Movement Finance Forum Convening

June 2025

Summary + Next Steps

Presentation Flow

• Context, History & Overview
• How We Got Here
• Intro to Capital Strategies
• Convening Networks
• Goals

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• Convening Details
• Participants
• Sessions

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• Key Learnings & Reflections

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• Next Steps & Seeds for Collaboration

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Context, History & Overview

CED’s Role

• CED is committed to building a world beyond racial capitalism where we collectively manage our shared resources, putting people and planet first.
• We are a movement support organization that works translocally to:
• coordinate regional coalitions
• create models of economic democracy
• educate and inspire grassroots organizers to build economic alternatives
• organize funders + investors to redirect resources to frontline organizations led by working-class BIPOC communities.
• CED anchored the MFF planning process through developing and refining the vision+program with nine partner networks.

Context

How We Got Here

• Social Movement Investing brain trust (‘19-’21)
• Social Movement Investing report launch (‘22)
• Capital Strategies Camp (‘23)

Our assessment of the need for this program has evolved over the last several years:

• Initially: We focused on providing a movement-aligned alternative to impact investing conferences & networks
• Then: We experimented with movement + funder coordination within the ‘invest’ lever (Capital Strategies Camp)
• To MFF: We convened people & organizations across resist+build work and different sectors to advance capital strategies in service of grassroots power

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Intro to Capital Strategies

Divest | Contest | Invest

Withdrawing capital resources | Challenging the capital forces we’re up against (corporate, private, state, etc) | (Re)Directing & collectively managing capital resources

Coordination is critical to build power. For example:

• Identifying and taking collective action against shared targets
• Using multiple levers (e.g. divest/invest or contest/invest) for a campaign or project
• Building shared practices for how we use the levers across our organizations and sectors

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DIVEST

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• Screening/selling shares in specific public funds, companies and industries
• Redirecting municipal bonds, investments and other state resources
• Initiating consumer boycotts
• Selling private real estate and other holdings
• Targeting corporate actors and industries
• Coordinating short selling of stocks of a specific public company or industry

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And many more…

DIVEST EXAMPLES

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CONTEST

• Filing shareholder resolutions
• Organizing proxy votes
• Directing corporate engagement and targeted corporate campaigns
• Filing Derivative or Affirmative lawsuits
• Running/opposing corporate board candidates
• Initiating hostile corporate takeovers
• Coordinating engagement, direct actions and disruptions at corporate Annual General Meetings
• Developing campaigns targeting private equity and holdings in pension funds
• Engaging in state and municipal budget fights and participatory budgeting initiatives
• Developing campaigns to disrupt private development of land + housing
• Disrupting the privatization of public goods and the financialization of industries

And many more…

CONTEST EXAMPLES

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INVEST

• Moving zero & low-interest loans
• Deploying integrated capital (grant + loan)
• Providing loan guarantees
• Supporting land rematriation
• Engaging in a property transfer
• Building coop conversions and worker/housing coops
• Building collectively governed land & housing projects (e.g. land trusts, real estate trusts)
• Developing community-controlled capital funds
• Drawing down state resources for public goods (e.g. social housing, guaranteed income)
• Building strike and community defense/legal and mutual aid funds
• Developing multi-entity movement structures
• Building community-owned infrastructure (e.g. climate resiliency hubs, commercial space)

And many more…

INVEST EXAMPLES

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Co-Convening Networks

Funders & Investors

Grassroots Networks

MFF Goals

1. Defend + Build Community Infrastructure*
2. Build Shared Praxis/Strategy + Deepen Coordination
3. Organize to Align Capital + Practices to Communities & Mvmts

*Infrastructure = Organized structures, relationships and resources that support our movements in meeting immediate and long-term needs and advance our work (e.g. democratically controlled funds, databases, legal resources, rapid response and mutual aid networks, physical spaces, buildings, land-based projects, etc..)

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• Defend + Build Community Infrastructure

Deepen the use of capital levers to respond to the escalating political conditions, defend our communities and build essential community and movement-owned infrastructure.

2. Build Shared Praxis/Strategy + Deepen Coordination

Identify opportunities for shared learning and strategy development. Deepen coordination and power building within and across divest, contest, and invest levers.

