40 Ways in 40 Days: Remembering the Survivors of Katrina (Day 4)

[Plaid Adder]

Day 4, Way 4

Boy, this one is barely going to make it under the wire. My little clock already says 11:49 pm.

Today's entry is for those of you out there who take special delight in fertilizing the grassroots:

Southern Partners Fund is "a public foundation created to serve Southern Communities and organizations seeking social, economic, and environmental justice by providing them with financial resources, technical assistance and training, and access to systems of information and power." Essentially what they do is take in grant money, donations, and so on, and dispense it to smaller community organizations who need it. The organizations they fund have to be: "1) Rural community groups in the Southeastern United States, 2) Self-governed by members of the targeted rural population, and 3) Organizing on issues of social, economic and environmental justice that enable community members to become decision-makers."

Many of these organizations are not large/powerful/rich enough to launch massive PR campaigns and attract their own donations. So, on the one hand, the SPF adds another layer of bureaucracy and overhead; but on the other hand, you know that the groups it's donating to are at least effective and long-term enough to successfully negotiate the grant process. So I'm posting it here as both one of the 40 Ways and a resource through which you can find other groups to give to.

In September 2005 the SPF established the Justice Fund for Katrina Relief and Renewal, which promised to "marshal funds from public and private philanthropic donors" toward organzations which "support the long term vision already proclaimed by some of SPF's partners in the region for transformative renewal; the kind of renewal which will overcome structural and systemic racism, gender bias, and the concurrent injustices so blatantly declared by the glaring devaluation of the Hurricane Katrina survivors." If you want to donate directly to this fund, remember that when you fill out the online form you have to specify in the "special instructions" form that you want the money to go to the Katrina fund.

If the extra layer of bureaucracy bothers you, you can always pick one of their grantees and donate to it directly. This is the list of the organizations that got the first round of donations for immediate relief. (Ror some reason, each organization got exactly $4754.) Here's a more recent list of organizations they're funding with the Katrina relief money. Many of these groups are based in Mississippi.

Ack! 10 minutes to Day 5!

The Plaid Adder

Day 3: Christus Victor Disaster Response
Day 2: Hands On Network
Day 1: Common Ground Collective