The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of $100,000 to Common Justice via the Vera Institute of Justice for general support.
Common Justice, which began as a Brooklyn-based project of the Vera Institute of Justice, develops and promotes solutions to violent crime that focus on improving outcomes for victims and holding people accountable for harm without relying on incarceration. We wrote more about the organization on our page about a previous grant to Common Justice.
We believe that in the last year, executive director Danielle Sered has continued to be a powerful thought leader in making the case for alternative, non-punitive models of holding people accountable for harm. Her program stands for the proposition that crime victims and communities can be well-served through restorative justice, a concept that we find to be promising (see also our grant to Impact Justice).
When we made our investment in Common Justice last year, we hoped it would provide a boost to the organization so that it could sign a lease for larger offices in Brooklyn. Following our grant, Common Justice was able to secure the necessary space, and has proceeded with its expansion plans. Executive Director Danielle Sered reported to us that in addition, the grant allowed her the breathing room to take on new bodies of work.
We have been pleased to see our investment have a catalytic effect on Common Justice, whose budget has grown rapidly in the past year. Because our original objectives have been met and several other major donors have begun to invest in Common Justice’s innovative vision, we no longer see this as a critical gap that we in particular need to fill. Accordingly, we have structured this year’s grant as an exit grant, and do not plan to make additional grants to Common Justice.
This is a discretionary grant.