Fʀᴏᴍ: Executive Director of the Benefactors of Learning Organized Boldly (BLOB)

Tᴏ: Our Valued Members and Allies

Sᴜʙᴊᴇᴄᴛ: Combating Polarization in 2024 and Beyond

Dear Friends,

We’re just months away from a momentous presidential election, one that’s unfolding against a backdrop of systemic racism, anti-LGBTQIA+ bigotry, right-wing book banning, anti-abortion extremism, and MAGA efforts to gut our public schools and politicize our courts. This makes it a crucial time for the education funding community, whatever our politics, to join together in a bipartisan manner to defend democracy and save our public schools.

This spring, we celebrated the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, which nominally ended school segregation while turning a blind eye to continued oppression and settler colonialism. To make sense of Brown’s legacy, I’ve turned to brilliant, moral giants—like journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, jurist Lani Guinier, and scholar Ibram X. Kendi—to help me grasp how American slavocracy constrains democratic processes and how education can make a difference.

Despite our shared commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, our sector has too often been complicit in stalling or thwarting social justice. It has empowered rich white men at the expense of college-trained philanthropic staff. It has validated neoliberal capitalism and hindered intersectional equity. That’s why, as we look to this fall’s elections, we must consider whether our actions are advancing a culture of democratic thriving or a hateful MAGA agenda of illiberalism.

This is not about politics, of course. It’s about all of us, regardless of ideological labels, together promoting a nonpartisan vision of anti-racist, tolerant, participatory democracy. Philanthropy isn’t just about giving, after all. It’s about solidarity, lifting each other up, and rejecting those who prefer oppression to opportunity. It’s about advancing equity and atoning for our colonial past.

That’s why I’m writing today. I want to share with you two exciting new initiatives. Both speak to our collective, nonpartisan commitment to education and democracy as we look toward the new school year and the looming election.

The Fund for Campus Liberation will support the campus truth-tellers who last spring heroically faced down a settler-colonial media narrative, police brutality, and a lack of occupation-accessible dining options. This initiative will help arriving students organize new encampments. It’ll supply tents, fans, coolers, DoorDash (or Uber Eats) credit, and stylish face coverings. It will help these young change-makers register to vote, cast ballots, and produce impactful social media. Our goal is $5 million by September 1. I’m pleased to report we’re off to a terrific start, thanks to generous seed gifts of $1 million each from Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran. These are both structured as matching grants, so I hope you might choose to contribute and unlock these funds.

I’m equally enthused about the Fund for Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Democracy, which will steer clear of partisan politics while amplifying the voices of students and educators who’re bravely speaking up—and standing up—for tolerance, social justice, and more education spending. There will be a national marketing campaign and regional events with teacher unions, faculty unions, graduate student unions, and other nonpartisan allies. The campaign will target voters who, whatever their politics, appreciate the need to spend more on schools and colleges (and to forgive student loans). Our target is $10 million. We’re close, thanks to selfless contributions of $3.33 million each from the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and United Auto Workers. We do still need that final $10,000, though, so please chip in and help us get there.

I’m also pleased to announce a fantastic slate of webinars for this summer and fall, organized in tandem with members and impact groups. Stay tuned for details, but you won’t want to miss member-only conversations including: “The ABC’s of Democratic Education: Abortion Rights, Build Back Better, and College Loan Forgiveness,” “School Choice and Systemic Racism: Two Peas in a Pod,” and “Education Donors for Hamas: Why Philanthropy Needs to Lean Into Liberation and Make Its Peace with Terrorism.”

As always, you can support and promote BLOB by visiting our merch store and finding the perfect gift for that special donor or ally in your life. Be sure to check out our special “Combating Polarization in ’24” section, which features t-shirts, caps, and coffee mugs, with popular designs like: “Spare a Deer, Bag a Republican,” “Just Say ‘No’ to Jim Crow: Vote Harris ’24,” and “MAGA: It’s How a Southerner Spells ‘Fascism’.”

As ever, it’s my privilege to be part of this diverse community—one defined by our mutual respect, rejection of political polarization, and shared passion for education. I welcome your thoughts, feedback, and input, and want you to know how deeply I continue to treasure the way we come together across our differences to promote the things everyone should agree on.

Frederick Hess is an executive editor of Education Next and the author of the blog “Old School with Rick Hess.”