Abigail Disney urges donors to be braver about their giving and shouldering more risk

MIAMI BEACH, Florida (AP) — Activist and philanthropist Abigail Disney urged donors and the leaders of major foundations and nonprofits to be braver with their giving, especially at a time when more are fearful about speaking their minds.

“The people who speak up against their own self-interest are becoming very, very important,” Disney said Tuesday at the opening panel of The Elevate Prize Foundation’s Make Good Famous Summit in Miami Beach, Florida. “The people in philanthropy are the people who need to be speaking up … What we are experiencing is nothing compared to the risk that people of color, Indigenous people, immigrants are experiencing every single day in this country.”

Disney told The Associated Press in an interview before the panel that she planned to be more outspoken because “everyone has been so quiet since the election.” Many question why major donors and foundations have not reacted faster to the Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid and federal funding to nonprofits, though some organizations, like the Marguerite Casey Foundation, have opted to scale up donations dramatically.

“When people see each other act, it becomes easier for them to act,” said Disney, who joked that she inspired Bill Gates to spend all of the Gates Foundation’s assets and shut down the nonprofit by 2045. Disney, whose grandfather Roy Disney co-founded The Walt Disney Co., announced in December that her Daphne Foundation would spend its assets and soon shut down.

Disney represented only one segment of philanthropists convened by The Elevate Prize Foundation to pledge action. “We are gathering at a time of real consequence,” said Joe Deitch, the foundation's founder and chairman. "The challenges we face on the planet and as a people are daunting. We’re witnessing a level of political and social division that often feels insurmountable.”

The foundation took its own action by awarding international human rights organization Equality Now $1 million in unrestricted funds for its work, which will help the group expand its work.

Tommy Marcus, also known as Quentin Quarantino on Instagram where his 1.1 million followers have donated more than $30 million to charities he supports, said action makes him feel optimistic.

“I get hope from knowing — for the wonderful things that I really care about and I just feel obligated to do something about — that there’s just so many good people who will say, ‘You know, Tommy, I wasn’t thinking about this, but here’s $30’," he said. “I think the future of fundraising, the future of charity, is in community.”

Marcus said in an interview that he found such support “flattering and a little scary,” and that he takes the responsibility of that support very seriously. And he plans to continue to use his platform to draw attention to causes his followers can support.

“Unfortunately, there’s plenty of reasons to be a bit demotivated and deflated," he said. “At the same time, I take inspiration from my community and the unique things that we band together for or the way we just help an individual do something.”

Tynesha McHarris, co-founder of the Black Feminist Fund, said that this is a frightening time and there will be setbacks as they fight Trump administration policies that she says target Black women, but there will also be opportunities.

“We are in this moment in time where we have to respond against one of the most lethal threats globally, that is trying to come for everything that is possible,” she said. "I get to be alongside a cadre of people that stand in their way. That is a gift. Take it. Even if it makes your hands sweat or your stomach hurt. It is a gift to be amongst a community and a country and a coalition who would rather choose freedom over fascism, freedom over fear.”

Disney told the panel she would like to eliminate the words “tireless” and “fearless” from the English language,

“No one is tireless or fearless,” she said. "Courage is working through fear, in spite of fear. I’ve never had a moment in my life when I wasn’t fearful. The trick is to hold on to your values through fear.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Mona Sinha with Equality Now, speaks after receiving The Elevate Prize Founder's Award during The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Abigail Disney speaks during The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Attendees listen during the opening session of The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Imran Ahmed with the Center for Countering Digital Hate, speaks at The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Tynesha McHarris, with the Black Feminist Fund, speaks during The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Abigail Disney speaks during The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Attendees at the The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit applaud during the opening session, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Abigail Disney speaks during The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Abigail Disney, second right, speaks during The Elevate Prize Foundation's Make Good Famous Summit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)