Fund for New Leadership (FNL) is a left-of-center private grantmaking organization that provides three-year grant and mentorship support to individuals pinpointed as possible left-of-center social-policy change agents. Issue areas include tenants’ representation and low-income housing, contraception access, gender and racial issues, and higher education initiatives for prison inmates. ^{1 2}

Background

According to founders Alan and Kim Hartman, they conceived the idea for Fund for New Leadership from a visit to the Civil Rights Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, along with a conversation with FNL’s future managing director, Simon Greer. This conversation centered around the idea that past social change could have been accelerated if new leaders had received funding support earlier in their careers. Purportedly, this idea was further crystallized by conversations with the Hartman’s three children following the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd in June 2020; all three of the Hartmans’ children sit on Fund for New Leadership’s advisory board. ³

FNL provides a $225,000 grant ($75,000 a year for three years) to its awardees. Funds are non-restricted and are supplemented by training and mentorship support. ⁴

Grantees

Karla Altmayer/Healing to Action

Karla Altmayer is the co-founder of Healing Action, a group that works to end “gender-based violence,” which refers not only to violence against women, but also “includes physical and psychological violence against people who do not conform to traditional gender roles like gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, intersex, and gender questioning people.” Altmayer also worked as an attorney representing female farm workers experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. She is co-founder of Coalition Against Workplace Sexual Violence (CAWSV). ^{5 6}

Kevin Beckford/The Hustler’s Guild

The Hustler’s Guild is a student-oriented nonprofit aimed especially at Black and Latino college students and urban youth. It hosts programs such as “Don’t Shoot Guns, Shoot Cameras,” which trains youth in filmmaking, and webinars called Hustlers Hangouts. The Hustler’s guild was founded by Kevin Beckford, 2020 Atlantic Racial Equity Fellow and former special advisor to Julian Castro in his role as Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. ^{7 8}

Kai Tao/Illinois Contraceptive Access

Kai Tao, head of Illinois Contraceptive Access (ICAN!) is also the co-author of the Illinois Family Planning Action Plan, and the former chief program officer for the Chicago department of Health. Both initiatives aim to expand contraception access; ICAN! coordinates access to free or discounted birth control medication, as well as sexually transmitted disease (std) treatment. It also works in conjunction with the Illinois state government’s Health and Family Services plan to provide free birth control and std treatment coverage to individuals earning less than $42,000 a year before taxes. ^{9 10}

Lilly Lerner/Tenant Education Network

Lilly Lerner is the co-founder of the Tenant Education Network (TEN) and the executive director of the senior advocacy group Jane Addams Senior Caucus. TEN organizes recipients of government-subsidized Section 8 housing to protest for improvement in their housing conditions. As of 2023, it was also developing a digital application to streamline submission of tenants’ complaints to local departments of Housing and Urban Development. ^{11 12 13}

Patrick Rodriguez/Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison

The Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison (GACHEP) works to provide education opportunities for prison inmates, ranging from pre-college to full degree coursework. Patrick Rodriguez, co-executive director of GACHEP, is a former inmate who went on to work at the National Executive Council at the Center for Justice at Columbia University. In addition to his work at GACHEP, Rodriguez spearheaded the Beyond the Box initiative, which worked to remove questions about past criminal records from college applications. ¹⁴

People

Alan and Kim Hartman are the founders of Fund for New Leadership. Alan Hartman is a partner at the investment advisory firm Centerview Partners, and is a former managing director at Merrill Lynch. ¹⁵

Kim Hartman is an interior designer, and the women’s philanthropy chair at United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of New York. She is also co-chair for the board of governors at Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE). ¹⁶ In 2022, the Hartmans pledged a $10 million gift to Weill Cornell Medicine to fund organ regeneration and repair research. ¹⁷

Simon Greer is the managing director of the Fund for New Leadership, and the founder of the advisory firm Cambridge Heath Ventures. He is also the former president and CEO of Jewish Funds for Justice (which later merged with Progressive Jewish Alliance to become Bend the Arc) and the environmentalist and left-wing Nathan Cummings Foundation and is the former program director of the New York branch of Jobs With Justice. ¹⁸

1. “About the Fund for New Leadership.” FNL. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://fundfornewleadership.org/about/
2. “Fellows.” FNL. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://fundfornewleadership.org/fellows/
3. “Alan and Kim Hartman.” FNL. Accessed October 23, 2023.  https://fundfornewleadership.org/advisors/kim-and-alan-hartman/
4. Kirby, Donte. “Parity’s Bree Jones is Entering a $225K National Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs.” Technical.ly. July 1, 2021. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://technical.ly/startups/parity-fund-new-leadership/
5. “Karla Altmayer.” FNL. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://fundfornewleadership.org/fellows/karla-altmayer/
6. “What is Gender-Based Violence?” Healing to Action. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.healingtoaction.org/our-issue
7. “Kevin Beckford.” FNL. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://fundfornewleadership.org/fellows/kevin-beckford/
8. “Our Impact.” Hustler’s Guild. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.hustlersguild.org/copy-of-programs
9. “HFS Family Planning Program.” ICAN! Accessed October 23, 2023. https://ican4all.org/free-birth-control-programs/family-planning-programs/
10. “Kai Tao.” FNL. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://fundfornewleadership.org/fellows/kai-tao/
11. “Lilly Lerner.” FNL. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://fundfornewleadership.org/fellows/lilly-lerner/
12. “Who We Are.” Jane Addams Senior Caucus. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.seniorcaucus.org/
13. “About Us.” TEN. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://tenanteducationnetwork.com/about-us/
14. Burress, Jim. “Georgia Activist Receives National Grant to Improve Higher Education in Prison.” WABE. July 28, 2023. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.wabe.org/georgia-activist-receives-national-grant-to-improve-higher-education-in-prison/
15. Burress, Jim. “Georgia Activist Receives National Grant to Improve Higher Education in Prison.” WABE. July 28, 2023. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.wabe.org/georgia-activist-receives-national-grant-to-improve-higher-education-in-prison/
16. “Kim Hartman.” Linkedin. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-hartman-a7524b60/
17. “Hartman Family’s Gift to Create Research Institute for Organ Regeneration and Repair.” Milestones March 2022 Issue. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://give.weill.cornell.edu/milestones/hartman-family%E2%80%99s-gift-create-research-institute-organ-regeneration-and-repair
18. “Simon Greer.” Linkedin. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-greer-5b8549b2/