuing the battles for hearts and minds to counter recent losses in California, Maine, New Jersey and New York. Despite the Collaborative's recent ability to enhance its support of this critical work, the total amount requested by the organizations invited to apply within the recent grant making cycle continues to far exceed the level of CMC resources. With greater resources the Collaborative could do even more by channeling a higher level of resources to support current CMC grantees to win or defend marriage in high priority states, and also could consider bringing additional groups from other states into the grantee fold. Now, more than ever, it is important to keep and build on the forward momentum.
Donors to the Civil Marriage Collaborative contribute a minimum of $50,000 annually. Once a CMC member, a donor representative participates fully in Collaborative business including annual strategy development, review of dockets and other activities. The Collaborative offers a rich and collegial learning environment that encourages active participation and information sharing. Donors who are interested in participating in the Civil Marriage Collaborative but who cannot meet the contribution minimum are encouraged to consider supporting the Civil Marriage Collaborative Donor Circle at the Horizons Foundation with a minimum contribution of $5,000. The donor circle meets three times annually and offers donors opportunities to learn about the marriage movement across the country and, in an intimate setting, to have discussions with outstanding guest speakers from the top levels of the movement. For more information about Horizons' CMC Donor Circle please contact Roger Doughty, Executive Director, at rdoughty@horizonsfoundation.org or 415.398.2333 x102.
PROTEUS FUND - HOME OF THE CMC Proteus Fund is a foundation committed to advancing democracy, human rights and peace. We work with individual donors and foundations to achieve their goals, through strategy development, research and fund management. Proteus is known for tailored grant making initiatives that are responsive, have high impact and integrate support for lobbying activity. Our work advances issues at the leading edge of democratic and social change.
CIVIL MARRIAGE COLLABORATIVE FUNDING PARTNERS
The Atlantic Philanthropies
Proteus Fund
2010 CIVIL MARRIAGE COLLABORATIVE GRANTS
2010 TOTAL GRANTS: $1,970,000
>> Continued: Exclusively for Registered Members
|
|
POST AND PARTICIPATE [how to post]
Click to Post
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Last Modified 2010-09-02 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
