Dear FEAST,

My name is Angela Sun and I’m a graduate student at the University of Michigan, specializing in ethics, action, aesthetics, and social philosophy. Since August 2020, I’ve been co-directing Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) International, a grassroots organization dedicated to addressing structural injustice facing marginalized groups in academic philosophy with over 160 chapters in 15 countries and 5 continents.

In the past three years, MAP has played an integral role in my personal and academic growth. Through MAP, I’ve helped organize conference sessions (including sessions on “Countering Bullying, Harassment, and Microaggressions” and “Public Philosophy and Activism” at 2021 APA meetings), workshops, and get-togethers, and wrote articles, reports, and guides to advocate for a more diverse, just, and welcoming profession. Above all, I’ve found a community of compassionate graduate students who philosophize from marginalized perspectives. Thousands of other marginalized students have found their own local communities through MAP.

Today, I’m writing to you with an urgent call for action. As an organization run by marginalized graduate students with little institutional support, MAP is severely underfunded. MAP activities have traditionally been co-funded by local universities and the Marc Sanders Foundation. However, since 2013, when we started with 19 chapters, we have grown over 784%, yet we still receive the same annual operational budget--a little over $10,000. MAP’s exponential growth makes our funding highly unsustainable for the past few years. COVID disruptions have further exacerbated the issue. This year, we launched our first-ever fundraising campaign with the Marc Sanders Foundation (MSF). The MSF will match every donation dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000; donations through this fundraising campaign have the potential to increase MAP's annual operational budget by 100%. We need your help to keep MAP running.

Donations will help MAP International organize events and support MAP chapters in philosophy departments worldwide. Moreover, they will go towards our two new initiatives aimed at facilitating regional collaboration and community building: MAP-Africa and the MAP Inter-Campus Peer Mentoring Network. Read our most recent annual report to learn more about MAP programming since 2020, and how the donations would be used.

How you can help

• Donations
    • Directly donate through this link. Any amount ($5, $10, $50, $100, $200) would help us a long way!
    • Ask your departments to make a $50 purchase to advertise for jobs and events on MAP’s website. Purchase link: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__marcsandersfoundation.org_minorities-2Dand-2Dphilosophy-2Dadvertising_&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HUp8-bkYMlNgd3ZJBxWBKsBsFAFGHrEZg21p9gxugJA&m=MhTKCix5XBSqBdEHKeStR_PM9I6hteSR2WB-KzB_l1s&s=crocjP3tVFwp71zHry4s_Pn4nqf-o_pvajEwJncFazQ&e= .
    • Your donations and purchases will both be matched by the MSF, dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000.
• Spread the word
    • Share our fundraising posts with your social network on Facebook (@mapforthegap), Twitter (@MAPCosmopolitan), and Instagram (@mapcosmopolitan).
    • Forward this email or compose a fundraising email on behalf of MAP to faculty members, graduate students, and alumni (in or outside of academia) of your department, as well as your other communities.
• Help Us Connect
    • We are looking into financially partnering with the Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. If you are willing to share your contacts within these two foundations, please email us at [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]


Thank you for supporting MAP.

With gratitude,
Angela

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