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3. Organize to Align Capital + Practices to Communities and Movements

Expand the pool of resources available for Defend and Build work. Deepen the shared practice of movements and capital holders to align capital to the needs of community and movement governed structures.

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Convening Details

Participants (130 total)

• Grassroots Organizations
• Individual Donors, Investors and Foundations
• Technical Assistance Partners
• Ecosystem Partners

Cross-Sector | Cross-Network |

Cross-Class & Multiracial

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Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Where

• Hosted at Stony Point Retreat Center, a space with a history of gathering social justice groups.
• Stony Point is located on the unceded lands of the Ramapough Lenape, Tappan, Rumanchenak, and the Nyack peoples, known to be a meeting and trading place.
• The Ramapough Lenape are active in the Hudson Valley and recently opened the Sweetwater Cultural Center a few blocks from Stony Point, an Indigenous-led organization “dedicated to promoting the education, health, and welfare of Indigenous or Native Peoples.”

How

• The Nest, a Black and Queer-owned business, planned and executed the convening with us.
• The process was a collective effort with representatives from the convening networks taking on critical roles; from designing the program, to leading breakout sessions, to supporting the care, safety and culture of the space.

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Convening Program Arc

Day 1:

• Welcome and foundational political framing from co-convening networks
• Mapping exercise across divest/contest/invest and raising tensions & questions about capital strategies
• Panel discussion with examples of frontline groups, networks and funders/investors using one of the divest/contest/invest levers
• Breakouts highlighting specific campaigns, projects and movement infrastructure to engage in practice-based learning and seed opportunities for collaboration and coordination

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Anj Photography

Day 1 Sessions

[PANEL] Why Capital Strategies & Why Now - Welcome by Co-Conveners: Center for Economic Democracy, Climate Justice Alliance, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, Movement for Black Lives, Solidaire Network

[ACTIVITY] Capital Strategies & Just Transition Refresher and Mapping the Room: Center for Economic Democracy, Kataly Foundation

[PANEL] How Our Ecosystem Engages in Capital Strategies (Divest, Contest, Invest): Center for Economic Democracy, Chordata Chapital, Equity and Transformation, Right to the City Alliance, Stop Land Grabs Campaign, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

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Day 1 Sessions

[BREAKOUTS]

• Divesting from Corporate Power through Coordinated Campaigns & Shared Targets (Lessons from the Palestine Movement): Action Center on Race & Economy, American Friends Service Committee, Adalah Justice Project, Divest4Pal/Resource Generation, Funding Freedom, Racial Justice Investing Coalition, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
• Contesting the Flows of Capital and the Enclosure of Land: National Family Farm Coalition, Network for Social Justice and Human Rights, Stop Land Grabs Campaign
• Investing in Community and Movement-Governed Structures: Chordata Capital, Climate Justice Alliance, Kheprw Integrated Fund, Right to the City Alliance, Seed Commons
• Investing in Infrastructure to Meet our Movements and Communities’ Needs: Equity and Transformation, Movement for Black Lives, Muslims for Just Futures, Smile Trust/The Black Collective, Solidaire Network

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Convening Program Arc

Day 2:

• Panel discussion with examples of frontline groups, networks and funders/investors using multiple of the divest/contest/invest levers
• Breakouts highlighting specific campaigns, projects and movement infrastructure to engage in practice-based learning and seed opportunities for collaboration and coordination
• Emergent strategy sessions to attend to opportunities and needs that were surfacing in real time

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Anj Photography

Day 2 Sessions

[PANEL] How Frontline Groups, Movement Networks & Funders/Investors are Using Multiple Levers: City Life / Vida Urbana, Kataly Foundation, Right to the City Alliance, Smile Trust/The Black Collective, United for Respect, Worth Rises

[BREAKOUTS]

• Capital Strategies to Advance Housing Justice and Community-Controlled / Social Housing: Bargaining for the Common Good / Action Center on Race & Economy, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, City Life/Vida Urbana, Community Ownership for Community Power Fund (Common Counsel), The Guild, Right to the City Alliance
• Capital Strategies to Advance Just Recovery and Food Sovereignty: Agrarian Trust, Climate Justice Alliance, Cooperation Jackson, Cooperation Richmond, Kheprw Institute, Manzanita Capital Collective, Kataly Foundation, Smile Trust/Black Collective

More on next slide

Day 2 Sessions

[BREAKOUTS]

