Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) is delighted to announce that longtime GCIR leaders, Taryn Higashi and Geri Mannion, have been named co-recipients of the 2009 Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking. Established in 1985, the Scrivner Award recognizes grantmakers who have demonstrated outstanding creativity. It honors grantmakers who—with a combination of vision, principle, and personal commitment—are making a critical difference in a creative way.
Taryn and Geri are being honored for their co-founding of the Four Freedoms Fund (FFF), a national funding collaborative that has helped build and sustain a national network of grassroots, regional, and state organizations to protect the rights of immigrants and their integration into our civic life. Since its creation in 2003, FFF has invested nearly $25 million in more than 85 grantees working in 33 states.
Taryn is executive director of Unbound Philanthropy and former deputy director of the Human Rights Unit and program officer for Migrant and Refugee Rights at the Ford Foundation. She served as co-chair of the GCIR board of directors for nine years and currently serves on GCIR's 20th anniversary planning committee.
Geri and Taryn have influenced their colleagues to think more strategically and inclusively about their grantmaking, and they have played a pivotal role in strengthening the immigrant rights field. Last year, they received the Center for Community Change’s Community Change Champion Award for their collaborative grantmaking to advance immigrant rights and integration.
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Q & A with Award Winners
Geri and Taryn reflect on what sparked them to create the Four Freedoms Fund and how collaborative grantmaking builds a better national policy conversation on immigration and integration. And what comes after comprehensive immigration reform? Read the interview.
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Freedom From Fear Award
Taryn and Geri will use the Scrivner cash prize of $10,000 to establish a new award, the Freedom from Fear Award, to honor “ordinary people who demonstrate extraordinary acts of courage in defense of immigrant and refugee rights.” The prize, named after one of the four freedoms cited by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, will be administered by the Center for New Community, which is a fearless leader in the fight against hate speech and violence. In recognition of Taryn's and Geri's leadership, visit Network for Good to make an online contribution today! Gifts should be made to Public Interest Projects and designated to the "Freedom From Fear Award".
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