1. Equal Justice Initiative

Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and bestselling author of Just Mercy, EJI is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. We challenge the death penalty and excessive punishment and we provide re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people. EJI works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment. We are committed to changing the narrative about race in America. EJI produces groundbreaking reports, an award-winning wall calendar, and short films that explore our nation’s history of racial injustice, and we recently launched an ambitious national effort to create new spaces, markers, and memorials that address the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation, which shapes many issues today. EJI provides research and recommendations to assist advocates and policymakers in the critically important work of criminal justice reform. We publish reports, discussion guides, and other educational materials, and our staff conduct educational tours and presentations for thousands of students, teachers, faith leaders, professional associations, community groups, and international visitors every year.

2. Algorithmic Justice League

In today’s world, AI systems are used to decide who gets hired, the quality of medical treatment we receive, and whether we become a suspect in a police investigation. While these tools show great promise, they can also harm vulnerable and marginalized people, and threaten civil rights. Unchecked, unregulated and, at times, unwanted, AI systems can amplify racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination. The Algorithmic Justice League’s mission is to raise awareness about the impacts of AI, equip advocates with empirical research, build the voice and choice of the most impacted communities, and galvanize researchers, policy makers, and industry practitioners to mitigate AI harms and biases. We’re building a movement to shift the AI ecosystem towards equitable and accountable AI.

3. NAACP

Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. The NAACP is a c4 organization (contributions are not tax-deductible), and we have a partner c3 organization known as NAACP Empowerment Programs (contributions are fully tax-deductible as allowed by the IRS). Please contact development@naacpnet.org should you wish to donate. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP.

NOTE: The Legal Defense Fund – also referred to as the NAACP-LDF was founded in 1940 as a part of the NAACP, but separated in 1957 to become a completely separate entity. It is recognized as the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization, and shares our commitment to equal rights.

4. The Okra Project

The Okra Project is a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them. During the Middle Passage, our African ancestors snuck okra onto captive ships to sustain themselves and plant in the new world. Black Diasporic cooking traditions often use the okra plant for its versatility and it is often associated with health, prosperity, and community. In this spirit, The Okra Project hopes to extend free, delicious, and nutritious meals to Black Trans people experiencing food insecurity.

5. Black Girls Code

"By launching Black Girls Code, I hope to provide young and pre-teen girls of color opportunities to learn in-demand skills in technology and computer programming at a time when they are naturally thinking about what they want to be when they grow up. That, really, is the Black Girls Code mission: to introduce programming and technology to a new generation of coders, coders who will become builders of technological innovation and of their own futures. Imagine the impact that these curious, creative minds could have on the world with the guidance and encouragement others take for granted." — Founder, Kimberly Bryant

6. Black Trans Femmes in the Arts

BTFA is a community-based arts organization that builds community and mobilizes resources to support Black trans femme artists (artists who were assigned male-at-birth and now identify somewhere underneath the femme umbrella). We organize programming that centers and highlights Black trans femme artists, executive produce projects led by Black trans femme artists, and provide direct to support to Black trans artists. BTFA is not a 501(c)(3) yet. We are currently fiscally sponsored by the Arts Business Collaborative, which allows us to utilize their tax-exempt status when applying for funding and accepting donations.

7. Solutions Not Punishment

Solutions not punishment collaborative is a black trans and queer led organization that builds safety within our community, investing in our collective embodied leadership, and building political power. We envision a vibrant, radically inclusive metro Atlanta where all our people are safe and free, have the opportunity to live and thrive as their authentic selves. We will end the mass crisis of criminalization and gender based violence against our communities. We lead from a black trans feminist framework and envision a vibrant, radically inclusive metro Atlanta where all of our people are safe and free, have the opportunity to live and thrive as their authentic selves.