• Capital Strategies to Advance Multi-Entity Structures for Movement Defense & Resiliency: Just Futures Movement Trust, New Left Accelerator, Right to the City Alliance, Solidaire Network
• Capital Strategies to Advance Worker Power: Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, Majority Action, United for Respect
• Capital Strategies to Defend Movements & Invest in Community Safety: Community Movement Builders, Movement Law Lab, Muslims for Just Futures, New Economy Coalition, Worth Rises
• Capital Strategies to Resource Frontline Communities’ Responses to the Climate Crisis: The Black Hive, Chisholm Legacy Project, Climate Critical, Kataly Foundation, Movement for Black Lives, Restore Forward, Southern Sector Rising

Day 2 Sessions

[EMERGENT STRATEGY SESSIONS PT 1]

• Activating Funders, Donors and Investors to Flank Movements
• Building and Resourcing Political Alignment, Governance + Security Infrastructure for the Left
• Black-Led Organizations Accessing Technical Support
• Climate Justice Movement Coordination
• Coordinating Strategies Across Asset Classes
• Divest/Invest Coordination
• Mapping Resources to Redirect Capital to Movements
• Reducing Reliance on Philanthropy through Pooled Funds

Convening Program Arc

Day 3:

• Emergent strategy sessions to attend to opportunities and needs that were surfacing in real time
• Identifying next steps & seeds for coordination and collaboration
• Gratitude & Closing

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Day 3 Sessions

[EMERGENT STRATEGY SESSIONS PT 2]

• Activating Pooled Funds
• Advancing Campaigns with Shared Targets
• Building the Financial Infrastructures We Need
• Building Capacities for Shared Governance
• Building Rural/Forgotten Communities Readiness to Govern
• Coordinating Pension Fund Organizing
• Cross Movement/Cross Tactic Power Building
• Multi-Entity Structures in Under-Resourced Geographies
• Resourcing Land & Building Projects

Key Learnings & Reflections

“What can we do together that we can’t do alone?”

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This guiding question was a consistent theme and helpful anchor for the convening. It helped us stretch beyond our organizational limits and challenge the ways philanthropy & the nonprofit industrial complex set our organizations and sectors up to isolate and not coordinate our work.

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

We started the MFF planning process in the summer/fall of 2024. The new Trump administration intensified our planning efforts within and across the co-convening networks.

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It was necessary to be adaptive and anchor the convening in ways that meet this unique moment. Given all the shifts, aligning and communicating expectations across the partners and members was a challenge.

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Cross-network collaborations require high levels of trust and alignment, so we’ve learned a lot about how to steward a collective process with clear direction.

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Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Grassroots organizations and networks are already using the divest, contest, and invest levers in powerful ways across our ecosystem.

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The gathering affirmed the opportunities for more resource sharing, peer learning and deeper coordination in service of building power in the short and long-term.

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When bringing together these different bodies of work, we learned that deeper relationship, trust, and clarity about our roles is essential to developing shared strategy.

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Our commitment to safety & care was sometimes in tension with the need for context to support participation and documentation.

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More visibility and info in advance of and during the convening about the people/orgs in the space would’ve helped participants to better understand how to engage across the different sectors and groups represented.

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Using accessible language and framing was a challenge in the space, and we heard the necessity of framing capital strategies work in relatable ways based in specific examples.

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Relatedly, it’s critical to develop our collective understanding of how to engage our current economic systems and the tools available within it towards economic transformation and a Just Transition.

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

There were significant gaps and challenges in our program design and overall process that resulted in a lack of Indigenous, Native, and locally-based leaders informing and bringing key perspectives into the program and convening.

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

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We recognized the importance of grassroots organizations having space to share their immediate AND long-term capital needs when sharing a space with funders and donors.

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It’s especially challenging to come with a deep sense of curiosity to learn and reach toward new strategies when our communities are under attack and under-resourced especially in a multiracial and cross-class gathering.

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Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Therefore, we adapted our program in real-time and offered participants opportunities to share offers and needs related to capital, technical support, and beyond.

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Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

We intended to cultivate a space where everyone felt a sense of agency to ask for what they need and explicitly state any capital needs. Therefore, we did not create a “solicitation” policy.

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We learned that not having a explicit statement about how fundraising and “asks” show up in the space created confusion.

