Working alongside families, early educators and allies is essential to build powerful coalitions to transform child care and expand equity. In March 2023, ECFC and the Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF) launched a Power Building Learning Series for ECFC members and RCCF funders to interact directly with organizers and strategists and funders working to transform policies to learn about their strategy, setbacks, responses, and lessons learned. Together we are unpacking the theory of change and elements of power building that are fundamental to this work, including: centering the stories and voices of those most proximate to the challenge; sharing power, co-creating collective priorities and strategies, and advocating for policies that support racial equity and language justice; and identifying lessons learned and ideas that can inform the internal and external strategies of participating foundation leaders. We’re also exploring the long-term benefits of power-building, including increasing civic engagement and equitable implementation of policy wins.
How Funders Can Engage in this work:
Learn more about series discussions:
- March 2023 Series Kick-Off: Frameworks and Concepts: We launched our series by exploring definitions and elements of Power Building and reviewed frameworks to understand how organizers work with people proximate to social injustice to center their experiences and ideas. This process leads to both an individual and a collective sense of power that is what is needed to make change and increase equity.
- March 2023, 2022 Progress in State Child Care Organizing: We heard from child care organizers in diverse states in Colorado, Missouri, and Ohio who have won new access to policy decision-making tables for child care educators and caregivers (including family, friends, and neighbors) and shifted federal American Rescue Plan funds to support the child care workforce.
- April 2023, What can Early Childhood Learn from Power Building for Reproductive Justice? We were inspired by campaigns to protect reproductive rights in conservative states like Kansas and Kentucky, and heard from a foundation leader about an intentional choice to build power in states. We learned that smart polling and messaging can appeal to voters across political divides when paired with on the ground organizing.
- May 2023: After the Win: Sustaining Power to Implement: We heard how important organizing among historically powerless communities is for the long haul, even AFTER a win, in order to educate those who could benefit from new rights – like those protecting pregnant workers – or new benefits – like paid family leave. E.g. Oregon organizers have watchdogged implementation of paid family leave since 2019, and it is just being implemented in 2023.
- June 2023: Becoming a Philanthropic Partner to Movement Builders: We discussed funder opportunities and challenges for moving a power-building, race equity focused agenda within philanthropy, and considered ways funders can support movement leaders.
- October, 2023: Power Metrics: How Can Power and Influence Be Measured Meaningfully? We were joined by effective grassroots leaders from Midwest states for the concluding event in our Power Building Series to explore power as the best instrument to realize major impacts in early childhood policy, workplace and ideology. We looked at first-of-its-kind research and case-studies that demonstrate how fundamental power-building is to creating the conditions for transformational change, and explored concrete examples of on the ground activities and how they know they are working.
Connect with ECFC:
- Funders interested in connecting with ECFC about power building in your own philanthropic work can contact Rachel Schumacher, ECFC’s Raising Child Care Fund Director..
Explore Series Back-Grounders and Key Readings:
Concepts and Frameworks
- Power Building Frameworks & Definitions Summary
- Power Building as theory of change: Power in Places Initiative: Framework & Strategies, Community Change & Innovation Network
- Elements of Movement Building: The Power of Ecosystem, Learning, Equity, and Power (LEaP) – an initiative of the Center for the Study of Policy
- Three Faces of Power, Grassroots Policy Project
- The Water of Systems Change, FSG (includes philanthropic examples)
- Framework of Cross-Movement Approaches, Building Movement Project
- Social Change Ecosystem Framework
Funding Movement and Power Building
- Funding Movement Infrastructure, the second report in Building Movement Project’s (BMP) Movement Infrastructure Series, draws upon ongoing work to encourage philanthropic institutions to support social movements through an ecosystem-wide approach that emphasizes long-term organizational sustainability. It identifies several barriers that arise for funders seeking to invest in social movements, and provide ideas to address them. Building Movement Project’s website includes a library of resources on harnessing the power of collaboration to increase nonprofit impact and sustain meaningful change in communities.
- Unlocking Progressive Power-Building: Changing the Culture of Philanthropy to Effectively & Equitably Support Multi-Entity Organizations, from Beyond C3, an initiative of New Left Accelerator and The Capacity Shop.
- What do Movement Leaders Need from Philanthropy? Building Movement Project
4 steps for thinking about funding social movements:
- Move the Money, Practices and Values for Funding Social Justice, Building Movement Project, provides a short video featuring funders and advocates talking about movement building, and an Introduction and User Guide to help you think about funding movement and power building.
Movement and Power Building in BIPOC Communities
- Balancing Act: Asian American Organizations Respond to Community Crises and Build Collective Power
- On the Frontlines: Nonprofits Led by People of Color Confront COVID-19 and Structural Racism
- Indigenous movement building and funding movements differently, Podcast, Building Movement Project
- Rights Relations Collaborative, a shared space for Indigenous leaders and funder partners who recognize the inequities, harms, and volatile future that is manifesting from our current disconnected and extractive financial system.