TRUE |ACTS OF |KINDNESS

True Acts of Kindness (TAK) has one simple and urgent goal:

to create the most efficient and effective structure for moving the resources our communities need NOW.

In a time when vulnerable communities are under attack, TAK is creating new and innovative strategies for moving resources to the visionary social justice leaders who need them most.

Why NOW?

Funding vulnerable communities has always been one of philanthropy’s most vital yet complex tasks. The best funders are the best listeners, meeting their grantees where they are and doing everything possible to get them the on-the-ground support they require. But as the political moment shifts, new challenges emerge. Now is the time for creative, flexible funding strategies that will empower communities to continue to care for and protect the most vulnerable as they face new and dangerous attacks.

Why TAK?

EXPERT

The team at TAK are more than prepared to meet this current challenge. Though TAK is a new organization, it is guided by visionary leaders with decades of experience in both philanthropy and grassroots organizing. TAK’s expertise allows them to hit the ground running, ready to ensure that the movements they have long be a part of will have access to the resources they need. 

STREAMLINED

TAK keeps their budget lean—a rarity in the field of philanthropy. We believe in moving the maximum amount to our grantees with the minimal amount of overhead. One way we do this is by partnering with other community-led grantmakers who can point us towards the most important emerging grassroots groups out there.

NIMBLE

Unlike larger, long-standing funders who cannot always pivot quickly, TAK has one goal and one goal alone: to move money to vulnerable communities as efficiently and effectively as possible. In this ever-shifting political climate, TAK’s ability to meet urgent challenges as they arise will allow them to get resources where they need to be while other funders are still debating strategy.

ABOUT

ACTS OF KINDNESS will begin with a one-year funding pilot program to provide meaningful financial support to 500-600 small grassroots community organizations, centering trans justice organizing efforts.

WHO WE ARE

  • Staff

    Li Kung is the former Executive Director of the Sunrise Human Rights Fund, a collaborative fund focused on supporting immigrant rights. While at Sunrise, Kung came to appreciate how difficult it is to efficiently distribute funding from the structures and norms of traditional philanthropy. As a former litigator and executive director of a public interest law firm, they also bring to this venture a deep understanding of just how impactful resources can be to someone who is, for example, just coming out of prison, or who is raising a child in a state with limited support for child care. They are a graduate of Emory University and New York University Law School.    

  • Board Member

    Lorraine Ramirez has twenty plus years of experience in philanthropy. Now serving as Executive Director of Funders for Justice, Lorraine previously worked at Neighborhood Funders Group, the Open Society Foundations, and Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. She has served on the boards of JustFund.us, Kolibri Foundation, the Audre Lorde Project, Queers for Economic Justice, the Justice Committee, Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT), Trans Queer Pueblo, Resource Generation; and as a member of the grants panel for the Mobilize Power Fund of Third Wave Fund. Lorraine holds a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Pomona College.

  • Board Member

    Ana Conner is a longtime organizer, resource mobilizer, and philanthropic leader with over a decade of experience in fundraising, organizational development, strategic communications, and executive leadership in social justice philanthropy. They are currently the Director of Culture, Operations, and Finance at Emergent Fund. Before Emergent Fund, they were Co-Director at Third Wave Fund, where they spent half a decade resourcing and supporting youth-led, intersectional gender justice organizing. They have also worked at Borealis Philanthropy and Astraea Foundation. Ana is the Board Chair for the Transgender Law Center, Board Secretary of the Hope Steven Community Garden and their HDFC Cooperative, and a Board Member of Funders for LGBTQ Issues.

  • Board Member

    Ezra Berkley Nepon is the Deputy Director of Global Philanthropy Project and the primary author of the Global Resources Report. Ezra joined the GPP staff in 2015, having previously served as Director of Grassroots Fundraising for Sylvia Rivera Law Project and the Development Coordinator for William Way LGBT Community Center, and co-authored reports including “Who Decides: How Participatory Grantmaking Benefits Donors, Communities, and Movements” with The Lafayette Practice. Ezra received an M.A. Degree from Goddard College.

  • Board Member

    Alta Starr is currently the director of training for Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), and is a somatic practitioner, writer, and poet. She spent 25 years as a grant-maker supporting organizing and social movements to build political power in underserved and marginalized U.S. communities, especially in the South.