Solidaire Network

As of 2017, it claimed over 130 donors and funders across the United States. ⁴

History

The Solidaire Network was founded in 2013, by a small group of wealthy activists who were inspired heavily by the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011. ⁵ One of its co-founders, Leah Hunt-Hendrix, nicknamed “Occupy’s heiress” in an interview in Salon, assumed the role of executive director. ⁶

According to an interview with the left-leaning Invested Impact blog, the Solidaire Network began with the single goal of aligning already-existing giving. ⁷ Soon after, however, its pooled fund, “Movement R&D,” was created to support innovation in currently small-scale movements.

Two other fund types were later developed, the first being the September 2016 “Aligned Giving Fund,” in which Solidaire donors concentrate their additional donating—on top of that given through the pooled fund—specifically for the Movement for Black Lives. ⁸

Its other fund is its “Emergent Fund,” established after the outcome of the 2016 elections and intended to quickly get funds to activists in need within 1-5 days of them being requested. ⁹ The Emergent Fund operates in partnership with the Women Donors Network, the Threshold Foundation, and the Democracy Alliance, and the Proteus Fund maintains the Emergent Fund. ¹⁰

In November of 2018, Leah Hunt-Hendrix was succeeded by Rajasvini Bhansali, Solidaire’s current Executive Director. ¹¹

On the website owned by organizer and activist Morgan H. Curtis, the Solidaire Network is named as one of several grant-making organizations where Curtis recommends one’s inherited wealth may be redistributed to. According to the bio on her website, Curtis claims that she wishes to redistribute 100% of her inherited wealth she believes was, “stolen from the labor of enslaved African people, the rights of workers, lands of Indigenous people and the health of ecosystems.” ¹² On her website, “Ancestors and Money Coaching,” she offers an 8-month counseling and coaching services program on how participants can learn about, “wealth redistribution, ancestral connection and dismantling white supremacy.” ¹³ The amount charged per month varies based on the amount of wealth of a participant, ranging from $255 – $1,285 per month. ¹³

Activities

Its Movement R&D Fund is predicated on its donors giving a minimum of $10,000 each year, which is then distributed out to nonprofits that are decided upon by a 9-person Giving Committee. ⁷ Solidaire Fund’s annual report from 2016 indicates that $625,000 was given out through the fund that year. ¹⁴

The Aligned Giving Fund doesn’t have a designated personal requirement, but rather, a collective requirement: $1 million a year for five years, all going to key organizations within Movement for Black Lives. As of 2016, the Aligned Giving Fund had 41 members commit a total of $695,000 a year, for a five-year prospective total of $3.475 million. ¹⁴

The Emergent Fund operates through a “listserv,” or an email system that alerts members to activists in dire need. In 2016, it doled out $805,200 through this method. ¹⁴

In an op-ed written for Inside Philanthropy, Solidaire Network executive director Rajasvini Bhansali claimed that more nonprofits should advocate in favor of protecting the right to protest and assembly. He claimed, “It’s time for philanthropy to invest in the urgent security needs, long-term security infrastructure and legal advocacy of movements that enable us to protest and engage in other forms of dissent as a key pathway to social progress.” ¹⁵ He noted multiple pieces of legislation within the United States he claimed were made to increase pressure on protesters, while also stating, “We must join the fight before our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and the right to assemble are gone.” ¹⁵

In 2025, the Solidaire Network partnered with the Trust Based Philanthropy Project through their “Meet the moment” initiative. This initiative seeks to bring its supporters together “in solidarity with nonprofits.” The group claims that the political climate could pose risks to nonprofits through reductions in funding, legal concerns, and lack of staff. ¹⁶

Leadership

The Executive Director of the Solidaire Network, Rajasvini Bhansali, played a key role in advancing the Black Lives Matter Global Network. In the eight years prior to joining the Solidaire Network, Bhansali was Executive Director of Thousand Currents, a funder and incubator of nonprofits that supported Black Lives Matter as it attempted to expand. ¹⁷

Though the Solidiare Network does not disclose the salaries of its officers, April 2017 job postings for the position of “Project Director” indicated that compensation for that position could range from $80,000 to over $110,000, “based on experience.” ¹⁸

Finances

Publicly available filings from 2016 show total revenues of $741,739 and total expenses of $654,833. ¹⁴

Funding

In December 2025, the Solidaire Network was one of multiple organizations that received a grant from Yield Giving, the philanthropic initiative started by MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. In 2025 alone, Scott, through Yield Giving, donated over $7.16 billion to philanthropies and other charity organizations around the world. ¹⁹