The Care for All with Respect and Equity (CARE) Fund

Why Care - Why Now

Giving and receiving care is deeply personal. It also is foundational for healthy communities and a vibrant economy. At some point in all our lives, we will be caregivers and we will benefit from the care of loved ones and professional care workers.

Yet our public and corporate policies and our society’s devaluing of care make this fundamental act of love and humanity a challenge that families are expected to figure out on their own. It shouldn’t be this hard.

That is why a diverse and growing group of funders are joining forces to build the cohesion, capacity, and power of the care movement to win care for all with respect and equity. We are aligning resources at scale to build the political will for bold public investment in paid family and medical leave, early care and education, aging and disability care, and quality care jobs.

The CARE Fund is a unique philanthropic collaboration focused on improving the livelihoods of paid and unpaid caregivers and the quality of care for all who need it, across generations. We believe such a holistic approach is essential to unraveling the legacies of racism, sexism, ageism, ableism and other oppressions embedded in our care economy.

In this historically consequential moment for our democracy, our work is more important now than ever before.
We welcome you to join us to build a caring future for all.

Now Is the Time for Philanthropy to Meet the Moment for Care

Inside Philanthropy (November 18, 2024)

Care featured more prominently in this election than ever before. Politicians responded to a groundswell of demand from voters for child care, home care, paid leave and decent care jobs. Where care was on the ballot, care won. Unfortunately, this happened in an election where vitriolic rhetoric also reinforced the legacies of racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ+ hate and xenophobia embedded in our care economy and our broader society.

The CARE Fund
Believes in:

Care for All

We value and amplify the voices and leadership of all who give and receive care — parents and other family caregivers, care consumers, and professionals who work in early care and education and aging and disability care.

We believe all families and individuals deserve public investment to care for our loved ones and ourselves throughout our lives and across generations with dignity. A universal high-quality care infrastructure supports families’ economic security and creates a thriving sustainable economy that benefits us all.

Respect

The women who work in early care and education and long-term services and supports — many of whom are immigrants and women of color — deserve living wages and benefits.

Improving the quality of jobs directly improves the quality of care that children, older adults, and people with disabilities deserve to thrive and live with dignity.

Care systems and services must recognize our interdependence and be rooted in respect and self-determination for all.

Photo Credit: W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Equity

An equitable care economy must undo the legacies of racism, slavery, xenophobia, sexism, ageism and ableism that have devalued care.

We must ensure that care systems and services create good jobs and provide high quality universally affordable and accessible benefits and services to the full diversity of our families and communities.

Photo Credit: Caring Across Generations

Spotlight

How a $50 Million Philanthropic Investment Is Bolstering Coalitions of Care Workers, Advocates

The Chronicle of Philanthropy (September 12, 2024)

Longtime advocates for care workers and families say there’s momentum for their cause, thanks to decades of grassroots organizing, a pandemic that brought the care crisis to everyone’s doorstep, and an infusion of philanthropic support.