Responding to COVID-19 & an Update on Our Work
An Impact-Centered Response:
In response to coronavirus/COVID-19, Cypress Fund will be launching our Interdependence and Solidarity Fund. In North and South Carolina, the impact of Covid-19 has the potential to be both irrevocably devastating and a moment for incredible organizing and movement infrastructure building.
In late March, Cypress Fund convened our budding Movement Committee, made up of grassroots leaders from across North and South Carolina (read more about our Movement Committee here) to discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on the region and the need to create a rapid response fund to support communities during this time. The Interdependence and Solidarity Fund was created through a direct ask from our movement leaders – a directive for Cypress Fund to respond to the moment. Additionally, our leaders have asked that this Fund continue on beyond the COVID-19 crisis. At Cypress Fund, we believe in long term and sustainable support and hope to fold this into Cypress Fund’s wider grantmaking that we will soon get off the ground. In the meantime, we see the need for this immediate support.
We have a bold goal of raising $500,000, split between our 501c(3) and our 501c(4), for this rapid response fund. Join us by donating directly to this critical work. For groups interested in applying for support: Grant application instructions will be available shortly.
You can read more about the Interdependence and Solidarity Fund here.
And sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of the page for updates.
In addition, Cypress Fund launched a public list of COVID-19 resources for grassroots movements in the Carolinas. This includes opportunities for funding, wellness and self-care resources, and virtual organizing advice. Some resources are nationally available and others are specifically localized to the Carolinas.
This list is user-generated! Please share the link to these resources or add any entry to the spreadsheet if you know of any resources that are missing.
Our work in early 2020:
Since our last update from our convening of movement leaders in October 2019, Cypress Fund has been working to build and grow. In late 2019, Cypress Fund officially launched as a social justice fund for the Carolinas. Here are some updates about what our team has been up to thus far in 2020:
One of the founding members of Cypress Fund, Chi-Ante Singletary, has taken the helm as our first Executive Director. Meanwhile, co-founders Maggie Heraty, David Roswell, and Bryan Perlmutter have transitioned to become members of Cypress’ Executive Committee.
Chi-Ante has been building relationships and trust with social justice leaders across North and South Carolina. This has included taking many trips across the two states, with an eye towards areas that are traditionally under-resourced. We are excited to be in conversation with groups in Eastern NC, indigenous communities and councils in both NC and SC, and more.
We gathered and convened our Movement Committee, our advisory board of social justice leaders who have direct control over Cypress Fund’s grantmaking and advise on our strategic direction. We are proud to welcome an amazing team of grassroots organizers from across the Carolinas to our work: AJ Williams, Ariel Eure, Courtney Thomas, Manzoor Cheema, and Vivian Anderson.
In early February, Cypress Fund co-hosted a funder briefing in South Carolina, which introduced over 40 funders to grassroots leaders in South Carolina for the first time.
In collaboration with Cypress Fund, Bryan Perlmutter and Jessica Pierce of Piece by Piece Strategies led a 501c4, electoral organizing training for leaders in South Carolina over President’s Day, to build up grassroots leaders’ capacity and training.
We officially joined the Giving Project Learning Community and have been building relationships with other social justice funds (SJFs) across the country that run Giving Projects. This Learning Community includes many funds that were previously a part of the Funding Exchange and have been leading the way in creating a model for donor organizing within a foundation.
Finally, we made our first grants to support electoral organizing in South Carolina prior to the SC primary elections. With guidance from several movement committee leaders from South Carolina, we identified and moved resources to 4 organizations including a newly formed latinx coalition, several new and emerging groups and a movement infrastructure building partner. Check back at our website soon for more details and a list of our grantees.