One year ago, at the height of the uprising following the murder of George Floyd, it was revealed that the Seattle Foundation, a philanthropic organization with almost $1 billion in assets, has funneled upwards of $800,000 to the Seattle Police Foundation. Some of these funds are used to pay for supplies and tactics used to brutalize protestors such as police dogs, bike cops, etc.

After a year of community organizations and individuals calling on them to end donations to cops and a committee formed by the Seattle Foundation recommending that they do so as well, their board voted to IGNORE these calls to cut ties with SPD. Their rationale? "The Board did not approve grant policy revisions addressing harmful activity, due to insufficient depth of knowledge regarding definitions, principles, criteria, and types of evidence for determining harm..." Basically, they need more time to figure out what harm is.

On their website, Seattle Foundation commits to "creating a positive and inclusive community where all have equitable access to fundamental human rights and the benefits of a healthy community." One has to wonder how they could realize such a bold vision if they can see countless examples of police brutalizing and killing people and respond by saying "we're not sure if this is harmful or not."

Outraged? So are we. E-mail the board today and let them know: STOP loving on the Seattle Police Foundation!  Make your words real and divest from the Seattle Police Foundation today!