The Funding Exchange

History

Founding

The Funding Exchange was founded in 1979, but traced its origins to the 1960s and the effects radical-left student protests and activism had on young heirs to large fortunes who were educated during that period. ²

One of the most important heirs was George Pillsbury. Pillsbury was the great-grandson of the founder of the well-known Pillsbury food company, and his parents were heavily involved in Minnesota state politics, with his father having been elected as a Republican state senator and his mother very engaged in political fundraising. However, while attending Yale University, Pillsbury aligned with the radical left and became a financial supporter of the local Black Panther Party, eventually volunteering for the organization and becoming involved in anti-war and women’s activist movements as well. ³

Pillsbury later joined with another baking fortune heir, Obie Benz, who founded the Vanguard Foundation. Eventually, other like-minded heirs began communicating about how to carry out their political goals and the best strategies for using their wealth to do so, with a core component being the redistribution of wealth. The Funding Exchange’s innovation at the time was providing funding for local-level activist organizations, while also remaining relatively hands off with how the funds were used, with the overarching goal of making fortunes like those heirs inherited impossible in the future. ²

Networked Organizations and Donor-Advised Funds Model

When it was founded in 1979, the central office of the Funding Exchange functioned as an administrative center to connect left-of-center heirs with community organizations to provide funding. At its launch, the network included six community organizations. ²

Eventually, the national organization began managing donor-advised funds as a means of generating income, though this decision was controversial because some members believed that it was a departure from the community-activist focused grantmaking that the organization had started with. However, this model allowed the national office to begin making national, as opposed to very localized, grants, which was something that donors had desired. ²

Decline and Conclusion of Operations

Before the organization’s final dissolution in 2018, the board of directors commissioned a legacy task force to compile the history of the organization and examine what had led to its closure. This report was released in 2016. ²

Among the notable events that led to the organization’s closure was the collapse of the Vanguard Public Foundation, which had been a founding member of the Funding Exchange. The organization, which had been founded in 1972, was ejected from the exchange network in 2007 due to complaints that grants were not being fulfilled and aberrant financial decisions. The organization collapsed in 2011 amidst an investment scam after its executive director was found guilty of wire fraud and money laundering. ²

In addition to this financial concerns, numerous internal fights broke out stemming from disagreements among stakeholders, ranging from how the board of directors functioned, to prolonged and highly contentious battles over diversity and representation programs and trainings. ²

After the financial crisis of 2008, the national office cut staff. The Funding Exchange saw a 50 percent drop in the amount of money in its donor-advised funds between 2000 and 2011. The organization voted to cease national programs in 2012, and in 2013, it announced that the organization would be dissolved, with the assets being divided up among the remaining network organizations. ²

Financials

Fiscal year 2017, which ended on June 30, 2018, was the Funding Exchange’s last year in operation. In that year the organization reported $5,856,192 in revenue, of which $5,813,082 was derived from investment income, specifically the liquidation of assets. In the prior fiscal year, the organization reported only $104,762 in revenue, of which $103,089 was derived from investment income. The organization had $8,847,897 in expenses, which was partially funded via the liquidation of the organization’s remaining assets. In total, $8,495,108 was distributed as grants. The organization liquidated its $3,330,724 in assets, ending the fiscal year and ceasing operations with zero net assets. ⁴

Policies and Projects

In addition to operating as a hub for funding to flow to regional grantmaking organizations that funded local community organizations, the national office of the Funding Exchange also provided its own grants, most often through donor-advised funds which it managed. During the last years of the fund’s existence as it wound down, contributions were only made to member organizations. However, prior to this decision, the organization contributed to a left-of-center organizations around the country. ²

In fiscal year 2010, the fund distributed over $4 million in grants, of which only $573,744 was distributed to member organizations, with the rest being distributed to 79 various left-of-center groups around the country focused on environmental, economic, racial, and sexuality- and gender-focused organizations. Grant recipients included the left-of-center Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Resources Defense Council, and the Gay/Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). ⁵

Member Funds

List at Dissolution

At the time of its dissolution, the Funding Exchange had 16 member funds that continued operations around the country. Prior to dissolution, the funds were overseen by members for the board of directors who guided the organization’s operation. ⁶

The Appalachian Community Fund, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, operates in West Virginia and eastern Tennessee. It funds left-of-center organizations focused on race, economics, gender and sexual identity, and environmental issues.  ⁷

The Bread and Roses Community Fund is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was started in 1971 as a way for people associated with radical groups, such as the Black Panther Party and Women United for Abortion Rights, to make advocacy contributions under the name The People’s Fund. This name was changed to “the Bread and Roses Community Fund” in 1977. The group embraces a revolutionary left-of-center politics and makes grants to combat what it considers to be injustice and inequality in economic, gender, and sexual fields. ⁸

The Chinook Fund is based in Denver, Colorado and embraces a revolutionary left-wing politics through grantmaking to racial minority-led organizations that advance a vision of what it considers to be social justice.  ⁹

The Crossroads Fund is based in Chicago, Illinois and provides grants to local organizations that advance its left-of-center conception of racial, social, and economic justice, specifically environmental, economic, and sexual and gender issues among others. ¹⁰