8. The Audre Lorde Project

The Audre Lorde Project is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, we work for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice. Committed to struggling across differences, we seek to responsibly reflect, represent and serve our various communities. The Audre Lorde Project (ALP) is a Community Organizing Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming (LGBTSTGNC) People of Color Communities. Initiated as an organizing effort by a coalition of LGBTSTGNC People of Color, The Audre Lorde Project was first brought together by Advocates for Gay Men of Color (a multi-racial network of gay men of color HIV policy advocates) in 1994. The vision for ALP grew out of the expressed need for innovative and unified community strategies to address the multiple issues impacting LGBTSTGNC People of Color communities. ALP secured and moved into its Fort Greene home, in the parish house of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, during the summer of 1996.

9. The Black Trans Travel Fund

The Black Trans Travel Fund is a grassroots, Black Trans led Collective, providing Black transgender women with financial and material resources needed to remove barriers to self-determining and accessing safer travel options. We believe in a world where Black trans women have material resources that positively impact their sense of safety and wellness. Our vision is to create a world where Black trans women are valued and no longer face harassment and violence. We do this by offsetting the economic impact of travel and travel related materials, and encouraging allies to commit long-term to leveraging their resources to improve the lives of Black trans women. aunched in New York City on June 18th, 2019 by a Black trans man - BTTF was created out of direct response to the relentless and unacceptable transphobic violence Black transgender women across the country have been continuously experiencing. This is a direct call to action for allies to be able to leverage their resources and make a tangible difference in the lives of Black trans women. Since first developed, we’ve been working to provide Black transgender women with the resources needed to be able to self-determine and access safer alternatives to travel, where they feel less likely to experience verbal harassment or physical harm. Soon after our initial launch we expanded our reach from solely New York, to supporting women in New Jersey as well. Part of our work also includes supporting other Black trans-led programs, collectives, and organizations each month who are providing material support to Black trans women in their respective communities. We are proud to have already redistributed over $90,000 to Black trans women in need, and are working to expand our programs to other states (and countries!) soon!

10. Voix Noire

Voix Noire began as a reactionary response to the many non-inclusive spaces that intentionally and narrowly define womanhood and femmehood to exclude many of us. Voix Noire is made for and by Black Women and Femme identified people of ALL genders. We uplift ALL Black Women and Femme identified people through activism, storytelling and images. Our goal is to build a platform which elevates conversations around Black liberation by centering the voices, stories and bodies of those of us who are underrepresented in the media.

11. Brave Space Alliance Funds

We are RE-STARTING the Trans Relief Fund in partnership with the Trans Liberation Collective, with a pool of $20,000 that will be made available exclusively to BlPOC trans people in Chicago, who are in need. The first 200 eligible applicants will be contacted by a member of the BSA staff, to confirm their eligibility, and discuss how to transfer the funds into your account. Once this funding runs out, the Fund will close, and BSA will determine whether or not we will be able to re-open it again in the future. We are excited, and grateful, to be able to serve our community in this way again, in a time of severe economic need. BIPOC trans individuals in Chicago can apply for funds using the following link: https://bit.ly/transreliefund. The Funeral Fund: All Black trans lives matter, and yet we are increasingly faced with systems and individuals who speak those words but do nothing to prove their commitment to Black and trans liberation. Our community members are being murdered because our lives are devalued, our power is feared, and our truth is revolutionary. Brave Space Alliance's Funeral Fund will be assisting with funeral costs of the families of every member of our community lost to transphobic violence. We love our community, and we will never be silent in the face of the loss of yet another one of our sisters.

12. Trans Women of Color Collective

Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC) was created to cultivate economic opportunities and affirming spaces for trans people of color and our families, to foster kinship, build community engage in healing and restorative justice through arts, culture, media, advocacy and activism. We are not a 501 (c)3 organization. We are fiscally sponsored by The Washington Peace Center. Our efforts centers those in our community who have not had access to resources, opportunities and sustainable systems of support to live unapologetically in their truths; Trans and gender non-conforming people of color, in particularly Black trans women and femmes, poor, indigenous, disabled, our seniors and youth who are disproportionately impacted by structural and state sanctioned violence that impacts our socio-economic growth and development and is inextricably linked to physical violence and discrimination we face daily.

