| You can sense the change in the national direction almost like the harbinger of spring. We’re still fighting this horrific pandemic, and there are so many challenges all around us, but it just feels like things are changing for the better. This is the time to build – in some cases, to rebuild – to look forward to expanding our impact, to making this a fairer country. That’s what we’re doing here at CauseWired. It’s time to grow, to build, to work hard together – and it’s time to share some exciting news. Today, we’re thrilled to announce the addition of former Innocence Project development chief Audrey Levitin as Senior Counsel to our CauseWired team.  After leading the national development effort at the Innocence Project, where she increased philanthropic revenue almost ten-fold during a 15-year tenure, Audrey brings her unparalleled knowledge and experience to providing our clients with unique insight into increasing funding for social justice organizations. Audrey joined the Innocence Project when its annual budget was just over $2M and oversaw the creation of a $20M reserve fund and an increase in its budget to more than $20M, bringing together some of the nation’s leading philanthropists, companies and foundations to support the organization’s commitment to freeing the innocent and reforming our broken justice system. A recognized expert on funding for human rights and social justice causes, Audrey is also the producer of Sanctuary: An Expression of Conscience, a documentary depicting the plight of Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees in the 1980s she served as co-chair of US/Israel Women to Women, an organization advancing women’s empowerment and peaceful co-existence. Previously, Audrey was executive vice president at the Vantage Consulting Group, leading the firm’s work in legal services and civil rights. She established the Educational and Technical Assistance Program, which provided assistance to the Open Society Institute, the United Way of New York City, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and the New York Foundation. We are ready to go. We understand this rapidly changing landscape. Together, our team has organized and advised efforts that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for vital social justice causes and strengthened the network of funders – individuals, foundations and companies – that work toward a fairer and more just society. |
Toward Social Justice
| Dear Friends, The election is over. President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris have defeated the forces of American fascism, and preserved a democratic republic for at least four more years. Make no mistake: those were the stakes. Our descent into xenophobic authoritarian government was no chimera; it was all too real and drifting into the offing. We have avoided the worst fate, thanks to millions of organizers around this country who refused to accept the end of a pluralistic, democratic America. But there is so much more work to do. While our nerves are a little calmer, let’s make certain that our resolve remains steady. For those of us who work in the social sector, the mandate is clear: we can never forget that we almost lost American civil society – and that it remains weakened, torn and frayed. Trump is defeated and will eventually leave, disgraced and synonymous with the debasement of our values. We remain. So do those who either agreed with his vile hatred and anti-democratic demagoguery, or who were somehow misled by false promises of better days. The dead speak of his pathetic, immoral failure. We must do more. I intend to. It is impossible not to. For these last dozen years, CauseWired has been an independent consulting firm working with a wide variety of nonprofit causes. Yet as the years have gone on, and I’ve reached what can charitably be called “veteran” status as a consultant, I’ve been drawn more often to work with organizations and people who toil for social justice in this country. From direct service to the poor to justice reform to racial and gender equity to standing with immigrants and those marginalized by hate movements to fair economic development, these are the causes that animate my fingers across this keyboard, and my feet across the cold floor of the winter’s morning. So I’ve decided to formally recenter CauseWired’s consulting work around social justice. That’s what I want to do. That’s where we need to go. Let’s go together. There’s so much work to be done. There will be more announcements here in the coming weeks, so watch your email. New partnerships. New practice areas. New commitments. Thank you for your support, for your recommendations, for your ideas. We stood at the precipice, and we pulled back. Now we need to rebuild society, make it fairer, help those who need it. Thanks for listening! – TW |
