Foundations embrace organized labor with $20 million plan

By ALEX DANIELS of The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Chronicle of Philanthropy

Following a string of union victories at Amazon and Starbucks, a group of prominent progressive grantmakers is seeking to put a total of $20 million into a coalition with organized labor that will steer funds to organizing and advocacy campaigns in the South. A contentious battle to unionize an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., provided much of the impetus to create the new fund, says Jennifer Epps, executive director of the Labor Innovations for the 21st Century Fund (LIFT), a 10-year-old philanthropy-labor collaboration that will manage the effort. The fund, called the Southern Workers Opportunity Fund, has secured commitments totaling $14 million from foundations.