13. House of GG

Founded and led by Trans and gender nonconforming people and our allies, we create safe and transformative spaces where members of our community can heal—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—from the trauma arising from generations of transphobia, racism, sexism, poverty, ableism and violence, and nurture them into tomorrow’s leaders. We currently primarily focus on supporting and nurturing the leadership of Transgender women of color living in the U.S. South.

14. Black Voters Matter

VOTER REGISTRATION/GOTV: Increasing voter registration and turnout is an important aspect of building power, but this is just the beginning of our work. POLICY ADVOCACY: We advocate for policies to expand voting rights/access, including expanded early voting, resisting voter ID, re-entry restoration of rights and strengthening the Voting Rights Act. We also advocate for policies that intersect with race, gender, economic and other aspects of equity.​ ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT/TRAINING: We help development infrastructure where little/none exists. This includes staff training, candidate development and network development. INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES: Although not a major aspect of our operations, BVMF will on occasion fund activities related to specific elections.

15. Fair Fight

We promote fair elections in Georgia and around the country, encourage voter participation in elections, and educate voters about elections and their voting rights. Fair Fight brings awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engages in other voter education programs and communications. Voter suppression of voters of color and young voters is a scourge our country faces in states across the nation. Georgia’s 2018 elections shone a bright light on the issue with elections that were rife with mismanagement, irregularities, unbelievably long lines and more, exposing both recent and also decades-long actions and inactions by the state to thwart the right to vote. Georgians and Americans are fighting back. Fair Fight Action engages in voter mobilization and education activities and advocates for progressive issues; in addition Fair Fight Action has mounted significant programs to combat voter suppression in Georgia and nationally. Fair Fight PAC has initiated programs to support voter protection programs at state parties around the country and is engaging in partnerships to support and elect pro voting rights, progressive leaders.

16. Black Women for Wellness

Black Women for Wellness started as a group of women who – concerned with the health and well-being of black babies – teamed up with the Birthing Project to implement the Shangazi Program. This grass roots program matched pregnant women to mentors who coached parents from pregnancy until the child was at least one year old. Within 4 years of implementation, BWW began moving upstream to address systems and political policy by becoming a California 501 (c) (3) non profit in 1997.

17. Black Women's Health Imperative

Since inception, the organization has been at the forefront of women’s health issues, through comprehensive public education initiatives that promote overall wellness of Black women. In 1990, BWHI opened a public education and policy office in Washington, D.C., the seat of policy and advocacy for reproductive rights. But, it was not until 1995 that the board realized the opportunity to become better positioned to address the massive challenges of racial and gender-based health disparities affecting Black women. A decision was made to establish a national presence in the nation’s capital and relocate our national headquarters to Washington, D.C. With a broadened structure of national and local affiliated organizations and a change in name to the Black Women’s Health Imperative in 2002, the Imperative instituted aggressive national programs in health policy, education, research, knowledge and leadership development and communications to save and extend the lives of Black women. Presently, the organization continues to be dedicated to promoting physical, mental and spiritual health and well-being for the nation’s 19.5 million African American women and girls.

18. The Loveland Foundation

The Loveland Foundation was established in 2018 by Rachel Cargle in response to her widely successful birthday wish fundraiser, Therapy for Black Women and Girls. Her enthusiastic social media community raised over $250,000, which made it possible for Black women and girls nationally to receive therapy support. Black women and girls deserve access to healing, and that healing will impact generations. The Loveland Foundation is the official continuation of this effort to bring opportunity and healing to communities of color, and especially to Black women and girls. Through fellowships, residency programs, listening tours, and more, ultimately we hope to contribute to both the empowerment and the liberation of the communities we serve.

19. Know Your Rights Camp

Our mission is to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders.

20. The Innocence Project

The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The Innocence Project's mission is to free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.

