Our New Community Blog
Welcome to North Star Fund's new Community Blog. As the chair of the board of North Star Fund, I'm honored and excited to be leading off what we intend to be a lively forum for distributing news and viewpoints from North Star Fund's diverse community of donors, grantees, and philanthropic supporters.
For those new to North Star Fund, this year we are celebrating a 30 year history of building a diverse community of philanthropic and community activism. We also offer innovative programming that connects people with resources to give to New York's outstanding network of grassroots activist groups. We are building a stronger grassroots movement to achieve social justice.
With the launch of our new website, we'll also be connecting the netroots with the grassroots. The term netroots describes how the Internet's decentralized, accessible nature can allow for discussion and mobilization that emerges from the bottom up--much like grassroots activism. In the process, we want to reach that tipping point of popular opinion and pressure so that the media and the halls of power pay closer attention to what they are hearing from "the roots."
But the Internet will never replace person-to-person grassroots activism. An email is not the same as a door knock. A text message is not the same as a meeting that includes community elders and those who don't use computers. And signing an online petition is not the same as getting you and your people over to City Hall to have your voices heard and included.
As a community foundation committed to donor organizing and grassroots activism in New York City, North Star Fund is in a unique position to use the Internet as a tool to connect hundreds of community groups with thousands of supporters. If you haven't had a chance yet, take a look around the rest of the site - and sign up for our email list if you haven't already. Our work doesn't stop with this relaunch -- expect to see new applications and new stories on an almost daily basis.
Do you have any thoughts or concerns? I invite you to share them in the comments section below.
