BY TFN STAFF
This summer, our team decided to pause our presence on Twitter/X, given the instability of the platform — and more importantly, to gauge whether it still aligned with our values.
TFN is committed to supporting and inspiring courageous philanthropic leaders who are engaged, emboldened and equipped to bring about a just society. Social media is just one of the tools we use to connect our community of changemakers working toward racial, economic and environmental justice in communities across the U.S. and Canada.
It’s become increasingly clear that TFN values do not align with those of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and don’t support remaining active on this platform in its current iteration. That’s why we’ve decided not to engage on X for the foreseeable future.
Changes to the way X moderates content (including laying off thousands of people who monitored for hate speech and threats of violence) have led to increased digital harassment of marginalized communities and mis/disinformation on issues that are core to our collective health, wellbeing and shared humanity. That the platform is led by someone whose own public statements and actions undermine, or are often in open conflict with, our values also factored heavily in our decision.
We also recognize that much of the online community we’ve cultivated on this site has moved on to other platforms. We’ve noticed a decrease in engagement on Twitter/X while our engagement on other platforms — notably LinkedIn — has increased dramatically.
In the past few months, we’ve doubled down on other social media platforms and have improved the way our members can connect with our TFN team and with each other.
Here’s where you can find us:
- You can connect with us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
- Sign up for our newsletters and updates.
- Engage with one of our many working groups.
- If you’re a TFN member, be sure to sign up for our TFN Member Portal, which offers a host of resources — including a searchable database of funders, making it easier for you to connect and engage with other leaders in the sector as well.
TFN’s mission-driven communications goals include sharing knowledge, amplifying voices and inspiring action across our network and beyond. While we put much thought into this decision, in consultation with our team and TFN board, we know there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to how individuals and organizations choose to connect in digital spaces.
We acknowledge that many of our members, partners and team members continue to see value in engaging on X as a means of organizing and advocating for social change, and we support their right to make decisions that suit their needs — and the communities they serve — as they see best. This decision only applies to our official TFN handle (@Funders_Network).
We’ll continue to evaluate our communications goals and strategies to ensure they remain aligned with TFN’s values of creating equitable, inclusive, constructive places to come together — both in person and online.
We encourage you to be part of this conversation, and to share your thoughts, experiences and questions with us. If you have any questions or feedback about TFN’s communication goals and strategies, please reach out to Senior Communications Director Tere Figueras Negrete at tere@fundersnetwork.org.
We hope to hear from you!
