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Non-profit

Partners for Dignity & Rights

Website:

dignityandrights.org/
Location:

New York, NY
Tax ID:

73-1714118
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2022):

Revenue: $7,207,370
Expenses: $3,160,687
Assets: $6,044,417
Location:

New York, NY
Founded:

2005
Co-Executive Directors:

Kesi Foster and Liz Sullivan-Yuknis

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Partners for Dignity and Rights (formerly known as the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative) is an activist organization that advocates for left-of-center policies regarding economics, social issues, health care, housing, education, and labor unionism. The organization supports left-leaning policies including government-run health care and the Green New Deal. 1 The organization is also heavily involved in promoting racial and economic policy issues and operates projects including the Dignity in Schools Campaign, the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network, the Healthcare is a Human Right Collaborative,2 and promotes a broad set of far-left policies it bills as the “The New Social Contract.” 3 4

The organization has received funding from left-leaning grantmaking organizations including the Atlantic Philanthropies5 and the Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation. 6

Background

The organization was initially founded in 2004 as the National Economic and Social Right Initiative and was meant to serve as a nonprofit advocacy organization to provide training, research, and lobby on behalf of left-of-center activists. The organization was founded in New York City and focused its early efforts on instituting left-leaning reforms to the public-school system in New York. 7 Since its founding, the organization has promoted left-leaning positions on organized labor and supported a taxpayer-funded government-run health care system. 7

In February 2020, the organization rebranded and changed its name to Partners for Dignity and Rights. It described the rebranding as an effort to better focus on the communities in which it conducts activism and outreach. 8

Activity

Partners for Dignity and Rights promotes left-of-center activism policies, projects, and programs. The organization’s top issues areas include public schooling, universal health care, public budgeting, housing, and low wage workers. 9 The organization promotes a “New Social Contract” that includes hundreds of far-left policy proposals. It calls for going beyond universal healthcare to make virtually all public programs, including healthcare and housing, free to all. The organization also attacks fiscal conservatives for promoting tax cuts and calls for dramatic tax increases. 10

The organization is also a supporter of the Green New Deal and has published a white paper detailing its suggestions for implementing the radical-environmentalist policy agenda. The organization’s suggestions for a Green New Deal include banning conventional fuel extraction as well as passing legislation to force private companies to transition to a cooperative employee-owned business model. 10

Policing

Another major project of the organization is its Dignity in Schools Campaign, which supports abolishing police presence in public schools in an attempt to eliminate the “schools-to-prison pipeline.” 11 The Dignity in Schools Campaign has several state-level chapters and its California chapter, Dignity in Schools California, in partnership with the Black Organizing Project, led a successful campaign to abolish the Oakland (California) Unified School District Police Department. 11

Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network

Partners for Dignity and Rights also leads the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility network, a labor union-connected project that works with workers in low-wage and low-skill jobs. The project was founded in 2015 in partnership with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Fair Foods Standards Council, Migrant Justice, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and the Workers Rights Consortium. 12

The mission of the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network is endorsed by over 60 left-leaning advocacy and labor union organizations including the AFL-CIO, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Economic Policy institute. 13

Leadership

Kesi Foster is the co-executive director for Partners for Dignity and Rights. Foster was formerly the co-director of the Youth Power Project at Make the Road New York (MRNY), where he advanced left-of-center campaigns advocating education policy, immigration expansion, and leniency in criminal justice. Previously, Foster has worked with the Urban Youth Collaborative, the largest youth-led educational justice coalition in New York City, as well as the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Beforehand, he held positions at the Right to Vote Campaign and worked with formerly incarcerated individuals and public housing residents in New York City. 14

Liz Sullivan-Yuknis is a co-executive director for Partners for Dignity and Rights. She was previously the education campaigns director for the organization, but became co-executive director in 2024. She previously worked as a consultant with Human Rights Education Associates and was a project coordinator at the Center for Economic and Social Rights. She holds a B.A. from Brown University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 15

Kavitha Mediratta is the board chair for Partners for Dignity and Rights. She previously worked as Chief Strategy Advisor for Equity Initiatives and Human Capital Development at now-defunct Atlantic Philanthropies. 16 17 18 19  Beforehand, Mediratta was a program officer at the New York Community Trust. She previously directed youth organizing and community organizing research programs at Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform and New York University. She has a B.A. from Amherst College, a Master’s of Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and a Ph.D. in Urban Education from New York University. 20

Carol Anderson is a member of Partners for Dignity and Rights’ Honorary Advisory Board. She is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. She is the author of several research reports and editorials including Eyes Off the Prize: The United Nations and the African-American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944-1955; and Bourgeois Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941-1960. Her most recent work as of 2024 was White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation’s Divide, which became a New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Editor’s Pick. In March 2017, it won the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. In 2018, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. 21

Finances

In 2022, Partners for Dignity and Rights reported $3,381,210 in revenue, $3,843,443 in expenses, and $5,545,430 in net assets. 22

Partners for Dignity and Rights has received nearly $5 million through 17 separate grants from the Ford Foundation since 2006. This includes $100,000 in 2006, $250,000 in 2007, $105,000 in 2008, $530,000 in 2009, $500,000 in 2011, $125,000 in 2013, $500,000 in 2014, $500,000 in 2015, $500,000 in 2017, $600,000 in 2019, $350,000 in 2021, $300,000 in 2022, and $500,000 in 2023. 23 24

In 2021, Partners for Dignity and Rights received grants from several left-of-center groups including the Rockefeller Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the OAK Foundation, 25 and Proteus Fund Inc. 26

The group also received a donation from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, in 2022. 27

In 2023, the Women Donors Network (WDN) awarded Partners for Dignity and Rights a $75,000 grant through its “Reflective Democracy Campaign.” 28

