Human Rights Grants Awarded at March 2011 Board Meeting

At its March 2011 Board of Directors meeting yesterday, The Overbrook Foundation's Human Rights Program awarded $500,000 in grants to 10 organizations in the categories of Domestic Human Rights and International Human Rights.

In its Domestic Human Rights program, the Foundation awarded grants to organizations working on issues of marriage equality/LGBT rights, the US Human Rights Movement, and Media. In its International Human Rights, the Foundation awarded grants to three organizations that to a large extent focus their work to support human rights defenders.

In its Domestic Human Rights program, for its work representing a unique collaboration among LGBT and other progressive funders to achieve marriage equality for same-sex couples in the United States, the Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to the Proteus Fund for its work as a funding partner in the Civil Marriage Collaborative.

In support of other grantmaking activities in the domestic human rights movement, the Foundation awarded a $75,000 grant to the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation for its Human Rights Program, and a $50,000 to the US Human Rights Fund to support its grantee convening scheduled for later in 2011. This Foundation is looking forward to sponsoring this event in Philadelphia, PA, and is doing so in conjunction with The Ford Foundation and the Just and Fair Schools Project at Public Interests Projects. In the category of Media, the Foundation awarded two renewal grants, one to Free Press for support of its media reform activities and another to New America Media for its continued work on expanding models for ethnic media collaboration.

Two other grants were awarded in this program area; one was to Alliance for Justice in support of its Advocacy Training Program, and the other was a $30,000 grant to Generational Alliance in support of its work in building and sustaining youth involvement in the progressive movement.

In support of International Human Rights, the Foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to Committee to Protect Journalists for its defending free media in the Americas, a $50,000 grant to Human Rights Watch for its work combating human rights violations in Mexico, and a $35,000 grant to Indian Law Resource Center for a program of legal assistance, litigation and advocacy aimed at protecting the human rights and environments of Maya Q’eqchi’ communities near El Estor, Guatemala.

If you’re interested in learning more about these organizations, click on the links above to learn more. For a complete list of organizations support by The Overbrook Foundation, you can visit our website.