Dear Community,

We are reaching out with heavy hearts. Police brutality, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy have always and continue to wreak havoc on our communities. It is essential that we take the time we need to reflect and rest, and as a philanthropic field, we must push with all our might on the gatekeeping institutions that hoard resources. We must invest in Black-led organizations to secure a future where Black Lives Matter.

The Libra Foundation and EPIP Bay Area Chapter would like to invite you to a conversation with Aldita Gallardo, Senior Program Associate for the Fund for Trans Generations at Borealis Philanthropy.

The conversation will include Aldita’s journey in philanthropy as a trans and queer woman of color; the criticality of supporting Black LGBTQ-led organizing; and what we can do as emerging leaders to honor our identities and experiences, while applying pressure on institutions to dismantle anti-Black violence and white supremacy within philanthropy. 

Join us on Thursday, July 23 at 12-1:30pm PT. Please RSVP and submit your questions and comments here in advance.

In 2019, The Libra Foundation and EPIP Bay Area Chapter partnered to create an opportunity for EPIP’s membership to engage with philanthropic leaders in honest and thoughtful ways. We brought emerging leaders together for dinner and conversation in Libra’s office home in San Francisco.

The conversations focused on racial equity, and specifically the powerful and challenging paths of two influential Black cisgender women in the philanthropic field, Crystal Hayling, Executive Director of The Libra Foundation, and Jamie Allison, Executive Director at the Walter & Elise Haas Fund.

Of course we would love to see all your beautiful faces and share food and drink, and as we know, this is no longer possible for the foreseeable future. Although many of us are “Zoomed-out”, we’ve also noticed a lack of space to reflect with our peers and mentors about this unprecedented moment and the way forward.

Please join us in this call for solidarity with our colleagues in philanthropy.