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Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

The convening highlighted the challenges of holding bigger picture, long-term conversation about how to collectively advance strategies for economic transformation while in crisis.

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The immediate needs are very significant across our organizations, which makes this conversation useful and also difficult to carry together.

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Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Access to aligned and flexible long-term funding plays a significant role in our ability to experiment within and across the levers. The convening highlighted the regional differences in access to infrastructure and resources that impact our collective ability to engage in capital strategies work.

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There was a call to identify ways to connect and bridge funding and technical support to under-resourced regions (e.g. based on geography, rural areas, local political conditions and lack of aligned public and private resources).

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

There were powerful moments of seeing and reaching toward each other across strategic differences and bodies of work.

Testimonials + Feedback

• “I learned so much from everyone and I wanted to learn more about the relationships between these groups. In one session, I was in a small group with two funders and it was really interesting to be a part of their conversation because I only understood about half of it even though I work in financial services.”
• “This was an ambitious undertaking; that alone deserves a "5" for effort and willingness to experiment and offer an alternative to other spaces. This is also new. I'm curious about the depths of relationships and trust we can build together if we continue to gather over the course of a few years (online and in person). What will become more possible because we continue to lean into trust, mutuality, and relationship building?”

Testimonials + Feedback

• “It was amazing to be in community with activists, organizers, and creative thinkers who work on issues distinct from my area of focus. I found it challenging and energizing to think about how to connect dots between our work but did build some new relationships. Talking to other attendees really opened my heart and mind to new approaches to realizing justice”.
• “There were obviously some tensions that came up around convening a cross class, cross sectoral and multi-racial space! But I think there is a lot of value in bringing all of these different perspectives together to learn from each other and co-strategize, and I support the decision you all made to not have a separate funder track. I think that creating separate/affinity spaces has its uses, but I liked the approach of creating an opportunity to be together in a different way.”

Testimonials + Feedback

• “While I really enjoyed sharing space with such a wide variety of folks, I found it challenging to have focused and specific strategy conversations given the breadth of folks' work. If the desire is to maintain the broad attendee list, I would suggest more sessions that specifically gather folks around issue area, strategy (divest/contest/invest) or role (e.g. funder, TA provider, etc) to allow for more focused collaboration.”
• “A worthy experiment. Some bumps along the way, but appreciate the effort and intention, and feel like we need more of these spaces.”
• “I think it was a vanguard collaboration of folks who need to be together more. Hard to pull off and needs to happen more often with transparency.”

Next Steps & Seeds for Collaboration

CED & Co-Conveners Next Steps

• Re-establish co-convener structure and expectations to shape direction moving forward; address gaps and make necessary shifts
• Continue to refine the Divest/Contest/Invest framework to make it more accessible and relatable for different types of stakeholders with specific examples
• Create opportunities for foundational education and relationship building across organizations + sectors (e.g. Movement Finance Freedom School)
• Support new experiments in cross-sector coordination and collaboration (examples on next slide)

Anj Photography

Seeds for Coordination & Collaboration

• Building Democratically Governed Financial Infrastructure at Scale: Strategic conversations amongst funders, ecosystem partners and grassroots to explore “fund of funds.”
• Deepening understanding and buy-in for ‘contest’ work: Opportunities for grassroots + funder network members to learn about corporate targeting and shareholder engagement efforts, especially related to land and housing.
• Microsoft shareholder coordination: MFF played a critical role in seeding a historic filing of 60+ investors to challenge Microsoft in support of Palestinian rights 🇵🇸 (learn more here)

Seeds for Coordination & Collaboration

• Building Resources for Movements to Engage in Multi-Entity Structures
• Glossary for Translating Movement Concepts to Financial / Investment Terms
• Mapping divest/contest/invest opportunities into shared tech platform
• Movement Infrastructure to Support Conflict Mediation across Co-op and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems
• Strategizing about Accessing Union Funds to Resource Build-Side Work

Resources

• Website
• Orientation Slides
• Participants List
• Needs + Offers
• Mapping & Reflection Activities
• Blog Posts
• Chordata Capital
• Justice Funders
• New Economy Coalition

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Art by Haley McDevitt (Illustrating Progress)

THANK YOU!

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Contact Jennifer and Nadav for any questions and to connect with us.