21. Higher Heights for America

Higher Heights for America PAC is the only political action committee exclusively dedicated to electing more progressive Black women at the federal and statewide levels and as mayors in the 100 most populated U.S. cities. With the support of our rapidly growing network of members, activists, volunteers and supporters, Higher Heights PAC has helped Black women grow their political leadership and representation. Our members have helped: Secure the largest number of Black women to ever simultaneously serve in Congress, send the first Black woman to the U.S. Senate in 20 years, elect more Black women to serve as mayors for the country’s 100 most populated cities, and select the first Black woman to win a major party nomination for a governor’s office.

22. National Black Justice Coalition

Since 2003, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) has been America’s leading national civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+, and same gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS through coalition building, federal policy change, research, and education. Our mission is to end racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ+/SGL bias and stigma. NBJC supports Black individuals, families, and communities in strengthening the bonds and bridging the gaps between the movements for racial justice and LGBTQ+/SGL equity. We envision a world where all people are fully empowered to participate safely, openly, and honestly in family, faith, and community, regardless of race, class, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

23. Reclaim the Block

Reclaim the Block began in 2018 and organizes Minneapolis community and city council members to move money from the police department into other areas of the city’s budget that truly promote community health and safety. We believe health, safety and resiliency exist without police of any kind. We organize around policies that strengthen community-led safety initiatives and reduce reliance on police departments. We do not believe that increased regulation of or public engagement with the police will lead to safer communities, as community testimony and documented police conduct suggest otherwise.

24. Dream Defenders

The Dream Defenders was founded in April 2012 after the tragic killing of 17-year old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. That Spring, young Black, Latinx, and Arab youth marched from Daytona Beach Florida to Sanford Florida where Trayvon Martin was killed. With that fire in their bellies, they then went back to their communities and campuses to organize. One year later, after George Zimmerman was acquitted, the Dream Defenders occupied the Florida State Capitol for 30 nights and 31 days, demanding a repeal of the Stand Your Ground law. Although we didn’t get the law changed, we knew we had done something equally important – we had built the groundwork for a movement that would spark thousands of young people in Florida and across the country to take action. We all went back to our communities across the state ready to continue the work. Today, the Dream Defenders is organizing Black and Brown youth to build power in our communities to advance a new vision we have for the state. Our agenda is called the Freedom Papers. Through it, we are advancing our vision of safety and security – away from prisons, deportation, and war – and towards healthcare, housing, jobs and movement for all.

25. Mothers Against Police Brutality

Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB) is the voice for justice for victims of police brutality and deadly force. We are multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalition uniting mothers nationwide to fight for civil rights, police accountability, and policy reform. MAPB formed to unite mothers who have lost their children to police violence. Every year families lose children and other loved ones to police killings. An alarmingly disproportionate number of African American and Hispanic men killed by policemen are unarmed. In virtually every case, officers that kill unarmed Black and Brown men are never charged with a crime. We must summon the courage to challenge existing laws and practices that leave our families vulnerable to police brutality and official murder. We must summon the courage to challenge the existing investigations by district attorneys and county prosecutors that result in no indictments, no trials, and no accountability for officers involved in brutalizing and killing civilians. We must summon the courage to challenge our Congressional representatives to recognize police brutality as a gross violation of civil rights and to intervene legislatively as Congress has done in the past, with the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights and 1965 Voting Rights Acts. We must summon the courage to challenge the President and the Justice Department to intervene in communities where police departments show a pattern of brutality toward citizens; to investigate citizen complaints against local law enforcement agencies; and to stop providing advanced military weapons and equipment that are totally inappropriate for local peace officers. We must re-design the training and ongoing review of police officers. Officers involved in the use of excessive and deadly force typically show a pattern of abusive behavior and typically have received multiple citizen complaints prior to a major incident. Applicants to police academy need to be screened more rigorously to exclude those with psychological problems or social attitudes (i.e., racial prejudice) that will cause problems in the everyday stresses of police work. Only when there is trust between local police and citizens can we restore the social contract, protect the rights of the people, and work together to prevent and solve crime in our communities.

