Criminal Justice Funders Forum is a network of philanthropic organizations that supports the end to mass incarceration and liberalizing changes to the criminal legal system. Forum members collaborate and share information with those who have been impacted by the criminal legal system with a focus on “communities of color that are most harmed by structural oppression, exclusion, and excess punishment.” ¹

The Forum includes 30 funders that invest over $500 million annually in left-of-center criminal justice support. ² Forum members include the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. ³

Background

In 2017, Freedman Consulting, a consulting firm for philanthropies, public interest organizations, and policymakers that provides strategic planning, coalition management, and policy development consulting, worked with a group of foundations focused on left-of-center criminal justice policies to build the Criminal Justice Funders Forum. ² These initial foundations included the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. ³

Other Freedman Consulting clients include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Democracy Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.  ⁴

The Criminal Justice Funders Forum holds in-person and online meetings to discuss funding opportunities and strategies and to hear from current or potential grantees in the criminal justice area. It hosts an email listserv for ongoing communications among members. Freedman Consulting continues to provide support and host meetings. ⁵ The forum’s focus area is “decarceration” and dismantling of the prison system. ⁵

Membership

Initial Forum participants included the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Open Philanthropy, and other large philanthropies. ³

Although a membership roster is not available, confirmed members also include the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and Arnold Ventures. ^{5 6}

According to Inside Philanthropy, the membership roster is “a diverse group of foundations in terms of their size, range of programmatic focus areas and geographic locations, with most being national funders.” ⁵

Funding

According to Inside Philanthropy, each Forum member has committed to annual criminal justice-related grantmaking of a minimum of $5 million. ⁵

In 2023, Criminal Justice Funders Forum’s members granted $500 million into criminal justice-related work. Most Forum members indicated that their criminal justice budgets for 2024 were higher or the same. ⁵

Leadership

Kyra Jennings, president of Freedman Consulting, launched the Criminal Justice Funders Forum. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science and government, Jennings worked with the Democratic Leadership Council and the Progressive Policy Institute. She was a communications director for U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and press secretary for 2010 Florida Democratic candidate for governor Alex Sink. She joined Freedman Consulting in 2011. While there, Jennings has also launched the Democracy Funders Collaborative and Next Century Cities. ^{7 8}

Angie Junck, director of human rights at the Heising-Simons Foundation, is on the Forum’s executive committee. ⁵ She focuses on strategies for grantmaking to “challenge mass criminalization of Black, indigenous, and people of color in the criminal legal and immigration enforcement systems.” ⁹ Prior to joining the foundation in 2018, Junck was an attorney and director of immigrant defense at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center for over 13 years. She is a board member of several left-of-center organizations including the Texas Future Project, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, Human Rights Watch, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, and Women Donors Network. ^{10 11 9}

Nancy Fishman, senior director of criminal justice grantmaking at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, is on the Forum’s executive committee. ⁵ Prior to joining the foundation, Fishman was a project director at the Vera Institute of Justice.¹²

Amy Solomon was on the executive committee of the Criminal Justice Funders Forum. She was the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) in the Biden Administration. The OJP is the grantmaking arm of the United States Department of Justice. Prior to that appointment, she was vice president of criminal justice at Arnold Ventures where she also served on the executive committee of the Criminal Justice Funders Forum until 2021. Previously, Solomon held several positions with the Department of Justice and also with the Urban Institute. ^{13 6}

1. “Co-Sponsored Webinar: Funder Strategies for Housing and Criminal Justice Reform.” Funders Together. September 5, 2024. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://www.funderstogether.org/funder_strategies_for_housing_and_criminal_justice_reform
2. “Building a Funders Forum for Criminal Justice Reform.” Freedman Consulting, LLC – Our Work. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://tfreedmanconsulting.com/our-work/
3. “Milestones.” Art For Justice Fund. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://artforjusticefund.org/milestones/
4. “Our Work.” Freedman Consulting, LLC. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://tfreedmanconsulting.com/our-work/
5.  Dawn Wolfe. “This Quiet Network of Criminal Justice Funders Moved $500 Million Last Year.” Inside Philanthropy. October 24, 2024. Accessed November 7, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/this-quiet-network-of-criminal-justice-funders-moved-500-million-last-year
6. “Amy Solomon.” U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Accessed November 7, 2024. https://www.ojp.gov/archives/about/amy-solomon
7. LinkedIn – Kyra Jennings. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyra-jennings-8abb9027/
8. “Our Team.” Freedman Consulting, LLC. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://tfreedmanconsulting.com/our-team/
9.  “Angie Junck.” WDN Action – Meet Our Board. Accessed November 7, 2024. https://www.wdnaction.org/angie-junck
10. “Angie Junck.” Heising-Simons Foundation – Our People. Accessed November 7, 2024. https://www.hsfoundation.org/person/angie-junck/
11. LinkedIn – Angie Junck. Accessed November 7, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-junck-5b42409/
12. “Nancy Fishman.” Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. Accessed November 7, 2024. https://www.schusterman.org/who-we-are/our-team/nancy-fishman
13. LinkedIn – Amy Solomon. Accessed November 7, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-solomon-515334124/