Our Work

Our Approach

We are committed to supporting organizations led by those most impacted by systemic oppression – largely low-income communities of color. The Libra Foundation’s guiding principle is that those who are closest to the issues understand those issues the best. They are not only the most equipped to build solutions, they are the most effective at implementing those solutions.  We focus on frontline organizations led by people of color transforming the criminal justice system and advancing environmental and climate justice and gender justice.

Program Areas

  • Community Safety & Justice

    By investing in organizations led by and for those directly impacted by the carceral punishment system, the Community Safety & Justice portfolio supports reimagining safety, community-defined restoration, and the end of mass incarceration and criminalization as we know it today. We believe strategies using a healing and transformational justice approach brings us closer to decarceration, the abolition of jails and policing, and closer to the liberation of those disproportionately oppressed by our current criminal injustice system, including Black, Brown, Indigenous, trans, and low income people.

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  • Environmental & Climate Justice

    Anchored in the principles of Just Transition, the Environmental & Climate Justice program centers and supports organizations led by and for people and communities who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, environmental harm, and systemic racism. We prioritize community-powered organizations and formations working together to organize locally, trans-locally, and beyond.

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  • Gender Justice

    Gender Justice work at Libra is centered on envisioning a world where women, girls, gender-expansive and non-conforming, queer, and trans people have self-determination, safety, and equity. Gender justice is inextricably linked to racial justice and supports strategies that address the root causes of gender injustice by unpacking how patriarchy, racism, white supremacy, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia and sexism affect the lives of all people.

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Unlocking philanthropic resources for the collective power of movements.

It’s not just about what we do; it’s about how we do it. Libra is on a journey to holistically support the organizations we fund. That means moving money into the hands of BIPOC communities, crafting and implementing grantee-focused grantmaking processes/solutions, and building a culture of transformation in the philanthropic sector. Here’s how we’re doing it:

Our Process

Grantee Spotlight

Image of the Poder group at a rally

¡PODER! (fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center)

PODER’s mission is to organize with Latinx immigrant families and youth to put into practice people-powered solutions that are locally based, community led and environmentally just.

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Democracy Frontlines Fund logo

FUNDING BLACK POWER-BUILDING AND SEEDING TRANSFORMATION IN PHILANTHROPY

Amid the racial reckoning of 2020, Libra joined with eleven other philanthropy partners to launch the Democracy Frontlines Fund.  The Fund is an aligned giving strategy leveraging $36 million in multiyear unfettered support for a Slate of ten exemplary Black-led organizations.  The grantees, selected by a Brain Trust of movement advisors who are all women of color, are working for racial justice, free and fair elections, and to defund the police.  The focus and intent is building power at the community level.

Together, the funders in the Democracy Frontlines Fund have embarked on a learning journey to confront the legacy of racism and begin to transform philanthropy from the inside out.  Illuminated by the insights of seminal thinkers and strategists like Stacey Abrams, Cliff Albright and Alicia Garza, they are examining racism’s deep roots and practicing what it means to be a principled funder in relationship to and allyship with racial justice movements.