The Families and Workers Fund

About the Families and Workers Fund

The Families and Workers Fund (FWF) is a new, rapidly growing collaborative philanthropy, housed within the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation (ACF), that works to build a more equitable economy that uplifts all. Launched in April 2020 as the first national, pooled fund dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impacts, today FWF is a $51 million and growing coalition of more than 20 leading philanthropies co-chaired by Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, and Eric Braverman, CEO of Schmidt Futures. FWF was founded on the belief that the United States is experiencing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance economic security, opportunity, and mobility—especially for those who have been most locked out of the country’s prosperity. FWF deploys strategic and nimble grants, as well as targeted programs, community engagement, and partnerships, to leverage the possibility of this moment toward two longer-term impact goals:

• 21st Century Benefits: help build a more equitable and effective public benefits system that enables families to stay afloat (current focus on unemployment insurance)
• Recover Up: deliver jobs that enable economic security and mobility for struggling workers, leveraging the unique openings of the recovery period

Across all of FWF’s work, the priority is on equity and scale. In grantmaking, this means supporting organizations that work not just for but with the most impacted communities, and center their voices and leadership. FWF’s grantees are ambitious about scale, and an example of their growth is noted in how they’ve expanded from a few promising demonstration projects to a much larger-scale intervention. In 2020, over 80% of FWF’s grants went to organizations led by Black, Indigenous, or other people or color (BIPOC); immigrants or the children of immigrants; women; and/or LGBTQ people. The largest share of FWF’s grants went to women of color-led organizations.