In Our Name is a community of Jewish donors and allies committed to Palestinian human rights. In September 2024, In Our Name launched a campaign to raise and distribute resources to support efforts that will positively impact Palestinian leaders and communities in the U.S. and abroad. Director Cody Edgerly provides perspective on why In Our Name has chosen to partner with RISE Together Fund.
It was a thoughtful but ultimately obvious choice to select the Rise Together Fund as a grantee partner for the In Our Name campaign. We needed a US partner whose decision-making was reflective of the Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities leading Palestinian organizing in the U.S. While our funding was in support of RTF’s Palestine Emergency Fund, the nature of RTFs work to support BAMEMSA communities broadly situates the struggles for Palestinian liberation as deeply connected to movements for justice for so many different communities, which is core to the mission of ION as well.
In addition, something that was very important to us is that the funding that we’re supporting is public. We believe that publicly funding this work is critical to combating the silencing and defunding practices of philanthropy that pose a massive threat to multiracial power building. It’s clear that RTFs public leadership in philanthropy has created more space for pro-Palestinian leadership, and created the broader conditions for effective and powerful leadership from the network of activists they support.
We actually don’t need brand new strategies when it comes to fighting against U.S. support for Israel’s starvation campaign and genocide of Palestine. I’ve learned this through the partnership with RTF. Their organizing, and the leadership of RTFs grantees builds on the leadership of the BAMEMSA communities of the last few decades, which holds a rich and powerful history of how we can push back against white nationalist and authoritarian threats. This includes lessons about how the broader philanthropic community missed an opportunity to stand with BAMEMSA leaders as their humanitarian aid efforts we’re politically & legally targeted. Understanding that context is critical to understanding the political conditions we’re navigating today, and clarifies the role in funders publicly supporting humanitarian & civil society work in Gaza and historic Palestine today.
Personally, I’ll say that beyond the fundamental role that RTF is holding, Rana has been an invaluable thought partner throughout the development of ION’s strategy, we wouldn’t be nearly as effective leaders in the Jewish community if it weren’t for her support along the way. I know we’re not special in receiving this support – in different roles as an organizer, I’ve seen the way Rana and the RTF team show up for dozens of leaders to make sure they are grounded, resourced, and not alone as they sharpen their impact. This is why it feels like supporting RTFs work goes so far beyond just the grantmaking dollars we’re able to contribute.
The mission of In Our Name is not just to move as many resources as possible into the hands of Palestinian leaders, but to shift the political conditions of philanthropy by creating new majority of Jewish donors that are publicly committed Palestinian liberation. RTF and their network of grantee partners understand the ecosystem–wide effort that this shift will require. Our base of donors can only show up powerfully if we are supported by the legal expertise, the narrative strategists, and policy wonks that make up the RTF cinematic universe. Without their guidance, I fear our work would be disconnected from a key community of experts and untethered from the real opportunities for change on the horizon.
