Over the past several months I have been a part of a program called The Giving Project. Run through The Chinook Fund, The Giving Project is a cohort of individuals across Colorado who are diverse across race, gender identity, and class. Each cohort receives training around social justice, race and class, fundraising, and grantmaking.

There are many things I enjoy about The Chinook Fund:

1) it prioritizes funding small nonprofits that focus on community organizing and advocacy, rather than direct service. One of my pastor friends shared a story with me that illustrates why advocacy and organizing are so important:

You live in a village by the river. One day, a baby floats down the river in a basket. Because you and your neighbors are good people, you go get the baby out of the river. The next day, two babies float down the river, so you get them as well. Soon there is a steady stream of babies floating down the river, so you and your neighbors form a 501(c)3 nonprofit in order to raise money to support getting the babies out of the river.

At some point, someone has to ask the question, “Why are these babies being sent down the river?” This leads to folks going upstream to figure out the source of the problem and fix it.

This is the type of work that The Giving Project funds, except that:

2) It prioritizes organizations that are lead by the communities most impacted by the issues they work on. Very often nonprofits approach issues as “saviors”. They are funded and led by folks who, while well-meaning, do not truly understand the realities of the issues in the same way the most impacted people are. The extreme version of this situation are non-profits whose staff live in DC, New York, or San Francisco but fund work in other countries. It is very hard to be in this situation and not be separated from the the impact of the pain. The Chinook Fund addresses this dynamic by prioritizing organizations led by impacted communities.

3) It places race and class as the center of its analyses of problems. Many of the most dire issues facing our country impact people of color, especially those with little generational wealth. Our society is only as strong as those who are most oppressed.

If you are interested in supporting this work, please visit The Chinook Fund’s donation page in order to give. When you see the option “Is this donation for the Giving Project?”, select “Yes” and make sure to type in my name.

Thanks!