Statement of Values
We value:
Social Justice
We work to address the structural inequities at the root of hunger so that all people have power over the decisions and resources needed to live a life of dignity. Through systems-level change we believe that, together, we can shape a new just way of life that dismantles structural racism, gender subjugation and inequities in health, economics and the environment.
Openness and Transparency
We aim to be accountable to the grassroots organizations and social movements in the struggle for justice. We strive for transparency with our partners, donors, supporters and allies regarding our organizational strengths and challenges. We share resources through practices that are just and authentic to our mission.
Relationships
Relationship building is at the heart of authentic collaboration and movement building. We ground our work in a relationship-based approach, allowing our strategies and engagement to evolve and change to reflect the realities and priorities of our grassroots partners. We value each other as a board and staff and seek greater unity in our work together.
Power of Music in Social Change
Music inspires people and has historically been a powerful tool to mobilize people towards collective action and social change. Music is an important part of WhyHunger’s story starting with our co-founder the artist-activist Harry Chapin. Creative expression comes in many forms and we believe all artists can utilize their platforms to change minds, open hearts and raise funds to help fuel grassroots solutions to hunger and poverty.
Learning and a Willingness to Adapt
We are committed to a practice of shared learning to develop and refine a collective analysis about the root causes of hunger and evolve our approaches. This includes an ongoing monitoring and revision of internal policies with a goal of greater equity and alignment of organizational practices with our mission and theory of change.
Grassroots Leadership and Collective Wisdom
We understand that systemic transformation can only happen through grassroots-led movements. As a grassroots-support organization, our work must be informed by the experiences and analyses of community organizations and leaders, social movements, and people most impacted by hunger and injustice. We believe that processes that bring these different actors and communities together can allow us all to better understand our reality and develop common strategies, visions and solutions to end hunger and poverty.
Internationalism
Because we understand that the extractive economies and systems responsible for producing hunger and poverty are organized globally, so to should be our response. To that end, WhyHunger cultivates the exchange, coordination, and solidarity of working and oppressed peoples and their struggles across borders. As an US-based organization focused on systems-level change, an internationalist perspective is critical to understanding the global impacts of policies that originate in the US and the potential solutions.
People
We put people first and believe that the solutions to ending hunger and poverty reside in people’s lived experiences. We stand up for human dignity and celebrate human potential. We support the well-being of our staff and aim to create a workplace that provides flexibility, balance and an opportunity for everyone’s unique perspectives and experiences to inform our work.