Our time together in Montgomery, Alabama was both grounding and galvanizing. The stories, places, and people reminded us that the work for justice is both historical and ongoing. This shared experience deepened our collective understanding of belonging, courage, and the power of community. Below are some meaningful ways to carry this learning forward in your philanthropy, partnerships, and leadership.
1. Share What You Experienced and Keep the Conversation Alive
Use what you saw, heard, and felt in Montgomery as a bridge for deeper conversations.
- Reflect in personal conversations, staff meetings, or board gatherings about how the experience reshaped your understanding of justice, equity, or leadership.
- Share one takeaway or quote from the convening in your next grantee newsletter, internal memo, or LinkedIn post.
- Offer to speak at a peer funder network or local group about why this experience matters for philanthropy today.
Storytelling is culture change. It does not require a new project, only openness and reflection.
2. Bring the Experience to Your Team or Partners
You do not have to wait for the next convening to deepen the learning.
- Host your next staff or board retreat in Montgomery and center it on reflection, healing, and recommitment.
- Take your trustees or grantees on a shared visit to The Legacy Museum or The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
- Provide funding to grantees to bring their staff to Montgomery.
- Use existing meetings or retreats to watch Equal Justice Initiative videos or discuss how systemic history shows up in today’s policy landscape.
Shared experiences build alignment and courage within your organization.
3. Deepen Relationships Through Reflection and Connection
Turn your insights into stronger relationships.
- Schedule informal coffee chats with grantees, community partners, or peer funders to talk about what you are learning.
- Open your calendar for “office hours” that invite connection and conversation. Ask partners how the themes of justice, healing, or movement building resonate in their current work.
You do not have to lead every conversation. Simply invite and listen.
4. Fund Boldly, Locally, and with Trust
Montgomery reminded us that courageous leadership often starts close to home.
- Identify the “Freedom Riders” in your own community building movements for equity, belonging, and power.
- Provide flexible, multi-year support to leaders and groups advancing systemic change.
- Encourage collaborations, aligned funding, and abundance-oriented narratives that strengthen shared purpose.
- Invest in storytelling and narrative change, because those who tell the story shape what’s possible
“Until the lion tells the story, the hunter will always be the hero.” – African proverb / African oral tradition
Aligning existing funds toward movement work does not always require new grants, only intentional choices.
5. Invest in the South Because “So Goes Alabama, So Goes the Country”
If Montgomery stirred something in you, follow that instinct.
- Make a grant, even a modest one, to an Alabama organization advancing racial, economic, or reproductive justice.
- Support Southern intermediaries and regranting funds such as the Black Belt Community Foundation, Alabama Forward, or Women’s Foundation of Alabama.
- Use your platform and networks to amplify the South’s leadership and innovation, both regionally and nationally.
A small investment here reverberates far beyond Alabama. It strengthens the national fabric of justice and belonging.
View photos from site visits, conversations, and connections that are shaping how philanthropy supports children, families, and communities.