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Collective Courage Fund

Website:

www.thepartnershipfund.net/project-1-the-collective-courage-fund
Status:

Project of New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund

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Collective Courage Fund is an unincorporated political action project dedicated “to building a robust cooperative movement of urban and rural black cooperatives.” A joint effort among the New Venture Fund, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Partnership Funds, the Partnership Action Fund, the National Black Food and Justice Alliance, and Piece by Piece Strategies, its goal is to grow and institutionalize independent left-of-center Black political power. 1

Background

The Collective Courage Fund references the book title, Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. Written by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, a New York University political economist, the book charts the impact of Black mutual benefit societies and cooperative businesses on left-wing economic organizing and the civil rights movement. 2

The Collective Courage Fund is an alliance of unincorporated entities, incorporated nonprofits, and a for profit firm. It operates under the aegis of the unincorporated Partnership Fund, “a pooled […] c3/c4 fund focused on building independent political power.” 3 The Partnership Fund is a “project” of the Arabella Advisors-managed New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3), in concert with the Arabella-managed Sixteen Thirty Fund (1630 Fund), a 501(c)(4). 4 The Sixteen Thirty Fund supports the unincorporated Partnership Action Fund under the Partnership Fund alliance umbrella. 5

The remaining two Collective Courage Fund partners are the National Black Food and Justice Alliance, a 501(c)(3) Black-led membership organization dedicated to Black independent control over food systems 6 and Piece by Piece Strategies, a for profit consulting firm focused on building BIPOC power through political organizing. 7

Activities

The Collective Courage Fund claims to award multi-year operating support to Black-led food cooperatives and “their closest allies” to build left-wing Black political power in selected states. The names of Black-led food cooperatives in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, California, and Michigan appear on the Partnership Fund website. 8

Similarly, the Collective Courage Fund purports to support “movement building ecosystems” in Virginia, Minnesota, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and Missouri. It envisions “a national sustainable Black food cooperative movement that can feed and employ tens of thousands across the country.” 9

Neither the New Venture Fund 10 nor the Sixteen Thirty Fund 11 report the extent and nature of Collective Courage Fund awards and activities on their websites or tax returns. 12 13

Funding

The Partnership Fund describes itself not only as a “c3/c4” but as “a grantmaking collaborative made up of leading local, state, and national funders that work toward greater and sustained philanthropic investment in states and organizing.” 14

One such grant maker is the Ford Foundation. In October 2020, Ford bestowed $50,000 in funding on the New Venture Fund to support the Partnership Fund’s “work with Black cooperatives to help engage in civic engagement efforts.” From 2013 to 2022, Ford gave $6,900,000 to the Partnership Fund through New Venture to “strengthen cohorts of state-based civic engagement leaders and organizations through grantmaking and a sustained learning network of grantseekers and grantmakers” and “to develop durable community organizing and civic engagement infrastructure to build the power of marginalized communities in multiple states.” 15

The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation is a left-of-center donor-advised fund provider. Through its Independent Resource Generation Hub, it awarded a grant to the Partnership Fund to “support the development of organizing and civic engagement capacity of the Black food co-op network and the development of their political agenda.” 16

The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation gave $507,500 in general operating support to the New Venture Fund in 2021. 17

People

Erin Dale McClellan is the executive director of the Partnership Fund and the Partnership Action Fund. 18 She was the executive director of Blueprint NC, an organization dedicated to building “long-term” political power through supporting left-of-center Democratic candidates and causes; and is the board chair of the Fertile Ground Food Cooperative, a Black-led cooperative grocery store in North Carolina. 19 She earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the College of William and Mary. 20

References

  1. The Partnership Fund. Building independent political power. “Project 1: The Collective Courage Fund.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.thepartnershipfund.net/project-1-the-collective-courage-fund
  2. Nembhard, Jessica Gordon. Collective courage: A history of African American cooperative economic thought and practice. Penn State University Press, 2015. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-06216-7.html
  3. The Partnership Fund. Building independent political power. “Vision and Funding Strategies.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.thepartnershipfund.net/vision-and-funding-strategies
  4. The Partnership Fund. Building independent political power. “The Partnership Fund. Building Independent Political Power.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.thepartnershipfund.net/
  5. The Partnership Action Funds C4. “The Partnership Action Funds C4.” Accessed August 13, 2023. https://thepartnershipactionfund.org/
  6. National Black Food & Justice Alliance. “About Us.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.blackfoodjustice.org/about-us-1
  7. Piece By Piece Strategies. “Home.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://piecebypiecestrategies.org/
  8. The Partnership Fund. Building independent political power. “Vision and Funding Strategies.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.thepartnershipfund.net/vision-and-funding-strategies
  9. The Partnership Fund. Building independent political power. “Project 1: The Collective Courage Fund.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.thepartnershipfund.net/project-1-the-collective-courage-fund
  10. “(No Title).” Accessed August 13, 2023. https://newventurefund.org/
  11. Sixteen Thirty Fund. “About Us.” Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.sixteenthirtyfund.org/about-us/
  12. ProPublica. “New Venture Fund, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205806345/202243139349303999/full
  13. ProPublica. “Sixteen Thirty Fund, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/264486735/202243119349300829/full
  14. NPAG. “The Partnership Fund,” October 11, 2017. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://npag.com/archive2/tpf-ed
  15. Ford Foundation. “Grants Database.” Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=The+Partnership+Fund
  16.  “Independent Resource Generation Hub Announces First Docket in Partnership with Amalgamated Foundation | Amalgamated Foundation.” Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.amalgamatedfoundation.org/news/independent-resource-generation-hub-announces-first-docket-partnership-amalgamated-foundation
  17. ProPublica. “Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” Accessed August 12, 2023.  https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/821517696/202212099349301211/full
  18. The Partnership Fund. Building independent political power. “Our Team.” Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.thepartnershipfund.net/our-team
  19. “About Us.” Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.fertileground.coop/about-us
  20. LinkedIn. Erin Dale McClellan. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-dale-mcclellan-2b714b4
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