26. Black AIDS Institute

The Black AIDS Institute (BAI) is dedicated to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Black community. BAI is the only uniquely and unapologetically Black HIV think and do tank in America. We believe in complete freedom for Black people by eradicating systematic oppression so that we can live long, healthy lives. Our decisions, responses, programming, and messaging are informed by our roots, and by our core values of Black Empowerment, Equity, Impact, Self-Determination, and Integrity. BAI was founded by a Black, gay man living with HIV, a Black, gay doctor, and a Black, lesbian doctor. They established BAI in 1999 to mobilize and educate Black Americans about HIV/AIDS treatment and care. They envisioned an organization that directly challenged the systems of oppression that marginalize Black health and that also developed culturally specific programming to address the unique needs of Black people. With a foundation in advocacy and policy work, BAI works towards improving the health and wellness of Black people through research, community efforts, and clinical work. Recognizing that health justice is a racial and social justice issue, BAI is deeply committed to exposing the systems and roots of oppression that marginalize Black people and exacerbate our health burden. We are revolutionizing the HIV response by centering Black experiences and perspectives to ensure that Black people can live their fullest, healthiest lives with dignity, care, and respect. We see a world where all Black people are free and flourishing without HIV and AIDS, free of stigma and shame, where Black health and well-being are paramount.

27. Black Women’s Blueprint

We work to place Black women and girls’ lives, as well as their particular struggles, squarely within the context of the larger racial justice concerns of Black communities. We began meeting in sister circles in 2008 in living rooms, backyards and around kitchen tables, where we grappled with the state of Black women in the U.S. across ethnicity/nationality, class, sexual orientation, identity, etc. Our main focus was the 2008 Democratic Primaries. While we developed our personal, critical consciousness, parallel to this process was the political and public debate around the Obama/Clinton primary elections where Black women were being asked whether we were voting our race or our gender. Both democratic candidates presented their “blueprints” for change but neither took full stock of the particular problems Black women are facing within their communities and in greater society (gender-violence, poverty, the over-criminalization of black women and girls among others). What was manifesting itself was the cultural tendency to erase Black women by conceptualizing white women as speaking on behalf of the rights of the sex and Black men as speaking on behalf of the race. Something had to be done to unearth the intersections of race and gender in our own lives as Black women. Black women needed to offer their own voice, their own “blueprint” for change that equally reflected and benefited us, thus Black Women’s Blueprint was formed. What makes BWB unique is our specific focus on Black women and our departure from the rubric of “women of color” which we find also often supports racial hierarchies and doesn’t fully allow for Black women to deal with the ever-present history and legacy of slavery, sexual and reproductive exploitation, and subsequent periods of holocaust.

28. Black Youth Project 100

Founded in 2013, BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100) is a member-based organization of Black youth activists creating justice and freedom for all Black people. BYP100 was, at one point, just a hashtag for the 2013 “Beyond November Movement Convening” developed through the vision and leadership of Cathy Cohen. In 2012, Dr. Cathy Cohen was working with a Black Youth Project advisory council in Chicago and was advised to hold a national convening with young Black activists from across the country. Throughout the year, Dr. Cohen worked with the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) to gather resources for the convening and make sure there was a strong representation from the Black queer and trans community along with artists and labor unions. In July 2013 she held the “Beyond November Movement Convening” outside of Chicago. One day during the convening, the group gathered in the main holding room to dismiss for an open mic night, but before they left, someone learned that the George Zimmerman verdict in the killing of Trayvon Martin would be announced shortly. The energy in the room completely shifted, and folks sat there prepared for whatever was going to happen. After George Zimmerman was found ‘not guilty’ in the murder of Trayvon Martin, everyone in the room was outraged. Some folk cried. Some folks screamed. Some people left the room. A few folks stayed and in that moment, they decided that they had to make a decision: were they gonna do/be something or would they just hold in their anger and not put that anger into action? Hence, BYP100 was born. At the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, a second convening was held. It was through this convening that 30 members of the collective later known as “BYP100” drafted the organizational vision, mission, and core value statements. BYP100 became a national collective that emphasizes building chapters throughout the country to hone in on grassroots organizing and community mobilization on local levels.