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June 01 2020 
By Jim Richardson
The recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have spurred nationwide protests against systemic racism and police brutality. It’s time to take action and demand justice for Black lives right now.
We are committed to supporting the Black community and using our platform for social good, and we ask you to show up, take action, and help out. However, we know that simply donating alone won’t put an end to racial injustice. It’s a small step we’re taking now, and we’re asking you to do the same.
In alphabetical order below are a number of organizations that benefit social justice and support the Black community on national and local levels. Here’s what they do and where you can donate to help their cause:|
Act Blue
From their site: “As a nonprofit, we’re driven by the belief that our democracy works better when more people participate in civic life and when our campaigns and nonprofits are powered by the people they serve. That’s why we’ve built a powerful online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot, progressive organizations, and nonprofits. Our tools make it possible for anyone to build a grassroots campaign or movement and give donors an easy and secure way to support their favorite candidates and causes.”
Black Lives Matter
From their site: “#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.”
Black Visions Collective
From their site: “Black Visions Collective envisions a world in which ALL Black Lives Matter. We use the guidance and brilliance of our ancestors as well as the teachings of our own experiences to pursue our commitment to dismantling systems of oppression and violence. We are determined in our pursuit of dignity and equity for all.”
Color Of Change
From their site: “Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 1.7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America.”
Community Justice Exchange
From their site: “The Community Justice Exchange is a national hub for developing, sharing, and experimenting with tactical interventions, strategic organizing practices, and innovative organizing tools to end mass incarceration. We provide support to community-based organizations that are building a new vision of community justice through bottom-up interventions in the criminal legal and immigration detention systems.”
Emergency Release Fund
From their site: “The Emergency Release Fund is a grassroots response to grave public safety issues. 100% of your contribution is used to post bail for trans persons, people of color, and underrepresented communities at risk of injury and death.”
Equal Justice Initiative
From their site: “The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.”
Loveland Foundation
From their site: “Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Our resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing. We are becoming the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
Marsha P. Johnson Institute
From their site: “The Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI) protects and defends the human rights of Black transgender people. We do this by organizing, advocating, creating an intentional community to heal, developing transformative leadership, and promoting our collective power. We intend to reclaim Marsha P. Johnson and our relationship as Black trans people to her life and legacy. It is in our reclaiming of Marsha that we give ourselves permission to reclaim autonomy to our minds, to our bodies, and to our futures. We were founded both as a response to the murders of Black trans women and women of color and how that is connected to our exclusion from social justice issues, namely racial, gender, and reproductive justice, as well as gun violence.”
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
From their site: “The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF also defends the gains and protections won over the past 75 years of civil rights struggle and works to improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments.”
National Bail Out
From their site: “The National Bail Out collective is a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community-based movement to support our folks and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration. We are people who have been impacted by cages — either by being in them ourselves or witnessing our families and loved ones be encaged. We are queer, trans, young, elder, and immigrant.”
National Black Disability Coalition
From their site: “The National Black Disability Coalition (NBDC) is a response to the need for Blacks with Disabilities in America to organize around issues of mutual concern and use our collective strength to address disability issues with an emphasis on people who live in poverty.”
North Star Health Collective
From their site: “Our organizing collective core includes health providers — physicians, nurses, healers, herbalists, doulas. Many of us are also long term community organizers with diverse experience across a range of social sectors — affordable housing, environmental justice, women’s health, human rights … We work in alliance with mainstream and anti-authoritarian organizations to create a safe and healthy events. We stand in solidarity with the need for diverse strategies and tactics. We will not denounce fellow activists or organizations. That said, we believe in harm reduction. We are working behind the scenes to reduce risks. We believe in maintaining open lines of communication.”
Reclaim the Block
From their site: “Reclaim the Block began in 2018 and organizes Minneapolis community and city council members to move money from the police department into other areas of the city’s budget that truly promote community health and safety.”
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
From their site: “The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. SRLP is a collective organization founded on the understanding that gender self-determination is inextricably intertwined with racial, social and economic justice. Therefore, we seek to increase the political voice and visibility of low-income people and people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming. SRLP works to improve access to respectful and affirming social, health, and legal services for our communities. We believe that in order to create meaningful political participation and leadership, we must have access to basic means of survival and safety from violence.”
About the author – Jim Richardson
Jim Richardson is the founder of MuseumNext. He has worked with the museum sector on innovation projects for more than twenty years and now splits his time between delivering consultancy, innovation workshops and keynote presentations.
