Retiring Philanthropy Leader Was Always ‘A Step or Two Ahead of the Pack’

In an election year, as with other current event flashpoints, philanthropy can get swept up in the changing winds of strategies and issue areas, instead of intentionally building out infrastructures to serve grantees holistically and for the long haul. As the Libra grants management team, it is our duty to implement systems and processes that support our grantee partners amid the fluctuations in the political climate. As grantees both resist oppressive forces and build towards a more liberated future for all of us, we must create grantmaking practices that can be used both during and beyond election years.

With democracy under threat here and around the world, this election year poses the question: what are the requirements of a multi-racial democracy? What must be in place to ensure that our right to participate survives for all of our children? There are many elements, of course, and at the Democracy Frontlines Fund we support power building organizations that protect and enhance our right to vote, as well as groups that are creating community-led strategies to keep us all safe and designing solutions to the climate crisis.

Looking at the injustices that are engulfing marginalized communities, a clear pattern emerges: how deeply gender is woven throughout all of these struggles. Our carceral punishment system, so clearly weighted against people of color, also comes down heavily on women and LGBTQIA+ people.

The Libra Foundation announced today that Executive Director Crystal Hayling will be stepping down in 2024, wrapping up a six-year tenure marked by extraordinary accomplishments, including the founding of the Democracy Frontlines Fund in 2020. This transition will also mark the end of her extraordinary 32-year career in philanthropy.

2020 was a year of momentous and heavy challenges, for us and for our grantee partners. We were caught up in an historic moment, trying to grapple with multiple crises affecting the communities we serve. Racial justice uprisings, COVID, the struggle for democracy. Day to day, we tried to figure out how to support them and hear their concerns. We asked our grantee partners: what more could we do to help alleviate these extra burdens?

If the phrase ‘civil rights’ brings to mind 1960’s black-and-white photos, you, like many Americans, are ignoring the present even as you selectively remember the past.