The Foundation for Change is based in Wheaton, Illinois and promotes a “restorative justice” approach to criminal justice. ¹¹

The Fund for Idaho is a left-of-center organization that works to partner with community activists to guide grant making focused on gender, racial, and environmental issues. ¹²

The Fund for Santa Barbara is a left-of-center organization that promotes the rights of Indigenous people, saying it conducts work on “unceded” and “sacred” land, and works towards an end to “exploitation” and “oppression.”  ¹³

The Fund for Southern Communities is based in Decatur, Georgia and funds left-of-center organizations in Georgia and North and South Carolina. The fund supports organizations that are focused on environmental, “anti-racist”, economic, and sexual and gender activism. ¹⁴

The Hawaii People’s Fund funds left-of-center community activist groups in Hawaii that focus on “social justice.” ¹⁵

The Haymarket People’s Fund is a left-of-center grant making institution in Boston, Massachusetts. George Pillsbury, one of the key founders of the Funding Exchange, was one of the original founders. The organization is named after the Haymarket Affair of 1886, which resulted in the death of eight police officers and four labor protesters. The fund’s website euphemistically refers to the bombing as a “working people’s event” with the claim that it led to the adoption of the eight-hour working day, with no mention of the bombings or deaths. The fund supports community organizations working to overthrow “systemic racism” and hosts workshops for members of the “social justice movement” to “undo racism.” ^{16  2}

The Headwaters Foundation for Justice promotes racial minority advocacy organizations in Minnesota and has been heavily involved in funding anti-law enforcement protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd. ¹⁷

The Liberty Hill Foundation is a left-of-center, Los Angeles-based social change grant making organization that emphasizes decision making by those “closest to pain” and embraces a broad spectrum of intersectional revolutionary causes, including racial, gender, and sexual activism, as well as environmental and economic causes. ¹⁸ George Pillsbury’s sister, Sarah Pillsbury was involved in the organization’s founding in the 1970s. ²

The McKenzie River Gathering Foundation (now known as Seeding Justice) is an Oregon-based left-of-center grant making organization focused on “liberation” and advancing its conception of racial, economic, and environmental activism. ¹⁹

The North Star Fund is a New York-based left-of-center grant making organization that funds racial minority-focused organizations that advance “social justice” in the New York City and Hudson Valley areas. Over the 40 years between its founding and 2022, the organization had dispersed over $93 million in funds. ²⁰

The Wisconsin Community Fund of Forward Community Investments is a Wisconsin-based community development financial institution that provides loans and training to communities lacking in access to financing. ²¹

The Three Rivers Community Foundation is a Pittsburgh-based left-of-center grant making organization that funds a variety of community organizations focused on sexual and gender, economic, and environmental issues. ²²

Activity Since Dissolution

The former Funding Exchange member funds have continued operating and, in many cases, expanded substantially in the years since the national organization’s 2018 dissolution. Several have grown into significant regional grantmakers, with combined grantmaking activity that carries forward the national network’s founding mission. ^{23 24 25 26 27}

The North Star Fund has grown substantially since the Funding Exchange’s dissolution. By June 2022, North Star had surpassed $100 million in total cumulative grants to over 2,650 organizations, and as of June 2025, reported having awarded $146 million in grants to more than 3,000 organizations and made more than 11,000 total grants through its own funds, donor-advised funds, and philanthropic partnerships. In 2022, the fund ended its Future of Organizing Fund, launched in response to COVID-19, after distributing more than $3.6 million to 140 nonprofits across the country. ^{23 24}

In 2020, the Headwaters Foundation for Justice received $300,000 from George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society to support fellowships and network-building for the “racial justice movement ecosystem” in Minneapolis. According to the organization’s 2024 tax filings, it reported revenues of $5,282,846, expenses of $7,851,691, and net assets of $14,066,956. In January 2026, Headwaters partnered with the Trust Based Philanthropy Project through a “Meet the Moment” initiative, which the group framed as a response to the political climate of the second Trump administration. ^{28 25 29 30}

The Liberty Hill Foundation, which was co-founded by George Pillsbury’s sister Sarah Pillsbury, has grown into a major Los Angeles regional grantmaker. Now in its fifth decade of operation, Liberty Hill held $32.5 million in assets as of 2024 and made 452 grants that year. The foundation relaunched its Fund for Change program in 2025 with a Community Funding Board structure, reinforcing its participatory grantmaking model. ^{26 31}

The McKenzie River Gathering Foundation, now rebranded as Seeding Justice, has significantly expanded its scale by administering large state government grant programs in Oregon. Beginning in March 2022, the Oregon Legislature allocated $15 million to create a Reproductive Health Equity Fund, which Seeding Justice administered through a community-led steering committee; the fund completed its final grant awards in March 2024. Separately, the Oregon Legislature allocated $22 million in 2022 for a Child Care Capacity Building Fund that Seeding Justice also administered. In 2024, the organization made $18.17 million in grants across 153 awards. ^{32 33 34}