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8/7/2017 In a Fearful Moment, This Growing Fund Channels Muslim American Philanthropy — Inside Philanthropy

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PHOTO: A KATZ/SHUTTERSTOCK

If there’s a time for philanthropy to pay attention toAmerica’s Muslim community, that time is now. Underfire from the Trump administration and the right-wingpress, American Muslims are eager to push backagainst caricatures and intolerance and support eachother on the ground. The Pillars Fund is onegrantmaker that’s been leading the charge from withinthe Muslim community.

Founded several years ago, Pillars is the brainchild ofKashif Shaikh. A veteran of Chicago’s philanthropicsector with previous stints at the McCormickFoundation and the Chicago United Way, Shaikh spenthis early career in an environment where AmericanMuslims simply weren’t at the table. “[We] haven’tbeen on the radar, except in unfortunatecircumstances,” he says. “Foundations weren’texplicitly looking at working with Muslims because thetopic was too loaded and cumbersome.”

But it’s not that funders didn’t want to back AmericanMuslims. According to Shaikh, they just didn't knowhow. Making those connections is one reason whyShaikh decided to found Pillars in 2010, along with agroup of well-heeled donors.

Pillars started off with a giving circle model as a donor-advised fund at the Chicago Community Trust. Fromthose humble beginnings, it has grown into one of thenation’s largest funders of Muslim issues.

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Unfortunately, despite an estimated 3.3 million

Muslims in America, this is still an underfunded space.

But Shaikh is optimistic. Five years after its founding,

Pillars’ funding base grew to over 25 donors

contributing an average of $35,000 a year. Eighteen

months ago, Pillars made the transition from its

former home at the Chicago Community Trust to its

current status an independent entity.

Shaikh attributes Pillars’ success to the fact that it’s

tailored to a specific American community. On the

giving end, wealthy donors—many of them fairly young

—identify Pillars as a credible place to go when they

want to give to their own community. On the receiving

side, tiny nonprofits serving American Muslims can

approach a grantmaker that understands where they’re

coming from.

Pillars has always striven keep small nonprofits afloat,

and that work continues through its Community

Infrastructure Fund. Until August 15, Pillars is

accepting letters of inquiry from interested (non-

religious) organizations. Says Shaikh, “Most

organizations working with the Muslim community are

really small, and they don't have the capacity to have

conversations with the big funders.”

But in recent years, Shaikh has dedicated his time to

another major component of Pillars’ work, culture

change. It’s a story we’re seeing a lot of lately, both in

response to Trump-era politics and from major

initiatives that predate his rise to the presidency.

Liberal funders and funders associated with minority

communities are investing directly in projects that

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allow those communities to tell their own stories andset the record straight.

The Pillars Fund has given $2 million to these culturechange projects since 2010. They include comedianAasif Mandvi’s web series Halal in the Family andpartnerships with media organizations like Vox andUSA Today. Pillars is also interested in working withnational funders like Unbound Philanthropy andnonprofits like Define American, which are dedicatingresources to cultural initiatives that they hope will shifthow groups like Muslims and immigrants areperceived.

Related:

Philanthropy and the Fight Over Muslims inAmericaWho’s Sticking Up for Muslim Americans At aVery Scary Moment?This Funder is Laser-Focused on Immigration.Have You Heard of It?

The exciting thing, according to Shaikh, is that there’salso been a lot more buy-in from top funders likeKellogg, Ford, the Open Society Foundations, and theNathan Cummings Foundation. All four have chosen topartner with Pillars, and Ford recently threw in aparticularly large grant. As the Trump administrationcontinues insisting on versions of its Muslim ban,Pillars has become an “on-the ground voice forfoundations that are starting to get interested inengaging with American Muslims.”

Kellogg, for its part, provided the seed grant that letShaikh launch Pillars as an independent organization.

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We’ve written about WKKF’s broad, ongoing initiatives

to pursue racial healing, and it seems like Muslim

Americans are now part of that story. In addition, the

same group of funders (plus Unbound Philanthropy,

the JPB Foundation, and the General Service

Foundation) has just announced the first round of

grants in its Pop Culture Collaborative, an initiative to

promote “authentic, just narratives about people of

color, immigrants, refugees and Muslims in the

media.”

At the same time, there’s been a post-election surge in

immigrant and race-focused community giving

(including to benefit Muslim communities) from

funders like the Brooklyn Community Foundation and

the Midwest’s Bush Foundation. Lots going on here.

While Shaikh is quick to point to the philanthropic dry

well Muslim communities faced for many years, there

have been exceptions. Prior to Trump’s election,

modest giving from places like Ford, the Proteus Fund,

the El-Hibri Foundation, the California Community

Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation,

and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation supported

anti-bigotry efforts. That sort of giving skyrocketed, as

we’ve seen, in the wake of 2016. As big funders

continue to sign on, Pillars is ready to help them find

their way around a community that’s too often

misunderstood.

Related:

Grants for Hatred, Grants Against Hatred: Who’s

Funding What in an Era of Xenophobia?

Can Pop Culture Drive Social Change? These

Foundations Think So.

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Can the Arts Counter Islamophobia? ThisFunder's Making That Bet

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Have You

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