We Were Built for This

When Liberty Hill was founded in 1976, the country was a very different place.

The nation was busy preparing to celebrate its Bicentennial. President Gerald Ford had become the first U.S. president to officially recognize Black History Month, the U.S. Supreme Court had only just affirmed a woman’s right to unemployment benefits during pregnancy, and the California Supreme Court had ruled that the Los Angeles area school system must finally desegregate.

The fight for civil rights and social justice was entering a new phase, as was the focus on racial, gender, housing, and environmental justice.

As Liberty Hill celebrates 50 Years of Solidarity and Progress, we must also pause to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of all our supporters and partners who have been with us along the way.

• You fueled our mission so we could fuel a more just future.
• You supported our work so we could support the movements that change lives and communities across LA
• You stood beside us as we partnered with frontline organizers and helped them fight battles for youth, LGBTQ+, housing, and environmental justice that have defined the last five decades of our history.

You’ve celebrated with us, fought with us, marched with us—and pushed us—to become the Home for Progressive Philanthropy in Los Angeles.

Our founders Sarah Pillsbury, Larry Janss, Win McCormack and Anne Mendel laid the foundation for a different type of philanthropy, committing to using their wealth and privilege to fuel emerging organizations andgrassroots movements that have driven transformative victories over the past 50 years. They understood that to make progressive change a reality, we needed to support people on the frontlines, resource their work, and use our voices and power to collectively fight for real change.

And that ethos still drives Liberty Hill’s work today.

We’ve seen it in the way our partners have shown up over the past challenging year— not bowing to authoritarian threats but organizing to protect vulnerable members of our communities. We’ve seen it in the way frontline community organizations responded in the face of devastating wildfires in Altadena and Palisades—launching relief funds, distributing essential supplies, and helping families access emergency assistance. We’ve seen it in the way our donor activists have stepped up in the face of rollbacks to hard-fought progress, providing increased support to immigrant rights organizations and others facing the brunt of the threats to their missions.

And through it all, Liberty Hill has been there and will continue to be there in support of this critical work.

We were built for this moment.

In Dr. King’s famous “Mountaintop” speech—given the day before his assassination—he leveled with the audience, acknowledging there would be difficult days ahead. But he also encouraged them with the message that even though they couldn’t yet see the promise of the future today, he was confident that we, as a nation, would reach that more just future if we all work together.

In the 50 years since Liberty Hill was founded, we’ve come a long way on the journey toward justice, but as this year has shown, we have not yet reached the mountaintop. There are forces that would try to pull us backward, undo the hard work of millions, and put a stranglehold on progress.

But not if we stand together. Not if we fight together.

We are ready to stand beside our partners on the next leg of this journey. We are ready to stand up against threats to roll back progress. We are ready to work to ensure that change is not only possible, but inevitable.

And we hope you are ready to stand with us on this journey toward the next 50 years of progress.

Let’s build the future—together.

Shane Murphy Goldsmith
President/CEO
Liberty Hill Foundation