The Haymarket People’s Fund is a left-of-center grantmaking nonprofit that supports a variety of far-left and social justice organizations in New England.

Named after the Haymarket Affair of 1886, in which eight Chicago Police Department officers and four labor-movement protesters were killed on “the most devastating day in Chicago Police Department history,” Haymarket People’s Fund was founded in 1974. Since then, the organization has raised over $27 million for numerous far-left advocacy organizations. ^{1 2}

Grantmaking

Haymarket People’s Fund offers two types of grants. The first grants are “Sustaining Grants” that support already-existing organizations while the second grants are labeled “Urgent Response Grants” to support primarily low-level far-left activities throughout the New England states. The main focus of these grants are on start-up or emerging organizations with limited funding sources and annual budgets less than $300,000. The Fund also requires that groups fulfill certain ideological requirements along with racial and gender quotas. ³

Haymarket People’s Fund has issued grants to left-leaning media collective, N-Cite Media; Boston Workers Alliance; Migrant Justice; and Direct Action for Rights and Equality (Dare). ⁴

Funding Panel

Haymarket People’s Fund is managed by a staff which includes an executive director, development director, and grants director. Grantmaking decisions are made by the Haymarket People’s Fund board of directors and the Haymarket People’s Fund funding panel. ^{5 6}

The funding panel includes up to 18 community organizers and activists from across the six states that comprise the New England region of the United States. The fund strives to have three members from each state but prioritizes members from both urban and rural environments. The panel must be made up primarily of ethnic minorities and support the ideological positions of the Haymarket People’s Fund on issues such as age, race, gender, sexuality, and class. ^{7 8}

Undoing Racism

Haymarket People’s Fund has financially supported the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Undoing Racism workshops through funding and participation requiring the entire staff, board of directors, fundraising committee, development committee, and volunteers to participate in the training. ⁹

Funding

Haymarket People’s Fund has received financial support from the left-leaning MWC Foundation, Hyams Foundation, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. ¹⁰

Leadership

Karla Nicholson is the current executive director of the Haymarket People’s Fund. She joined the organization in 2007 after working with the Fenway Community Development Corporation. ¹¹

Renae Gray, a prominent left-wing philanthropy executive, was one of the earliest executive directors of the Haymarket People’s Fund. Prior to leading the Fund, she ran for the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council in both 1987 and 1989. After leaving the Fund, Gray went on to build and lead other philanthropic organizations, some of which were left-leaning, such as the Boston Women’s Fund. ^{12 13}

1. “History.” Chicago Police Department. Accessed August 21, 2019. https://home.chicagopolice.org/inside-the-cpd/history/
2. “Our Story”. Haymarket People’s Fund. Accessed December 9, 2019. https://www.haymarket.org/our-story
3. “Haymarket People’s Fund”. Foundation Craft. Accessed January 1, 2020. http://grantcraft.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/PGM-haymarket.pdf
4. Data compiled by FoundationSearch.com subscription service, a project of Metasoft Systems, Inc., from forms filed with the IRS. Queries conducted January 13, 2020.
5. “Funding Panel”. Haymarket People’s Fund. Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.haymarket.org/copy-of-funding-panel
6. “New England Funding Panel Role and Commitment.” Haymarket People’s Fund. Accessed January 14, 2020. https://abea48a3-2161-400b-b981-7c60169bf214.filesusr.com/ugd/625fa0_3b413083b5e944c39619a095ff9eec31.pdf
7. “Funding Panel”. Haymarket People’s Fund. Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.haymarket.org/copy-of-funding-panel
8. “New England Funding Panel Role and Commitment.” Haymarket People’s Fund. Accessed January 14, 2020. https://abea48a3-2161-400b-b981-7c60169bf214.filesusr.com/ugd/625fa0_3b413083b5e944c39619a095ff9eec31.pdf
9. “Our Story”. Haymarket People’s Fund. Accessed December 9, 2019. https://www.haymarket.org/our-story
10. Data compiled by FoundationSearch.com subscription service, a project of Metasoft Systems, Inc., from forms filed with the IRS. Queries conducted January 13, 2020.
11. “Karla Nicholson”. LinkedIn. Accessed January 1, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/karla-nicholson-0b2330120/
12. “Renae Gray.” My Keeper.com. Accessed December 28, 2019. https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/HaymarketPeoplesFund/
13. Graves, Helen. “Second Time Around is Sweet for Renae Gray”. March 1, 2008. Accessed December 30, 2019. https://www.bostonherald.com/2008/03/01/second-time-around-is-sweet-for-renae-gray/