North Star Fund

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Inspired by the legacy of Frederick Douglass, the North Star Fund is one of New York City’s leading community foundations and a member fund of the national Funding Exchange. Since its founding in 1979, North Star distributed over $26 million to 2,000 groups working to ensure a more equitable and democratic city for all New Yorkers. From kitchen table activists to national coalitions, North Star’s grantees have led efforts on issues ranging from better schools, housing and health care, to protecting civil liberties, stopping domestic violence, creating living wage jobs, and advocating for peace, freedom and human rights. Their four strategic funding priorities are:

  • Securing Peace & Justice, Resisting Militarism
  • Protecting Civil Liberties and Constitutional Rights
  • Ensuring Economic Justice
  • Promoting Race/Gender Equity, Ending Institutional Racism and Discrimination

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[edit] Mission of the North Star Fund

Through its funding programs in New York City, North Star seeks to contribute to a transformed society by:

  • An equitable distribution of wealth and resources, both within and beyond our national boundaries;
  • The realization of democratic process through the exercise of political power by historically disempowered peoples and communities;
  • The well-being of people and the environment placed above profit;
  • An end to oppression and exploitation of people everywhere;
  • Peaceful and just settlements of conflict;
  • Freedom from institutional, cultural, and economic discrimination based on class, race, gender, age, disability, religion, or sexual orientation;
  • An affirmation of diversity, and respect for the dignity and inherent value of all individuals.

[edit] Board of the North Star Fund

  • Elise Boddie, Visiting Assistant Professor, Fordham University Law School
  • Oona Chatterjee, Co-Director, Make the Road by Walking
  • Jason Franklin, Lecturer in Public Administration, New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
  • Kathy Goldman, Founder of Community Food Resource Center; community activist
  • Marcela Hahn (Secretary), VP of Development, US Committee for United Nations Population Fund
  • Sarah Hansen, Associate Director & Senior Program Officer, V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation
  • Hugh Hogan, Executive Director, North Star Fund
  • Tara Mack, Arts Organizer, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol
  • Sheila McDaniel, Deputy Director of Finance and Administration, Studio Museum in Harlem
  • Randall Quan (Treasurer), Managing Director, Community Resource Exchange
  • Julissa Reynoso, Associate, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP
  • Arva Rice (Chair), Executive Director, Project Enterprise
  • Kevin Ryan, Program Officer, New York Foundation
  • Betty Kapetanakis, In memoriam, 1952–2002

[edit] History of the North Star Fund's Name

The North Star Fund takes its name from the abolitionist newspaper founded in 1847 by Douglass.

[edit] External links