The Liberty Hill Foundation is the self-proclaimed “home for progressive Los Angeles,” a big claim with an even bigger mission behind it. This is a locally-focused social justice grantmaker that advocates for justice and equality for all people regardless of skin color, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, birth origin or where they live. It’s a great funder to get to know for a number of reasons, including its unique history and approach to philanthropy.
Here are some important details that organizations on the lookout for support in L.A. should know about the Liberty Hill Foundation.
A well-established public foundation
The history of the Liberty Hill Foundation dates back to 1976, when four young “people of privilege” met for a picnic to figure out how to donate to progressive causes in better ways. Following that conversation, Sarah Pillsbury, Larry Janss, Win McCormack and Anne Mendel started the foundation and named it after a site where a writer was arrested for reading the U.S. Constitution to a group of port workers on strike.
Since that time, the Liberty Hill Foundation has been a leader in local social justice grantmaking, helping shape the progressive landscape in Los Angeles. The founders believed that what happens in L.A. can influence what happens elsewhere in the country and, indeed, across the world. In recent years, Liberty Hill has expanded its focus, adding new programs and donor events to engage the L.A. community.
Grantmaking interests
All of the Liberty Hill Foundation’s efforts revolve around social justice, but this can be broken down into a few distinct categories. The foundation offers general operating support grants to organizations in L.A. County that are involved in power-building, advancing strategic initiatives, and community and electoral organizing. In a recent year, the foundation distributed 922 grants, awarded over $18 million and trained over 270 community activists.
Current grant opportunities
Liberty Hill awards seed grants to new organizations and also backs well-established ones with long track records of success in policy advocacy and community organizing. It does this through vehicles like the Fund for Change, which awards general operating support grants, and through rapid response funds, which provide emergency resources for urgent needs.
Liberty Hill’s offerings don’t end there. emPOWER Outreach connects low-income residents to energy- and money-saving programs, Liberty Vote! provides electoral organizing grants, and Our Kids, Our Future funds youth development for low-income and youth-of-color populations. Liberty Hill’s Public Health Councils Program has empowered workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stay Housed LA assists with tenants’ rights, Ready to Rise addresses youth in the criminal justice system, and the Bertha Wolf & Lance Miller Families Fund for Community Service offers a stipend for young adults while they work at a Southern California nonprofit.
Beyond grants
The Liberty Hill Foundation does more than just award grant funding. The foundation also provides leadership and capacity-building training through the Wally Marks Leadership Institute and the Commissions Training Program. It also organizes campaigns and coalitions that have become national models, such as the Stand L.A. Coalition, Right to Counsel and Clean Up, Green Up.
More information about the Liberty Hill Foundation can be found in IP’s full profile of this funder, which includes details about how the foundation awards grants for climate change, economic development, civic engagement, racial justice, criminal justice reform, immigrants and refugees, LGBTQ causes and more.