We believe that US society is confronted with serious political, social, environmental, and economic threats. Together, people have the collective power to create a just, sustainable, and equitable world.  In order to effectively address such pervasive challenges, we need radical transformation in how we approach social change.

The Seasons Fund nurtures, elevates, and accelerates transformation of social movements by supporting a transformative approach to movement building.  We build the resources of the field through strategic communication, documentation, and evaluation.  Seasons aims to mobilize $10 million toward pioneering efforts and powerful campaigns that re-imagine economic, environmental, and racial justice, and re-chart our path there.

Our Approach

We pursue grantmaking as a core strategy for nurturing transformation in social change movement building.  Money makes it possible for individuals and organizations to invest in developing, integrating, and growing transformative practice.

We engage in donor organizing to increase awareness of and funding for transformative practice, and to grow the numbers of people engaging in practice linked to social change.

And because at heart we know that the neat categories of funder, donor, and practitioner are dissolving, we commit to engaged practice.  As a community of working groups united by practice, we create the transformative culture that informs our organizing and grantmaking.

What We’ve Done So Far

Through grantmaking, donor organizing, and engaged practice, Seasons supports people and organizations to creatively and rigorously experiment—trying new approaches, learning from failure, winning big, and profoundly altering how change gets done.

Grantmaking

• Dispersed $2,785,000 in six years to 40 organizations with 20 foundation partners.
• Metamorphosed immigrant rights, reproductive justice, racial healing, workers’ rights, education justice, and environmental action through transformative practice.

Donor Organizing

• Held successful funder briefings, convening over 150 participants.
• Sponsored the Transformative Leadership Awards in 2009 to celebrate leaders who are defining the field by developing transformative models of leadership.
•  Supported significant research projects and intellectual framing pieces by field leaders, including “Out of the Spiritual Closet” and “The Transformative Power of Practice.”

Engaged Practice

• Brought 20+ board members into our governance circle, from foundations and the field.
• Supported the largest-ever field gathering at “Deep Change” 2009, a convening of community organizers, spiritual leaders, funders, frontline activists, and capacity builders.
• Participated in the Transformative Leadership Program Cohort for Funders, led by Social Justice Leadership to bring transformative practice to philanthropy.

As Seasons Fund grows, we remain a hub for storytelling, linkages, and expansion. The possibilities and need for Seasons Fund are greater every day, as transformative change is increasingly essential to effective social change movement building.…