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Philanthropy Open Letter for Humanity and Justice

#News and Press Releases#Statements#Human Rights Defense
November 2023

Funders For Ceasefire

Grassroots International signed onto this letter, adding our voice to this important collective response from philanthropy, to support urgent demands.
Originally posted at Funders4Ceasefire.org. Visit for the updated list of signers.

We are institutional funders, individual donors and philanthropy professionals who are heartbroken and grieving the tragic loss of life in Palestine and Israel. Between October 7 and November 2, more than 9,061 Palestinians in Gaza and 1,400 Israelis have been killed.* In Gaza, this includes over 3,700 children. With every passing minute, we are losing more human lives – people with families and hopes, who once loved and dreamed.

And we fear for what is to come if the violence continues. As the total siege on Gaza prevents essential life-giving resources from entering, families are running out of food and water. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said on October 23, “If more aid for Gazans, including fuel, medicine, food and water, does not arrive in days or even hours, many more people in Gaza will die of hunger, thirst and lack of medical care.” People depending on life-saving medications for chronic health conditions are in grave danger. Babies in neonatal intensive care units will die within minutes when hospitals run out of fuel. 5,500 people in their final month of pregnancy may be forced to give birth in the most dire circumstances. Health care workers – including emergency responders – have been bombed as they try to care for the sick and injured, and ambulances are unable to reach the critically injured as fuel supplies dwindle. Over one million people’s homes have been destroyed, and nowhere is safe, not even UN shelters.

Our conscience moves us to speak out – we will not remain silent. We call for:

  1. An immediate ceasefire;
  2. Safe, unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid (including food, water, medicine and fuel), humanitarian organizations, staff and medical professionals into all areas of Gaza in a way that is sufficient and sustained enough to meet the scale of the catastrophe;
  3. Stopping US and European funding and weapons for the Israeli military; and
  4. Adherence to international humanitarian and human rights laws by all parties, including the safe release of all civilians taken hostage from Israel as well as of all Palestinians who have been unlawfully detained.

We call for the US and European governments to stop enabling war crimes through unconditional military support, and for Israel to end its collective punishment of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. There is no military solution to this crisis.

We also take seriously our responsibility to address the root causes of what we see unfolding today — the decades of systematic violence, military occupation and displacement that all Palestinians, especially in Gaza, have experienced at the hands of the Israeli government.

In our own backyards, we are horrified by a recent spike in anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, and anti-Semitic violence and rhetoric. We are united in challenging all bigotries rooted in white supremacy.

Given our work in philanthropy, we acknowledge the importance of providing immediate funding for emergency response, as well as flexible core funding (without donor-imposed restrictions) to support Palestinian civil society for the long-term.

Social movements are extraordinary in their capacity to respond to violence with steadfastness and imagination and mobilize people to transform oppressive realities. Alongside them, we envision a world where Palestinians live with freedom, dignity, and equality, with true safety for Israeli and Palestinian people and a just peace in the region. In the face of so much pain and suffering, we call forth our deepest sense of humanity and justice, to build this possibility together, because we know that none of us are free until all of us are free.

* These are the numbers as of November 2, 2023. More than 130 Palestinians living in the West Bank have also been killed since October 7 in an alarming escalation of both Israeli military and settler violence.

Signatories:

Initiating group:

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

Black Feminist Fund

CLIMA Fund

Cultural Survival

EDGE Funders Alliance

Emergent Fund

Farhad Ebrahimi

Fund for Global Human Rights

Global Fund for Women

Global Greengrants Fund

Grassroots International

Human Rights Funders Network

Jerrod MacFarlane

Kolibri Foundation

NDN Collective

Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds

Radical Imagination Family Foundation

Resource Generation

Sagner Family Foundation

Social Justice Fund NW

Solidaire Action

Thousand Currents

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Urgent Action Fund For Feminist Activism

We Are Purposeful

Women Donors Network

Additional organizational signers (partial list):

A.J. Muste Memorial Institute

Amazon Defenders Fund – Amazon Watch

Arab Foundations Forum

Arc of Justice

Arch Community Fund

Art.Coop

Black Migrant Power Fund

Borealis Philanthropy

Carmack Collective

Cast Iron Skillet Fund

CEECCNA Collaborative Fund

Chinook Fund

Children’s Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF)

CIVICUS

Closer Than You Think

Communities for Just Schools

Conant Family Foundation

Conflict Transformation Fund

Constellations Culture Change Fund

Corporate Accountability

Cultures of Resistance Network Foundation

Democracy Fund

Digital Defenders Partnership

Doria Feminist Fund

Eagles Wings Foundation

El Mar Fund

Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy

Equality Fund

Farbman Family Foundation

Fondo de Mujeres del Sur

Fondo Semillas

FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund

Front Line Defenders

Funders For Justice

G4GC-Grantmakers for Girls of Color

Gay for Giving

Global Fund for Community Foundations

Groundswell Fund

Guerrilla Foundation

Het Actiefonds

Hill-Snowdon Foundation

Honnold Foundation

Indigenous Women Rising

Integrated Capital Investing

International Trans Fund

Juniper Roots: Integrated Capital Strategies

Justice Funders

Karibu Foundation

Kataly Foundation

Kindle Project

L’Art Rue / Dream City (Tunis)

Leeway Foundation

Liberation Ventures

MADRE

Mama Cash

María Fund Puerto Rico

Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)

Movement Strategy Center

Ms. Foundation for Women

Nebula Fund

New Moon Network

New York Foundation

North Star Fund

Numun Fund

Pacific Feminist Fund

Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE)

Piece by Piece Fund

PRBB Foundation

Regenerative Economies Learning Collaborative

Reconstruction Women’s Fund

Rsls Fund

Southern Vision Alliance

Sukuamis

Taproot Fund

Tewa

Third Wave Fund

Trans Justice Funding Project

Trio Foundation

UHAI EASHRI

Urgent Action Fund, Asia & Pacific

Urgent Action Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean

Voice Over Foundation

Willow Fund (formerly Gelman Giving)

Women First International Fund

Women’s Foundation California

Women’s Fund in Georgia

Women’s Fund of Rhode Island

Woods Fund Chicago

Zusa – Art of Collaboration

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