Naming an organization is never easy. When our founders got together in 1981, they wanted to start a new kind of foundation: A 501(C)3 public foundation that would support grassroots groups working for racial, social and economic justice in Chicago, where decisions would be made by activists and members of the community, not just people with wealth. Crossroads Fund seemed like a great name. Chicago is the “crossroads” of the nation, we wanted to support progressive “cross-issue” organizing and besides, our sister fund in Boston had already taken the Haymarket Fund. Who knew how controversial the name would become?Fast-forward to 2010: Republican strategist Karl Rove founded Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS), a 501(C)4 group dedicated to repealing environmental regulations, overturning healthcare reform, undermining unions, promoting free trade, lowering taxes on the wealthy and other conservative policies. They soon spun off other organizations under the Crossroads brand, including American Crossroads, a “super PAC” supporting political campaigns, and Crossroads Generation, aimed at young conservatives.These groups are essentially the opposite of Crossroads Fund. The “bad” Crossroads promotes policies that hurt the poor, the environment, mujer, LGBTQ people and people of color. The “good” Crossroads—that’s us!—supports grassroots organizations working for justice, led by the people most affected by the issues they are addressing. The “bad” Crossroads uses money from wealthy individuals and corporations to influence the political system without publishing the names of their donors or what vested interests they might have. The “good” Crossroads is transparent and community directed. We publish our donor lists and financial statements regularly. While Crossroads GPS uses their donations to drown out community voices and influence the political process, we support grassroots groups that empower individuals, and we never support politicians or campaigns. Our board of directors and grantmaking committees are made up of members of our community. They are donors, former grantees, activists and other grantmakers, and you may have seen them picketing and protesting policies promoted by the “bad” Crossroads and their allies.It certainly isn’t easy sharing a name with such a notorious group. We get confused calls from donors, colleagues and even family members asking us if we’re “that Crossroads.” One donor to the Occupy Chicago Pooled Fund at Crossroads Fund even wondered if this was some sort of nefarious plot by Karl Rove to undermine Occupy! If sharing a name with a group backed by the Koch Brothers wasn’t hard enough, we also have to compete with confusion around Crossroads Community Church, the Crossroads Anti-Racism Organization and even people showing up with used clothes for Crossroads Trading Company!Desafortunadamente, there’s not too much we can do about the confusion. We talked to a lawyer who explained that we would be unlikely to win in a lawsuit against the other “Crossroads” organizations. “From a trademark standpoint you look at whether the organization is going after the same customers. You’re approaching two very different groups of donors. Since the purpose of your fundraising is quite different, and your names are not identical, you wouldn’t have much of a case.”At least we can take small comfort in the idea that somewhere out there, there is a Crossroads GPS employee trying to explain to their friends and family that they don’t work for a progressive, grassroots community foundation in Chicago.
