The Just Trust is a left-of-center grantmaking organization established and funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). The group was spun off from the CZI to manage its criminal justice policy efforts. After receiving $350 million in starter funds, The Just Trust has been fiscally managed by the New Venture Fund.
The Just Trust began issuing grants in early 2022. As of mid-2022, most of its recipients have been state-level organizations, including many chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Just Trust is run by numerous former CZI executives, including CEO Ana Zamora. The Just Trust’s founding board includes many prominent figures in philanthropy, including CZI co-founder Priscilla Chan, former CZI executive and advisor to President Barack Obama David Plouffe, as well as right-leaning figures like Stand Together CEO Brian Hooks and Kevin Madden, former advisor to U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT).
The Just Trust has a sister lobbying group, The Just Trust for Action.
Founding
In January 2021, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s criminal justice reform grantmaking apparatus was spun off as the Justice Accelerator Fund, which was later renamed The Just Trust. The Just Trust was granted $350 million over five years as part of its efforts to push for left-of-center criminal justice policies in the United States, including reducing incarceration, changes to bail, and easier clearing of criminal records. As The Just Trust was launched, CZI also gave $100 million to FWD.US, another group associated with Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, to support criminal justice leniency efforts legislatively. 1
CEO Ana Zamora has said that The Just Trust is not meant to “reinvent the wheel” of criminal justice advocacy, but rather to “accelerate [the] momentum” of the existing reform movement with grants. The Just Trust’s initial funding strategy is based on a combination of support for friendly media, public education, political advocacy, and building partnerships with established organizations in the field. 2
Grantees
In March 2022, The Just Trust and The Just Trust for Action announced their first grants, which amounted to $36.3 million divided between 25 organizations. Recipients included the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and West Virginia, as well as the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, the Prison Fellowship, Right on Crime, and the Prison Journalism Project. 3
In August 2022, The Just Trust announced the first grantees for its State-by-State Campaign focused on state-level criminal justice reform initially in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Grantees included ACLU chapters in all four states, as well as the Alabama Justice Initiative, the Pelican Institute, the Louisiana chapter of the Vera Institute for Justice, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, the Oklahoma Policy Institute, and Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform. 4
Leadership
Priscilla Chan
Priscilla Chan is a founding board member of The Just Trust. Chan is the wife of billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with whom she co-founded and with whom she works as co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation, and Chan Zuckerberg Advocacy. 5
Brian Hooks
Founding board member Brian Hooks is the chairman and CEO of Stand Together, a right-libertarian group supported by billionaire Charles Koch. He was formerly president of both the Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute, and ran the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a libertarian think tank. 6
Candice Jones
Founding board member Candice Jones is the president of the Public Welfare Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking group primarily focused on criminal justice policy and advancing labor unions. She has also worked for Chicago CRED, which advocates against gun violence, as a White House fellow for the U.S. Department of Education, and as a program officer at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 7
Kevin Madden
Founding board member Kevin Madden is the executive vice president at Arnold Ventures, a for-profit left-of-center grantmaking institution. Madden previously worked for U.S. Senator Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, as communications director for the Office of the Majority Leader during periods of Republican control in the U.S. Congress, as deputy director of public affairs for the U.S. Justice Department under President George W. Bush, and as a campaign spokesman for President Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign. 8
David Plouffe
Founding board member David Plouffe was the president of policy and advocacy at CZI from 2017-2019. Plouffe is best known as a Democratic political operative; his management of Barack Obama’s (D) 2008 presidential campaign brought him to prominence. Since then, Plouffe has served as a senior adviser to President Obama, worked as executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, sat on the board of the Obama Foundation, and worked as senior vice president of policy and strategy for Uber. 9
Ana Zamora
Ana Zamora is the first CEO of The Just Trust after a long career in criminal justice reform advocacy, particularly relating to the death penalty. 10 She is also listed as The Just Trust’s founder. 11
