Humanity United is a left-of-center private grantmaking foundation that works primarily in the areas of “peacebuilding” and human trafficking, but also funds organizations that focus on a wide variety of subjects, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); journalism; and surveillance and privacy. Along with its sister organization, Humanity United Action, it is a part of the coalition of for-profit and nonprofit entities that make up the Omidyar Nexus. ^{1 2}

Background

Humanity United was founded in 2001 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam as a part of their philanthropic, “social welfare,” and lobbying network. It became its own independent entity in 2008, and was established as a private foundation in 2016, at which time it ceased its lobbying and legal advocacy activities. ^{3 4}

It is funded entirely by the Omidyar Group, a for-profit holding company established by the Omidyars as a part of a conglomerate of organizations that can be called the “Omidyar Nexus” that funds left-of-center causes and groups. It describes its two major issue areas as “Peacebuilding” and Forced Labor/Human Trafficking, but its grant recipients run from groups such as the Black Youth Project 100 to Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism. ¹

Its Peacebuilding team has strategic “bi-monthly consciousness raising meetings” to shift their individual “biases and socialization.”  Humanity United previously donated between $17 and $18.8 million to grantees; this amount was later scaled back to around $6 million distributed to a pool of more than 50 grantees. It also has a sister lobbying and advocacy organization, Humanity United Action. ⁵

Grantmaking

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Humanity United is a supporter of the activist group Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), an organization of African American 18-to-35 year-olds using protests and social media in an effort toward “ending criminalization and dismantling the prison industrial complex [and] expanding and securing LGBTQ and women’s rights.” This group is involved in “defund-the-police” efforts, such as those in Dallas and Chicago. ⁶

BYP100 also aims to alter conventional ideas of masculinity with events such as the Nu(Mas)Kulinity program, a “ritual” involving “selenite sticks to dispel negative energy and spray bottles of Florida Water to quiet disruptions in our minds,” as men dance and play with each other’s hair in a non-sexual way to demolish patriarchy. ⁷

Humanity United is also a funder of the activist Workers Center for Racial Justice, a community organizing group addressing “high rates of unemployment, low-wage work and over-criminalization impacting Black communities.” This group offers assistance expunging criminal records, and advocates for defunding the police, universal childcare, and police union contract reform. It also supports raising the minimum wage for tipped workers, a system which it claims is “a direct legacy of slavery.” ^{8 9}

Human Trafficking

Human trafficking and slavery comprise one of Humanity United’s main issue areas, and it provides grants to multiple organizations that focus on this topic. Among them is the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Human Trafficking (CAST), which works in survivor assistance and legal advocacy, and is itself the founder of California Legislative Collaborative on Human Trafficking (CLCHT), and co-founder of Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, and the Freedom Network. ¹⁰

Other grant recipients in this area include Anti-Slavery International, Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, and Free the Slaves Inc. ¹

Miscellaneous

Humanity United is a funder of several journalism coalitions, including the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and the Fuller Project for International Reporting. It is also a supporter of George Clooney’s human rights group, Foundation for Justice, and the criminal justice-focused media group The Marshall Project. ¹

Humanity United also funds the organization SHERPA. In September 2023, this group released a statement of opposition to proposed changes in European Union law allowing for mass surveillance of its citizens. The Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) legislation, also known as “chat control,” would allow government agencies to monitor all digital communications of private individuals, purportedly to scan for evidence of child abuse. ²

Leadership

Pam and Pierre Omidyar are the co-founders of Humanity United. They are also the force behind the Omidyar Nexus, a group of nonprofit and for-profit organizations and holding companies that fund numerous left-of-center initiatives. Pierre Omidyar is the founder of online commerce giant eBay. Pam Omidyar is also the board chair of Humanity United. ¹¹

Pat Christen is the managing director of the Omidyar group, which funds Humanity United. She is also the former president and CEO of HopeLab, a youth-oriented mental health and LGBT advocacy organization. ¹² Christen is the former president and executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and the former president of the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation. ¹³

Jeff Mohr is an advisor to the Omidyar Group and founder and CEO of the data visualization and networking application Kumu. ¹⁴

Rhajasvini Bhansali is a  board member at Humanity United, and the executive director of Solidaire Network and Solidaire Action, left-of-center groups which both work in race and gender issue areas. ¹⁵

Purity Kagwiria, board member at Humanity United, is also the former director of With and For Girls Fund and Collective, and former executive director of the African women’s leadership group Akili Dada. She is also a founding advisory committee member of FRIDA: The Young Feminist Fund. ¹⁶

1. “Grants.” Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://humanityunited.org/grants/
2. “EU Countries Should Say No…” SHERPA. September 13, 2023. Accessed October 30, 2023.  https://www.asso-sherpa.org/eu-countries-should-say-no-to-the-csar-mass-surveillance-proposal
3. “Thank You.” Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://humanityunited.org/thank-you/
4. “About Us.” Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://humanityunited.org/about/
5. “Humanity United’s Peacebuilding Strategy.” Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://humanityunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Peacebuilding-Strategy-Report-2023.pdf
6. Mawajdeh, Hady. Activists Propose Ideas to Redirect Funds from the Dallas Police Into Social Services.” KERA. July 7, 2020. Accessed October 30, 2023.  https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2020-07-07/activists-propose-ideas-to-redirect-funds-from-the-dallas-police-into-social-services
7.  Purifoy, Danielle. “The Commons Crit: What Is Masculinity Without Senseless Domination?” Indy Week. June 6, 2019. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://indyweek.com/culture/stage/the-commons-crit-brown-coleman-shakur-nu-maskulinities/
8. ^[1] “WCRJ Tipped-Worker Form.” WCRJ. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.center4racialjustice.org/ofw
9. “Our Demands.” WCRJ. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.center4racialjustice.org/demands
10. “Support Policy.” Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.castla.org/policy/
11. “Pam Omidyar.” Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023.  https://humanityunited.org/team/pam-omidyar/
12. “HopeLab.” HopeLab. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://hopelab.org/
13. “Pat Christen.” Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://humanityunited.org/team/pat-christen/
14. “Jeff Mohr.” Linkedin. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcmohr/
15. Rhajasvini Bhansali. Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://humanityunited.org/team/rajasvini-bhansali/
16. “Purity Kagwiria.” Humanity United. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://humanityunited.org/team/purity-kagwiria/