References

  1. “Five Questions for a Green New Deal.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Five-Questions-for-a-Green-New-Deal.pdf
  2. “Healthcare.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/initiative/healthcare/
  3. “Objectives.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/about/#objectives
  4. “Dignity in Schools.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/initiative/dignity-in-schools/
  5. “NESRI.” Atlantic Philanthropies. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantees/national-economic-and-social-rights-initiative
  6. “NESRI.” Blaustein Fund. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://blaufund.org/national-economic-social-rights-initiative-2/
  7. “Building Human Rights Models.” National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. Accessed via Wayback Machine July 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20041024002935/http://www.nesri.org/nesris_program/building_hr_models.html
  8. “Partners for Dignity and Rights.” Twitter Post. February 13, 2020. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://twitter.com/Partner4Dignity/status/1227983947818139649
  9. “Home.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/  
  10. “A New Social Contract.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ANSC-Report-Web-102320.pdf
  11. “CCJFG | Police-Free Schools: Dignity in Schools Campaign California Statewide Movement Building and a Framework for Abolition and Transformation.” Northern California Grantmakers. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://ncg.org/events/ccjfg-police-free-schools-dignity-schools-campaign-california-statewide-movement-building-and
  12. “About Us.” WSR Network. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://wsr-network.org/about-us/
  13. “Organizational Endorsers.” WSR Network. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://wsr-network.org/organizational-endorsers/
  14. “Kesi Foster.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://dignityandrights.org/team-member/kesi-foster/
  15. “Liz Sullivan-Yuknis.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://dignityandrights.org/team-member/liz-sullivan-yuknis/
  16. “Atlantic Philanthropies Gives $177 Million to Study Dementia.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. November 16, 2015. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Atlantic-Philanthropies-Gives/234224.
  17. Mider, Zachary. “Little-Known Force on the Left Tiptoes into 2016 Races.” Bloomberg.com. October 21, 2016. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-10-21/little-known-force-on-the-left-tiptoes-into-2016-races
  18. Joanne Florino. “New Reports on Strategic Time Horizons in Philanthropy.” Philanthropy Roundtable. November 3, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/home/blog/post/roundtable/2020/11/03/new-reports-on-strategic-time-horizons-in-philanthropy
  19. Joe Wilensky. “Chuck Feeney reaches lifetime goal: giving away a fortune.” Cornell Chronicle. October 8, 2020. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/10/chuck-feeney-reaches-lifetime-goal-giving-away-fortune
  20. “Kavitha Mediratta.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://dignityandrights.org/team-member/kavitha-mediratta/
  21. “Carol Anderson.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://dignityandrights.org/team-member/carol-anderson/
  22. “National Economic And Social Rights Initiative (Partners For Dignity And Rights) – 2022 Federal 990 Form. ProPublica. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/731714118/202442279349300534/full
  23. “Grants Database Search – National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.” Ford Foundation. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=National+Economic+and+Social+Rights+Initiative
  24. “Grants Database Search – National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.” Ford Foundation. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?page=2&search=National+Economic+and+Social+Rights+Initiative
  25. “Partners for Dignity and Rights.” Devex, Accessed November 12, 2024. https://www.devex.com/organizations/partners-for-dignity-and-rights-160240
  26. Proteus Fund Inc. – 2021 Federal 990 Form. Proteus Fund. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://www.proteusfund.org/wp-content/uploads/Proteus-Fund-2021-Form-990.pdf
  27. Scott, Mackenzie. “Helping Any of Us Can Help Us All.” Medium. March 23, 2022. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all-f4c7487818d9
  28. We Sent $3.8M to the Field This Fall.” Women Donors Network. 2023. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://womendonors.org/we-sent-3-8m-to-the-field-this-fall/
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: September - August
  • Tax Exemption Received: April 1, 2005

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2022 Sep Form 990 $7,207,370 $3,160,687 $6,044,417 $36,754 N $7,187,914 $18,650 $806 $296,190 PDF
    2021 Sep Form 990 $2,970,208 $3,001,623 $2,004,339 $43,359 N $2,969,914 $55 $239 $199,187 PDF
    2020 Sep Form 990 $3,498,228 $3,033,747 $2,318,468 $326,074 N $3,451,574 $15,000 $398 $217,925
    2019 Sep Form 990 $1,707,482 $2,585,051 $1,674,088 $146,173 N $1,702,831 $4,208 $443 $216,667 PDF
    2018 Sep Form 990 $3,989,825 $2,879,378 $2,515,130 $109,646 N $3,954,872 $34,639 $314 $226,591 PDF
    2017 Sep Form 990 $1,325,733 $2,785,577 $1,459,969 $209,819 N $1,305,671 $19,668 $394 $80,000 PDF
    2016 Sep Form 990 $3,723,540 $2,350,812 $3,157,567 $402,191 N $3,573,598 $149,515 $427 $80,000 PDF
    2015 Sep Form 990 $1,140,064 $2,229,503 $1,629,935 $247,287 N $1,133,744 $5,604 $716 $80,000 PDF
    2014 Sep Form 990 $2,830,536 $1,950,377 $2,575,327 $103,240 N $2,813,173 $15,179 $2,184 $80,000 PDF
    2013 Sep Form 990 $2,217,315 $1,609,244 $1,672,766 $80,838 N $2,193,967 $22,127 $1,221 $80,000 PDF
    2012 Sep Form 990 $1,699,380 $1,912,505 $1,099,098 $115,241 N $1,677,878 $20,064 $1,438 $80,000 PDF
    2011 Sep Form 990 $649,055 $1,546,251 $1,357,414 $160,432 N $624,068 $24,441 $546 $80,000 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Partners for Dignity & Rights

    55 Broadway Attn Bond Collective ST
    New York, NY