Zamora previously worked at CZI for almost three years as criminal justice manager and then director of criminal justice reform. From 2009 through 2018, Zamora was the criminal justice director of the ACLU of Northern California, during which time she also was the campaign manager for Californians for Justice’s No on Prop 66 campaign, which opposed a referendum to expedite use of the death penalty. Zamora took a one year break from the ACLU to work as a policy director at the 8th Amendment Foundation, which also opposes the death penalty. From 2011through 2013, Zamora was the program director at Death Penalty Focus, and worked as an assistant campaign manager on SAFE California’s unsuccessful campaign for Proposition 34, which would have outlawed the death penalty. 12
From 2005 through 2008, Zamora was an information resources manager for the California Appellate Project, which provided legal counsel to death row inmates. Prior, she started her career working as a health, environment, and safety officer at Bayer. 13
Jolene Forman
Chief program officer Jolene Forman is a CZI and ACLU of Northern California alumnus, and a long-time criminal justice policy advocate. Prior to joining The Just Trust, Forman was also a director of criminal justice reform at CZI for 2.5 years. From 2015 through 2019, she worked at the Drug Policy Alliance as a senior staff attorney. From 2013 through 2015, Forman was a policy attorney at ACLU of Northern California, and prior she worked for numerous organizations supporting female prisoners in California. 14
Jenna LeDoux
Vice president of brand and communications Jenna LeDoux worked as director of communications, justice, and opportunity at CZI from 2018 through 2021. 15
Ali Tamboura
Associate program lead Ali Tamboura was also a manager of criminal justice reform at CZI prior to the establishment of The Just Trust. He is concurrently the director of strategic partnerships at the Anti Recidivism Coalition, which is a 2021 field advisor to The Just Trust. 16
James Gore
Senior program officer James Gore previously worked for over 13 years at the Z Smith Reynolds Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking group based in North Carolina. 17
Matt Boitano
Investment partnerships manager Matt Boitano previously worked for over four years as the national director of development at Dream Corps, a left-of-center policy advocacy group primarily focused on the environment and tech companies which was also a 2021 field advisor for The Just Trust. 18
Partner Organizations
The Just Trust lists the following “2021 Field Advisors”: Forward Justice, Dream Corps, JustLeadership USA, the Anti Recidivism Coalition, Reform Alliance, the American Conservative Union Foundation, and Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform. 19
References
- “Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Announces $450 Million to Accelerate Criminal Justice & Immigration Reform.” Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. January 27, 2021. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://chanzuckerberg.com/newsroom/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-announces-450-million-to-accelerate-criminal-justice-immigration-reform/.
- “Letter From Our Founder.” The Just Trust. September 20, 2021. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://thejusttrust.org/news/letter-from-our-founder/.
- “The Just Trust and the Just Trust for Action Announce First Grants; Launch Open Funding Call in Select States.” The Just Trust. March 1, 2022. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://thejusttrust.org/news/the-just-trust-and-the-just-trust-for-action-announce-first-grants-launch-open-funding-call-in-select-states/.
- “The Just Trust Announces First Grant Recipients By State Campaign.” The Just Trust. August 2, 2022. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://thejusttrust.org/news/the-just-trust-announces-first-grant-recipients-for-state-by-state-campaign/.
- “About Us.” The Just Trust. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://thejusttrust.org/about-us/.
- “Brian Hooks.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-hooks/.
- “Candice Jones.” Public Welfare. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.publicwelfare.org/team/candice-c-jones/.
- “Kevin Madden.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmadden/.
- “David Plouffe.” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-plouffe-00662396/.
- “Ana Zamora (She/Her).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-zamora-6180ab17/.
- “Letter From Our Founder.” The Just Trust. September 20, 2021. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://thejusttrust.org/news/letter-from-our-founder/.
- “Ana Zamora (She/Her).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-zamora-6180ab17/.
- “Ana Zamora (She/Her).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-zamora-6180ab17/.
- “Jolene Forman (She/Her).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joleneforman/.
- “Jenna LeDoux (She/Her).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenna-ledoux-3535a221/.
- “Aly Tamboura (He/Him).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aly-tamboura/.
- [1] “James Gore (He/Him).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-gore-8892284/.
- “Matt Boitano (He/Him).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattboitano/.
- “About Us.” The Just Trust. Accessed August 24, 2022. https://thejusttrust.org/about-us/.